ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Michael Cooper registered his eighth Pirelli GT4 America Sprint victory of the season in Sunday’s round at Road America.

Spencer Pumpelly, in the No. 66 TRG LaSalle Solutions Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, brought the Pirelli GT4 America Sprint field to the green flag Sunday afternoon.

As the starter waved the green flag, Drew Staveley got the jump on Pumpelly and pulled into the lead with Cooper, in the No. 10 Blackdog Speedshop McLaren 570S GT4, slotting into third.

Michael Dinan grabbed the Am-class lead, sitting fourth overall, just ahead of Tony Gaples in second, who passed Paul Terry on the opening lap. With nine minutes off the clock, Terry fought back against Gaples and dove on the inside of turn eight, taking back second position in the Am category.

Back in the fourth position in Am, Jeff Burton started his march through the grid by moving up six positions from 10th at the start of the race.

Fifteen minutes into the 50 minute race, Pumpelly fell into the slipstream of Staveley’s Mustang and made an inside pass at turn five, regaining the overall and Pro lead. Cooper stalked the two leaders, sitting just over one second behind, saving his tires for a late-race charge.

Further back in the field, hometown hero Jeff Courtney got past Jason Bell for sixth in the Am class, ninth overall, and began to hunt down the Sean Quinlan.

Now with less than 25 minutes remaining, Cooper pulled alongside Staveley on the inside of turn five and got past the Mustang for second position. Cooper would then put his head down and set off in pursuit of Pumpelly, who was 1.5 seconds ahead.

With 20 minutes left on the clock Terry, while running second in the Am class, would miss his braking point and go wide at turn five, giving the position to Gaples. In front of Gaples and Terry, Dinan would increase his lead and start to reel in Staveley for third overall.

As the clock ticked past 15 minutes remaining, Cooper would catch the chrome Porsche of Pumpelly, with the two drivers running nose to tail for the next eight minutes.

With seven minutes left, going into turn one Cooper would move to the outside of Pumpelly and ride that line around the Porsche to grab the lead. Cooper would never look back and go on to take his eighth win of the season ahead of Pumpelly and Staveley.

“Spencer and Drew went out guns blazing to start the race and I did not have that pace at the beginning, so I decided to conserve my tires early and then put the pressure on later in the race,” said Cooper. “I look forward to continue this battle with Spencer for the final two weekends, I have a lot of respect for him and a lot of fun racing against him. Thanks to McLaren and thanks to Blackdog Speedshop for the car this weekend.”

Back in the Am field on the final lap Courtney, while battling with Quinlan’s BMW, put his RecStuff Mercedes on the outside of turn eight, setting himself up to be on the inside for the Carousel. The two would run side-by-side until Courtney would complete the pass at the Kink, getting the fifth position in class.

Dinan would cruise to the Am victory ahead of Gaples, Terry, Burton and Courtney.