INDIANAPOLIS — The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge heads back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with only two races left and the two class championship battles at opposite ends of the spectrum.
RS1 turned in a potential title-winning effort at Virginia International Raceway with its class-leading third Grand Sport win of the season with Jan Heylen and Luca Mars aboard the team’s No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
After falling behind early, Mars recovered up the order with Heylen then pursuing and passing the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO for the win in the final stanza of the race.
Coupled with mechanical gremlins that ailed the polesitting No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4 on its one pit stop, the Heylen/Mars pairing went from leading by 90 points entering the race, trailing the No. 13 Ford within the race, and then expanding the lead to a 240-point gap at the checkered flag with the win and Jenson Altzman and Nate Cicero ending a hard-luck 11th.
Despite the No. 13 car’s troubles, Ford still got two cars on the GS podium courtesy of KOHR Motorsports.
The Touring Car (TCR) battle, however, shrunk to its tightest bit yet among three cars with just 30 points separating the top three in the championship after each of the contenders fought through adversity at various stages at VIR.
The No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Preston Brown and Denis Dupont rallied from an early-race penalty for incident responsibility to finish seventh and come out 20 points clear of teammate Harry Gottsacker in the No. 98 Hyundai.
Gottsacker and Mason Filippi ended 11th after an incident that dropped them down the order from second. BHA’s run of podium finishes at VIR continued though with its No. 33 car of Bryson Morris and Mark Wilkins in second, marking the team’s seventh straight year with at least one VIR podium finish achieved.
The No. 93 Montreal Motorsports Group Honda FL5 TCR, meanwhile, also was assessed a penalty for incident responsibility but like others on the weekend, rebounded to fourth, albeit losing a podium position on the final lap.
Karl Wittmer and LP Montour sit third in points, only 30 behind Brown and Dupont, with a run of five straight top-four finishes and six top-four finishes in the last seven races.
TCR’s other two manufacturers, Audi and Cupra, had season-best results at VIR. The RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate team of Jaden Conwright and Luke Rumberg brought their No. 31 Audi RS3 LMS TCR to Audi’s first win of the season.
Cupra scored its first IMSA podium with Gou Racing’s Eddie and Eduardo Gou steering its No. 55 Cupra Leon VZ TCR to third place.
The Indianapolis grid for Michelin Pilot Challenge is at 41 cars, split 25 in GS and 16 in TCR, for the second highest car count of the season.
Past GS winning team Motorsports In Action is set for its first series start of the year with its No. 21 McLaren Artura GT4, with Jesse Lazare its first named driver. There’s another new pair in KOHR Motorsports’ No. 60 Ford Mustang GT4 in Robert Noaker and Cameron McLeod, two young Ford Racing prodigies who’ve starred this season in their respective series – Noaker in Mustang Challenge and McLeod in Super2, an Australian touring car series. Jake Walker is also set for his series debut aboard the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO he’ll share with Patrick Gallagher. The 16-car TCR grid, however, sees the VIR-winning RVA Audi absent and the No. 89 HART Honda Civic FL5 TCR back in action.
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