The race ‘started’ under yellow flags to allow drivers to recon the new-look Turn 3 following issues with the track surface.

At the single-file restart on lap four, poleman Aschenbach’s all-new Chevrolet Camaro GT4 led Parker Chase’s Ginetta, as Aquilante’s bid for second around the outside of Turn 1 failed to come off.

The KTMs of Martin Barkey and Frankie Montecalvo were the big losers as the race began, dropping outside of the top eight from top-six starting spots.

Aquilante passed Chase for second at Turn 1 on lap six, and quickly latched on to the back of leader Aschenbach. Two laps later, Aquilante outbraked Aschenbach at Turn 4 to hit the front.

Chase dropped from third to fifth on lap 12 when his Ginetta’s engine cut-out on the exit of the final corner. That promoted Buford to third, ahead of Rodrigo Baptista’s Porsche Caymen. A few laps later, Chase tumbled out of the picture completely when he ran straight on at Turn 4 when his engine cut-out again.

Out front, the leaders all closed up while lapping traffic at half distance. But another gaggle of slower cars allowed Aquilante to gain a big advantage over Aschenbach, while Buford almost pounced for second at Turn 1.

The final laps were a shootout between the two American muscle cars, with Aschenbach squeezing every ounce from his Pirellis but it wasn’t enough for Chevy to overcome Ford – and Aquilante not only scored victory but also set fastest lap for pole position in race two on Saturday.

Baptista was a very distant fourth, ahead of Barkey and Nate Stacy’s Porsche.

Ian James ran sixth in the new Panoz Avezzano early on, until a cloud of smoke signalled its demise with transmission issues.

Cla		Drivers	Car	Lap	Time	Gap	Interval
1		Andrew Aquilante	Ford Mustang Boss 302	36	51'24.163
2		Lawson Aschenbach	Chevrolet Camaro GT4	36	51'26.713	2.550	2.550
3		Jade Buford	SIN R1 GT4	36	51'27.842	3.679	1.129
4		Rodrigo Baptista	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	36	52'04.867	40.704	37.025
5		Martin Barkey	KTM XBow GT4	36	52'13.386	49.223	8.519
6		Nathan Stacy	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	36	52'16.023	51.860	2.637
7		Tony Gaples	Chevrolet Camaro GT4	36	52'18.021	53.858	1.998
8		Jason Bell	SIN R1 GT4	36	52'18.674	54.511	0.653
9		Frankie Montecalvo	KTM XBow GT4	36	52'19.630	55.467	0.956
10		Anthony Mantella	KTM XBow GT4	36	52'38.258	1'14.095	18.628
11		Mark Klenin	McLaren 570S GT4	36	52'42.647	1'18.484	4.389
12		George Kurtz	McLaren 570S GT4	35	51'35.687	1 Lap	1 Lap
13		Adam Merzon	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	35	52'07.455	1 Lap	31.768
14		Cameron Maugeri	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	35	52'08.015	1 Lap	0.560
15		Bill Ziegler	KTM XBow GT4	34	52'12.455	2 Laps	1 Lap
16		Cameron Cassels	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	32	51'35.151	4 Laps	2 Laps
17		Parker Chase	Ginetta G55	32	51'50.873	4 Laps	15.722
18		Harry Gottsacker	Ginetta G55	24	35'17.057	12 Laps	8 Laps