The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge visited Mid-Ohio Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader weekend at the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. Qualifying took place Saturday morning with Nate Stacy (GS) and Max Faulkner (TCR), each earning their third pole of the season.
The race was clean in the first 41 minutes until in the GS class; the No. 26 BMW of Chandler Hull made contact with the No. 35 Mercedes AMG of Jim Cox at turn two, who then hit the No. 7 Porsche of Alan Brynjolfsson, causing Brynjolfsson’s car to go into the gravel trap and bring out the caution.
Crews pulled Brynjolfsson’s car out of the gravel trap, and he got his car going again. During the caution, some of the cars went to pit road. The race restarted with an hour and twenty-seven minutes left.
Turn two was a hot spot for hits with the latest being the No. 82 BMW of James Clay and the No. 8 Audi of Michael McCann making contact causing right rear damage to McCann’s car as he pulled his car into the grass and out of the way. No caution came out for the wreck.
With 58 minutes left, the No. 33 Hyundai car of Gabby Chaves made contact with the No. 60 Aston Martin car of Kyle Marcelli, causing little to no damage.
The No. 5 Alfa Romero TCR car of Roy Block went up in smoke to bring out the second caution, erasing a 56-second lead for Robert Foley in the GS Class. Foley would go to pit road during the caution for fuel. Roy Block was able to drive his car to pit road.
The race would resume with 39 minutes left. Marcelli, Jeff Mosing, and Jeff Westphal were battling for first in the GS class. Mosing was leading while Westphal took over second from Marcelli before Marcelli got it right back. Marcelli then got the lead from Mosing at turn one with less than fifteen minutes left in the race.
Unfortunately for Mosing, he had to come to pit road running short on fuel. Marcelli led the last eight laps to give Kohr Motorsports its first win of the season. In the TCR class, the No. 23 Speed Syndicate Motorsports Audi, driven by James Vance, dominated the class-leading 64 laps to give the team its first win of the season.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge will finish the doubleheader weekend at Mid-Ohio tomorrow at 10:30 am on NBC Sports Gold Track Pass.
