Road Atlanta Race Recap

For the rest of the weekend, what started with some strong showers Thursday morning cleared out and turned into a beautiful Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.

Let’s start with the STAK Auto Lifts Fastest Lap of the weekend, which was posted by newcomer, JOHN BEYSTEHNER #21 in the GT992 category with Kingpin Racing. John also took the overall win in Sprint race 1 where he posted the fast lap of 1:23.999. Saturday didn’t go as well with a bit of an off in Sprint race 2 and having to sit out race 3 for a family commitment. Beystehner handed over the wheel to co-driver JOSH HILL.

Second overall in race 1 but winning the GT4.R category was LUKAS PANK #40, Ultra Performance. Lukas enjoyed a fantastic weekend winning all four races in GT4.R and taking the overall top victory in three! Mission Foods was the event title sponsor and JUAN GONZALEZ #81, Mission Foods/Car Amigo had a great weekend on track as well. Juan captured a pair of second place finishes in Sprints 1 and 2 and a third in Sprint race 3. Our thanks go to Juan for not only sponsoring the entire event weekend but also hosting our social on Friday night at his gorgeous paddock location and providing the chips and salsa for delicious nachos!

MATTHEW COHN #210, from Off Leash Motorsports which is based at Road Atlanta, came in third in GT4.R in Sprint races 1 and 2 but stepped up to second in Sprint race 3 and Sunday’s enduro, collecting valuable points toward the Mission Foods GT3 Cup championship!

Back to the GT992 category, CLIFF CAYER #08 drove his Matrix Motorsports Porsche to all podium positions over the four races. Cliff won the enduro, took a duo of seconds in Sprints 1 and 3 and a third in Sprint race 3. Teammate BILL OLIVER #058 had a slow start to the weekend finishing off the podium in race 1 but came back nicely to win Sprint races 2 and 3 in the very competitive GT992 category and took second behind Cayer in the Enduro with co-driver BRUNO CARNIERO.

MARK SANDRIDGE #58, Team Salad is still getting acquainted with this Porsche 992 but is gaining strides and had a strong weekend finishing on the podium in Sprint races 2 and 3 and was third to the Matrix cars in Sunday’s enduro.

The Mission Foods GT3 Cup 4 liter category had some of the best racing of the event. In Sprint race 1 our 2024 champion, TOMMY BALLESTER #189, Quirt Racing took the win. Then posted a string of second place finishes in Sprints 2 and 3 and the Enduro. However, the battle was fierce between Ballester and teenager LIAM GRAY #991 another from Matrix Motorsports. After one second place finish, Gray went on to capture the wins in the other three races of the weekend! Liam’s father ERIC GRAY#973 also raced in the GT4.0 category and finished just off the podium in the three Sprints.

We welcomed newcomer SCOTT ROWBOTHAM #888 from Kingpin Racing to International GT at Road Atlanta. Rowbotham took third in Sprint race 1 and paired with Kingpin Racing team owner TYLER HOFFMAN for another third in the Enduro.

Rounding out the GT4.0 category, JORDAN SANDRIDGE #49, Team Salad stood on the podium in Sprint races 2 and 3. We look forward to seeing the Sandridge father and son team back with the series at their home track, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June.

JON BRUNOT #411, Off Leash Motorsports, debuted with International GT at Road Atlanta. Jon raced his Audi R8 GT4 in the GTX category against a variety of Porsches and had a good first showing in his silver Audi. Brunot was second in all three Sprint races and third in the Enduro.

GTX was dominated by several different Porsches. FRANK VITIELLO #248 from SpeedSport, won the races he competed in, Sprints 1,2 and 3. Third in all three Sprints was NICK GROOMBRIDGE #216, Vitiello’s teammate at SpeedSport. Groombridge jumped up a step to take second in the Enduro.

Another newbie to International GT competition was MICHAEL COBB #253 for Kingpin Racing. Mike took a very serpentine path to capturing his first racing victory in Sunday’s enduro! Cobb first entered IGT in 2025 at Road Atlanta in a Cayman. Unfortunately, he could not make it to that race, so we moved… and moved… and moved his entry. Fast forward to 2026, Cobb is finally ready for debut with IGT but with a Porsche 992! Hold on, there is more, Cobb experiences a crash early in the weekend, rolls out a completely identical race car and goes on to not only a successful weekend but an inaugural win!

Also in the Porsche Cup category was BRIAN NORMAN #41A. Brian is from just a few miles away in Loganville, GA and calls Road Atlanta his home track. Brian raced his GT3.6 – 997 to a sweep of the category wins and more importantly had a great time racing with IGT over the weekend.

Finally in the Mission Foods GT3 Cup GT3.8 class, we watched with excited intrigue the battle of the brothers, STEVE DENTON #16 and PAUL DENTON #87, Denton Carden Racing, another team located in the Road Atlanta neighborhood. We congratulate the duo of CODY KISHEL and ROB ESKEW who raced to the win in all four races on the weekend sharing car #141 from Off Leash Motorsports, it was the Denton brothers who finished nose-to-tail in all races swapping podium places. Brother Paul took three second place finishes, winning the brother-battle, while Steve bettered Paul in Sprint race 2. Kishel won Sprint race 1 and 2 but feeling a bit under the weather, Eskew raced to the win in Sprint race 3. The pair teamed up for the Enduro victory.

Stuttgart Cup saw a very fierce battle over the weekend as well. In the CAY4.0 ZACHARY BRADFORD #14, ZRB Motorsports swept the category but not at all easily! In fact, to meet the co-driver requirements, Bradford made two stops in the Enduro which he shared with ERIC FILFUEIRAS. With a flawless weekend, Bradford will take over the points lead in the 2026 Stuttgart Cup Championship.

However, the story doesn’t end there. JOE RIZZO #24/55, BGB Motorsports continued his rollercoaster ride which started at Sebring. Electrical gremlins plagued Rizzo once again however his good friend, TOM BIGONY had to sit out the Road Atlanta round but sent his race car which came in handy to completing Rizzo’s weekend. After testing on Thursday, Rizzo opted to qualify and race Sprint 1 in #55 (Bigony’s car) taking a second place finish. With the team confident they had worked out the issues, Rizzo returned to his car #24 for the remainder of the weekend taking a third and a pair of second place finishes. All-in-all a good points tally going into Round 3 at Lime Rock Park.

Also, on the podium in CAY4.0 was KURT KROPP #641 with Extreme Velocity Motorsports. Kurt stood on the podium for all four races with a second and a trio of third place finishes.

We welcomed two new competitors to the series in the CAY3.8 liter category. JEFF LINDSTROM #26 could not have asked for a better debut with International GT. He won all four races without a glitch! However, hot on his heels in Sprints 2 and 3 was JOHN EDDELMON #22E from Kingpin Racing finishing second in the Sprints.

Road Atlanta as usual did not disappoint in giving tight, fast and competitive racing! We leave Georgia and an excellent Round 2 of 10 in the Championship.