Double Dome Motorsport Victories as All Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 Teams Make it to Victory Lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams Dome Motorsport and Off-Leash Motorsports Combined for a Triple-Podium Weekend Saturday and Sunday in the Season-Ending Pirelli GT4 America Doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). Highlighted by a Breakout Double Victory in Sunday’s Final Race of the Season by the Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4s – the Second-Year Team’s First Pirelli GT4 Race Wins – the Milestone Weekend also Featured First-Year Pirelli GT4 Competitors Off-Leash Motorsports Reaching the Podium for the First Time with a Third-Place Finish in Saturday’s Opening 60-Minute Race.
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – Anchored by a Dome Motorsport double victory in Sunday’s season-ending Pirelli GT4 America race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), a trio of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries combined for an unprecedented weekend of victory lane visits last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 and the team’s sister No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 swept the respective Pro-Am and Am victories in Sunday’s final 60-minute race of the season. One day earlier, first-year and partial-season competitors Off-Leash Motorsports secured their own breakout achievement with a third-place Pro-Am finish in the No. 40 Off-Leash Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The run of victory lane visits at IMS marked more than one first-time achievement for both Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing and the top performing Mercedes-AMG GT4 trio. The Dome triumphs were the first career victories for the second-year team while Off-Leash secured its first podium finish in the biggest racing series the team has contested to date. On the Mercedes-AMG side, the weekend’s top results were the first time a Mercedes-AMG GT4 entry of three or more Pirelli GT4 America Mercedes-AMG GT4 competitors all made at least one visit to victory lane.
Sunday’s banner results were foreshadowed in Saturday’s race when Kevin Clifford and Harry Gottsacker skillfully raced their way into the podium position in Pro-Am in the No. 40 Off-Leash Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4. Taking the checkered flag right behind in fourth place in class on Saturday was the No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Marc Miller and Allen Patten.
Both Pro-Am contenders picked up where they left off at the start of Sunday’s finale, with Clifford and Gottsacker ultimately backing up Saturday’s P3 showing with a fifth place in Pro-Am and eighth overall.
Miller and Patten stepped up to lead the Mercedes-AMG Pro-Am podium charge on Sunday, a stout effort that began with a quick and clean opening stint by Miller. Patten took over at mid-race after a perfect pit stop and soon worked his way up to second in the Pro-Am order. With just a few minutes remaining in the race, Patten confidently took the lead and saw a winning checkered flag for Dome for the first time a couple of laps later.
Meanwhile, Laura Hayes was fighting for the Am class win in the No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 not far behind her No. 39 teammates. Hayes was approved by race officials to drive solo in Sunday’s race after her co-driver and Dome Motorsport team owner Eddie Killeen took ill over the weekend. Despite having to make a slightly longer pit stop to equalize the solo driving with her two-driver competitors, Hayes remained in the Am lead-pack battle after pit stops were complete. Hayes took the lead with 11 laps remaining and went on to take the victory and complete Dome’s best career day at the track yet in sealing the double victory.
“The guys have worked tremendously hard this year, and we've shown the pace all year long but just couldn't quite put it together. You couldn't have picked a better race to finally do it! So, the Domes – I call them my ‘Domies’ – are just the best. I wish Eddie was feeling better and could have been out there with me today, but I can't thank him enough for letting me have this opportunity and get a win for the team. I did the SCCA Runoffs here. I think it was about 10 years ago in Formula Vee and it didn't last too long, about half of a lap unfortunately. Then I did a driving school here many years back. So, this was my first Pro-level race at Indy and I learned a lot this weekend. The field was so tight, which made it extra fun, and you had to be perfect every lap.”
Laura Hayes, Driver – No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4
“Big thanks to Dome Motorsport, Eddie Killeen of course and our Team Manager Kelly Brown. They put this whole thing together only just over two years ago. We have had some ups and downs this year, but Indy was execution from every corner, every lap all day. Actually, all week we had been in a great position, felt good, Laura’s pace has been great, Allen’s pace has been great, my pace is good and the cars have been rock solid. To be able to put it all together with both cars at the same time is incredible. Typically, we have one good result and one bad result, but this wasn’t like that at all. Master class driving by both Laura and Allen to finish the race and Laura to start her race too in this situation. It has been a huge pleasure having Allen and Laura here all season, we have had a lot of fun, they are fantastic to work with, and big thanks to Mercedes-AMG for all of the support. I was focused on Sunday on staying out of the mess, not having contact and I avoided a couple close calls. When it was time to push, I closed the gap and found ways to put Allen in a position to win. We knew his pace would be there, and he was rock solid at the end, so awesome work.”
Marc Miller, Driver – No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4
“This is among the top moments of my career and the best moment with the Dome guys. We worked hard all year but felt like we had a monkey on our back and finally got it shook. It was kind of now or never, I had a bad mistake in Saturday’s race where we could have been in it, but I just put it in the rearview mirror, worked with Marc – he is just an amazing driver and an amazing coach – but I just implemented what he went over with me on Saturday and it all worked out pretty damn good.”
Allen Patten, Driver – No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4
“We rolled off the trailer with our Mercedes-AMG GT4 kind of in the deep end where we had been previously showing up for SRO, but all of the guys and girls here at Off-Leash really worked hard to get us competitive. Mercedes-AMG gave us a lot of data we could really build a program around. It’s awesome to be on the podium here at Indianapolis, finally at the last race of the year. We couldn’t have got here without all of our partners and the growth this team has shown has been exponential all season, so I am really proud of all of them. We got fourth at Barber one race ago and now third at Indy, so we are steadily climbing.”
Kevin Clifford, Driver – No. 40 Off-Leash Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4