Laura Hayes secures maiden GT4 America victory at Barber Motorsports Park
- RACERS
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
After coming close several times since the start of her rookie campaign in Pirelli GT4 America, Laura Hayes finally clinched her maiden AM class victory aboard the #606 Thunder Bunny Racing BMW M4 GT4 at the Barber Motorsports Park triple-header.
After coming close several times since the start of her rookie campaign in Pirelli GT4 America, Laura Hayes finally clinched her maiden AM class victory aboard the #606 Thunder Bunny Racing BMW M4 GT4 at Barber Motorsports Park. The breakthrough result came in the final race of the triple-header weekend, after bad luck denied her and teammate Allen Patten in the previous contests.
Hayes, a Shift Up Now athlete, has been a frontrunner in the AM class all season, sharing driving duties with Patten. The pair began the year in the Toyota Supra GT4, where they narrowly missed out on podiums and wins due to misfortune—first at Sonoma in the season opener, then at COTA where a suspension failure while leading cost them victory.
Their first podiums finally arrived at Sebring with a pair of second-place finishes, just shy of a first win. More bad luck struck at VIR, but the pace carried into Road America, where the team debuted the BMW M4 GT4 platform.
The Road America weekend, however, was plagued by storms and lightning delays, forcing one of the races to be postponed and later rescheduled at Barber Motorsports Park. Barber thus hosted a triple-header for GT4 America, with Thunder Bunny entering its second weekend on the BMW platform—where the transition from the Supra proved seamless, as speed immediately carried over.
For the rescheduled contest, Hayes started P16 overall and third in the AM class in the #606 BMW. At lights out, she held position while engaging in close battles with Holt and Clay, the AM frontrunners. All three BMWs ran nose-to-tail, separated by only a few tenths, with Hayes showing strong pace through the second sector and frequently looking for a way past. She attempted a pass at Turn 5 on lap 4, but couldn’t quite make it stick.
The three-way fight continued until lap 16, when class leader Clay was tagged and went around, hitting the barriers just as the pit window approached. Anticipating a caution, most cars pitted immediately. Hayes came in and handed over to Patten, who rejoined second in class behind the #36 Bimmerworld BMW of Postins, under investigation for the earlier contact.
The race resumed on lap 22 with 22 minutes remaining. At the restart, Patten attacked Postins for the lead, but contact at the final corner sent Postins around. Patten briefly took over the class lead, but soon faced pressure from Trinka’s Random Vandals BMW. As the two battled, Patten was handed a penalty for the earlier contact and dropped to third.
More drama followed when Postins suffered exhaust damage after an off-track moment, while Patten compounded his troubles with a pit lane speeding violation, serving a second drive-through.
Despite the setbacks, Patten still salvaged third in class—though an off-track excursion late in the race widened the gap, leaving the Thunder Bunny BMW 18 seconds behind the leaders at the checkered flag.
Saturday brought qualifying for the weekend’s two scheduled Barber races. Hayes took the wheel for Q1 and immediately delivered a standout performance, placing the car in the overall top ten and on AM class pole with a 1:30.294. She then improved to a 1:29.775, securing AM pole by almost a full second ahead of several ProAm entries.
In Q2, Patten also put in a strong lap with a 1:29.928, good enough for second in class and P15 overall.
Hayes lined up on AM pole and P11 overall. At the green flag, she made a lightning start, immediately moving into the overall top ten while comfortably retaining the AM class lead. Running just behind the Random Vandals BMW of Craven, she held pace with Silver class competitors, building a buffer to her AM rivals.
Drama unfolded further back when Webb’s JMF Aston Martin spun into the path of the pack, but the field avoided disaster. Hayes continued to run strongly, but heartbreak struck on lap 14: a front-left puncture forced her to slow dramatically, surrendering the class lead just minutes before the pit window opened.
After a stop to replace the tyre, Hayes pitted again on lap 16 for the mandatory driver change. Patten rejoined in P5 in AM but showed strong pace, consistently lapping in the 1:30.2s. He cut the gap from 18 seconds down to six by lap 26, then passed Garcia for fourth. However, by then the top three were over 40 seconds clear.
Patten pressed on, passing the ProAm car of Sibille on lap 34, but a late collision with the #77 VPX Porsche brought out the caution with three minutes left. The Thunder Bunny BMW was classified P18 overall and fourth in class at the flag—a frustrating result after Hayes’ pole pace.
With one more chance for redemption, Patten started Race 2 from P14 overall and second in AM. He quickly gained ground, avoiding chaos as Postins spun and Leist pitted with issues. Running consistently, Patten maintained P2 in class, cycling as high as P8 overall before bringing the car in on lap 20 for the driver change.
Hayes rejoined in second, around eight seconds behind Sparta’s Random Vandals BMW. Soon after, a full-course yellow neutralized the race when Loek Hartog’s Porsche slowed, bunching the field. At the restart, Hayes was on the move: on lap 28 she outbraked Sparta into Turn 1, seizing the AM class lead and breaking into the overall top ten.
As the race entered its final laps, Hayes showed great speed and recacraft: she skillfully avoided Walker’s spinning BMW at Turn 1 and defended hard against Clay, aided by a Silver class Aston Martin acting as a buffer. On the final lap, Clay attempted a charge when the Aston ran deep, but Hayes held firm, crossing the line to take a long-awaited and well deserved first AM class victory for Thunder Bunny Racing.
After a season filled with near-misses, bad luck, and mechanical failures, Hayes and Patten finally stood on the top step of the podium—a breakthrough that had been a long time coming. The season will now conclude at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 16–19.
