The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge had its second race of the season Friday afternoon at Sebring International Raceway’s Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. This was a two-hour race. Qualifying took place on Thursday, with Wright Motorsports winning the pole in the GS category and Atlanta Speedwerks won in the TCR category.
In the first hour of the race, the No. 14 Riley Motorsports Toyota Supra, driven by Javier Quiros, was hit from behind at turn ten by the No. 7 VOLT Racing with Archangel driven by Alan Brynjolfsson. The exhaust came loose on the Toyota Supra, and he headed to the garage ending his day and finished in 20th in the GS category.
Maxwell Root led the race in the GS category. There was a good battle for second place as Dillon Machavern of Turner Motorsport passed Russell Ward in the Ullman Straight to take over second place. Machavern was now 2.605 seconds behind Root. Over in the TCR race, Gavin Ernstone of Road Shagger Racing was chasing Robert Noaker of Atlanta Speedwerks. Noaker had led the first nineteen laps before Ernstone took over the lead with an hour and thirteen minutes left in the race.
Not long after Ernstone took over the lead, the first full-course caution came out for debris. The No. 40 PF Racing Ford Mustang of James Pesek cut a tire down, and parts of the tire came off and sat on the track. This allowed all the drivers to pit during the caution. The race resumed with fifty-four minutes left, with Bill Auberlen leading in the GS category and Denis Dupont led in the TCR category.
Not long after the restart, Russell Ward tried to get the third position from Kuno Wittmer, but Wittmer blocked him. Upfront, Jan Heylen was able to take the lead in the GS category after Auberlen went wide into turn one. With 45 minutes left, teams began to make their final green flag scheduled pit stops. Once pit stops were complete, only a few cars did not pit and were gambling on a caution to save fuel.
Gregory Liefooghe took over the lead after Spencer Pigot pitted. Liefooghe was one of the cars that was gambling on fuel. Behind him was Robin Lindell, who also did not pit. Over in TCR, Mikey Taylor pitted as the leader while Jon Morley took over the lead.
As the minutes were ticking down, Liefooghe could no longer continue and had to pit with under ten minutes left. The new leader of the GS class was Robin Lindell. In the last five minutes, Lindell’s car was smoking and was issued a black with orange disk flag. Under the IMSA rules, the black flag with an orange disk means that a driver must be aware of a mechanical issue with his/her car.
Lindell continued to race and won the GS class by over five seconds, while Jon Morley beat Mat Pombo by 2.270 seconds. The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will return on May 15th from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
