The Michelin Pilot Challenge returned to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for Friday afternoon’s Fox Factory 120. Tyler McQuarrie won the pole in the GS class with a lap time of 1 minute, 25.921 seconds at 106.423 mph and Todd Lamb won the pole in the TCR class with a lap time of 1:28.887 seconds at 102.871 mph.
Right away, the TCR pole-sitter Lamb had to serve a drive-through penalty for incorrect tires to start the race. Twelve minutes into the race. The No. 7 Aston Martin of Alan Brynjolfsson hooked his car, trying to pass Russell Ward, and lost control, crashing into the tire wall at turn ten, knocking off the right front tire. The tires went onto the track and hit Scott Maxwell’s No. 22 Mustang to bring out the caution. Maxwell’s car suffered right front damage.
The caution lasted twenty minutes before it could resume with McQuarrie still leading in the GS class and Ryan Norman leading in the TCR class. The restart lasted only four minutes before the caution came out for the No. 85 Audi of Giano Taurino of the TCR class suffering damage to the car’s left front. Taurino’s day was done and would finish thirteenth in the TCR class.
During the caution, both classes would come to pit road for service. Once the caution was over, the race resumed with a little over an hour left. Three laps into the restart, Kyle Marcelli took over the third position with an inside move at turn one from Dylan Murry.
Murry had to serve a drive-through penalty for too many men over the wall. Further back, in the GS class, the No. 56 Mercedes AMG of Eric Foss and the No. 80 BMW of Dillon Machavern made contact in a battle for seventh place. Foss would take out a couple of Michelin signs on the front stretch a short time later.
Kyle Marcelli would get Alec Udell for second place and was now chasing McQuarrie, who was dominating the race so far. With under an hour left, one of the Hyundai Veloster, the No. 33 of Gabby Chaves, made contact with Brent Mosing and broke the suspension on the left front. Chaves’s day was done and would finish in eleventh place.
Teams from both classes began to make schedule pit stops with 45 minutes left. McQuarrie, who was dominating the race, needed to come to pit road to change drivers. Under IMSA rules, both drivers must have a least 40 minutes of driving time; otherwise, they are subjected to a penalty in finishing last in the class.
The caution would come out for the third time involving the No. 73 Honda Civic of Matthew Pombo crashing into the tire wall at turn two. During the caution, both classes went to pit road, and McQuarrie handed the car over to Jeff Westphal. However, with under 40 minutes left in the race, Westphal would not meet the driving time requirements.
The caution lasted ten minutes for the race could resume with 27 minutes left. Robby Foley was the new leader in the GS class while Tim Lewis led the TCR class. Three minutes into the restart, the caution would come out again for the fifth time for a crash at the exit of turn ten by James Vance. The caution would extend due to Tim Lewis’s car had stopped in between turns three and four. Once both cars were off the track, the race resumed with six minutes left.
Robert Foley extended his lead and would win the race by .794 seconds over Gregory Liefooghe. In the TCR class, the race came down to Michael Lewis and Tyler Maxson. The teammates were bumper to bumper, with Lewis just edging Maxon by .099 seconds.
The IMSA Michelin Challenge will now head to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Sega On Saturday, October 31st, at 6:30 pm on NBC Sports Gold Track Pass.
