Saturday, June 26, 2021

Winner & Highlights of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Tioga Downs Casino 240 at Watkins Glen International Raceway

After a long break, the Michelin Pilot Challenge championship for production-based race cars, returns to action at Watkins Glen International Raceway in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, a legendary circuit, that has it’s roots in sports car races that took place through the town streets of Watkins Glen in the post WW. II. Era.  This is round four of the 2021 MPC championship.  Besides the season opening BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway, this event, the Tioga Downs Casino 240, is the only other four hour race of the Michelin Pilot series season. 

In the woods, is nestled one of the best tracks in the country, one of the most historic.  It is hot, steamy, muggy.  There’s plenty of space for refreshment from the heat, and it is time for us to see a race.  We’ve got a big stretch of races for Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers and teams including another shorter race this coming Friday.  So, stay tuned for that one as well.  In the points standings, Kuno Wittmer is the man with the lead, by 120 points over his closest rivals.  Wittmer driving of course for the McLaren team, being pursued hotly by the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 duo of Vincent Barletta and Robby Foley.

AWA McLaren have won two races so far.  Orey was on baby watch during the last race at Mid-Ohio.  Congratulations to the family on the birth of a baby boy.  McLaren is at the sharp end.  They lock out the front row, and we will see a challenge from new kids on the block here in IMSA, with the debut of Black Dog Speed Shop and their #34 McLaren 570S GT4 to be driven by Michael Cooper and Spencer Pumpelly.  These drivers and the team have won races and championships.  We also should look out for the Notlad Racing by RS1 Aston Martin Vantage GT4.  This car, #23 is being shared by Patrick Gallagher and Stevan McAleer. 

These teams are going to be competitive.  Hyundai in TCR, they are leading the charge, but are being hotly pursued by both Honda and Audi.  The duo of Michael Lewis and Taylor Hagler lead by 40 points over second place Ryan Eversley.  The comes another Hyundai in the hands of Ryan Norman and Parker Chase.  Audi are also at the sharp end with the Road Shagger duo of Jon Morley and Gavin Ernstone.  The #84 Atlanta Speedwerks team has been extremely fast, with their Honda, but they hae not been able to exeute in the races. 

Hyundai and Bryan Herta Autosport are searching for speed, especially in these enduro events.  Will they find it today?  We’re about to answer that very question.  The #77 Hagler/Lewis Hyundai Veloster has been very consistently lately with finishes of fourth at Daytona, third at Sebring, second at Mid-Ohio.  Can they win today at The Glen?  Starting caboose on the TCR field is the sister BHA Hyundai, the #98 Elantra TCR.  They are so far behind because of the transponder glitching and not registering a qualifying time for Parker Chase sharing with Ryan Norman. 

We have a wide variety of cars in each class.  We have a split start for the Grand Sport and the TCR cars.  Here come the GS/GT4 cars down for the start.  An all McLaren front row sweep.  Again, we have Spencer Pumpelly and Kuno Wittmer across row one.  Patrick Gallagher in the Aston Martin has the #8 McCann Racing Audi R8 GT4 of Andrew Davis at his elbow.  Here we go.  The cars accelerate down the front straightaway.  Green flag!  Go!  The McLarens are right on the button as Andrew Davis is moving into fourth place.  Michael Cooper has nothing to lose, and he speeds past Wittmer uphill through the famous esses here at Watkins Glen.

Gallagher in the Aston Martin nabs Wittmer as well.  Here comes the TCR start and the Altanta Speedwerks Honda’s want their first wins of the year.  Honda had a Balance of Performance adjustment, and oh dear.  First incident on the first lap as into The Boot, the #57 Mercedes AMG GT4 spins out.  This is the Winward Racing car in the hands of Bryce Ward and Alec Udell.  Ward at the wheel of it now.  This is a two-car team.  Remember, Winward Mercedes won GT Daytona at the Rolex 24 earlier in the year in the WeatherTech Championship.

That corner, moving into the laces of The Boot, is tricky.  Cold tires must have contributed to that.  He was running out of road, or lifting off the throttle too soon, passing the #11 FCP Euro Mercedes in the hands of Michael Hurczyn and Nate Vincent.  The second Winward Mercedes of Russell Ward and Indy Dontje was also in that scrap, car #4.  Downhill into the braking zone is a great passing opportunity into the first corner.  Matt Plumb in the #46 TGM Racing Chevrolet Camaro, he is shadowing Andrew Davis, letting him know he is there and wants to pass.  He wants a bite of the cherry, but will Mr. Davis give it to him?

Ryan Hardwick in the meantime, is being monstered by one of the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4’s and is driving in a defensive mode right now.  Drive well today, you can be in the pound seats to succeed at the next race, the sprint event, right here at Watkins Glen, next Friday.  Keep your eye on the big picture.  Black Dog Speed Shop are racing here at Watkins Glen and will do so also at Road America.  Black Dog Speed Shop have been very successful with five driver’s and 14 manufacturer’s cup titles in the SRO championship, the other major sports car championship here in North America. 

Michae Cooper is a four-time SRO champion.  Spencer Pumpelly was drafted in when Black Dog Speed Shop team owner/team boss Tony Gaples could not answer the call to drive.  Robert Noaker leads TCR just ahead of the #88 VCMG Honda Civic TCR, Karl Wittmer at the controls.  Kuno and Karl Wittmer are brothers, and they have a third racing brother, Nick Wittmer, who is also extremely quick.  The family is from Canada, and they love motorsports. 

Michael Cooper says he and his team are learning to race in IMSA but they want to win as they are being chased still, by Notlad Racing and their Aston Martin.  Kuno Wittmer is closing up once again on the lead duo, headed back to The Boot another time.  Gallagher is really closing in on Cooper.  This is a fair fight and we are barely ten minutes into a four hour motor race.  There’s a long, long way to go yet.  Plenty of action to enjoy.  The trio at the front is gapping the next couple of cars and then there is a huge scrum for position in the back half of the top ten.  Cooper leads Gallagher by four tenths of a second followed by Kuno Wittmer’s McLaren, Andrew Davis’ Audi, and in fifth, the #3 Motorsports In Action McLaren of Sheena Monk and Spencer Pigot.

Sixth through tenth is the #46 TGM Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R of Hugh Plumb, followed by Ryan Hardwick in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche Cayman Clubsport, Dillon Machavern in the sister #95 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4, Brandon Kidd in the #09 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4, and Alan Brynjolfsson in a similar Aston Martin for VOLT Racing with Archangel.  A good battle brewing in TCR as the throaty, angry buzz of the 2.0 liter turbo 4 cylinder engines echoes its way through the woods here at Watkins Glen, with Honda in the lead, Robert Noaker, just a tenth ahead of Karl Wittmer. 

We ride onboard, briefly, with the #21 Riley Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 in the GS class.  This team has two Toyota Supra’s in the field today.  #14, the regular entry being driven by Costa Rica’s Javier Quiros, sharing with Alfredo Najri of the Dominican Republic, and their third bullet this weekend is the rapid Brazilian LMP3 driver from the WeatherTech Championship (and a competitor in several other sports car racing disciplines), Felipe Fraga.  The sister car, #21, that also has a star-studded driving trio with IMSA prototype regular Scott Andrews alongside prototype veteran Colin Braun, and the lineup anchored by regular driver Anton Dias Perera.  Andrews, the Australian, could be driving the car now.  Hard to say.

The Toyota is trying to make a move on the #93 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 GT4.  This is the car in the hands of the Californian trio of Tom Dyer, and Mark and Nolan Siegel.  Jeepers creepers!  Both Supra’s are right on the back decklid of the Audi!  This is going to get tasty soon, look.  Back up front, you’ve missed nothing.  It remains an Aston Martin smack in the middle of a McLaren sandwich.  Cooper, Gallagher, and Wittmer, being chased by Davis and Pigot.  That is still your top five in the Grand Sport class. 

Similar battles ensue all over the track here at Watkins Glen.  This is some bloody find motor racing!  Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, Audi, all duking it out.  The back half of the tiop ten sees Ryan Hardwick ahead of Brandon Kidd, Dillon Machavern, and Alan Brynjolfsson, and none of these chaps are slowpokes at all.  They are top drivers in the GT4 ranks here in IMSA.  To that end, though, in the midst of their scrum for position, they are also chasing down sixth place man, Hugh Plumb in that gray TGM Camaro, car #46, which was so successful for a good while in our most recent event at Mid-Ohio. 

Kidd appears to make a move on Hardwick as we jump headlong now into the TCR battle as well.  This is a part of multi class sports car racing.  There’s always something to see.  There’s never a dull moment.  Trenton Estep, Todd Lamb, Dennis DuPont, and Tim Lewis Jr. all battle for position behind class leader Roberto Noaker.  Honda vs. Honda vs. Hyundai vs. Alfa Romeo.  But, also in TCR, there might be trouble brewing!  Who is that off the road?  Oh dear!  It’s the #61 Road Shagger Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR!  He’s hit the tire fence down, well, we will have to have a Captain Cook, and see where that is on the track.  Hang on a second.

Running in 13th in TCR, we can see that (not sure if it is Jon Morley or Gavin Ernstone in that Audi), he was squeezed by a Camaro, the #64 TGM entry and the sister car to their #46.  Ted Giovanis and Owen Trinkler sharing the driving chores.  Cannot say if it was Giovannis, the team owner, or Trinkler, at the wheel of it.  The Audi wriggles its way across the grass and says, "hello, tires!  Not pleased to meet you!”  Now could it be game over for the accounting firm of Ernstone and Morley?  We’ll have to see.  Of course, I don’t think either one of them is an accountant, so, take that as a figure of speech ladies and gentlemen. 

Meanwhile for the Camaro, that is a rather smoky left front wheel, and it could be three wheels on me wagon there, look.  In replay, we can see that the Camaro tried moving inside of the Audi, and it all went pear shaped from there.  Ooh!  That was hard contact, as the right front corner of the Audi goes airborne leaving the road’s surface, before slamming back down to terra firma!  He exits the corner tail first, trying not to spin, looks in the rearview mirror and goes, “oh no!”  Then, he has a subsequent unscheduled appointment with the tires.

How very tiring!  Now, what are the subsequent travails of poor old #64?  In replay there Is the smoke billowing from his left front tire.  #64 trundles to the pit lane.  Poor old #61 is awaiting his rescue.  Corner marshals, give me a hand, will you?  The #64 team goes to work.  A crumpled left front fender, and a change of the flatspotted Michelin Pilot tires are at hand here.  Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom go the NASCAR style rattle guns removing the five lug nuts off the wheel to look and see if the suspension has been knackered at all.  Fuel is going into the car as the mechai=nic pulls the fender out and the Camaero sits in the lane burbling away. 

Oh deary me!  We have another king size smash up here ladies and gentlemen!  It’s another Camaro in a massive spot of bother.  The front end of the #71 Rebel Rock Racing Camaro GT4 is utterly demolished!  Not just the front, but the rear tail section as well, look!  Full Course Yellow on the race track, for obvious reasons as it is littered with cars needing repairs, and they will have to be quick if they want to continue in this race and then, get ready for next week’s action here at the Glen, which yours truly believes is slated for Friday afternoon, just before the second WeatherTech Championship event.  So, Friday July 2nd, mark your calendars.  This will be a busy day of a double whammy of IMSA racing action!

Pit stop time now for the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche Cayman.  #71, wow!  He’s driving away!  But he’s dragging and littering bits of bodywork all over the place.  Yes, yes, yes.  In one of the uphill turns there’s clag and junk everywhere.  Full Course Yellow remains on the speedway.  We’ve got a replay!  Either Frank DePew or co-driver Robin Liddell, the Scotsman, they won’t want to watch this one without covering their eyes, first.  Turning, downhill coming out of the spot where the old circuit rejoins the new, the Camaro gets loose on the curb, takes a violent left turn, and plows headlong into the barriers!  Crunch!  Ouch!  That one smarts!

The #21 Toyota Supra was right in the path, our camera car.  Thank goodness that was not a multi-car pileup!  He actually came swooping across the bow of one of the Mercedes AMG GT4’s.  Was that the Murillo Racing automobile?  Hard to tell from this camera angle, lads and lasses.  The tire bundle and wrapping that is shielding the Armco has a massive shark bite out of it.  Safety car scramble for obvious reasons.  The safety crews are there to tend to the driver of the Camaro and to collect the car and drag it back to the garage.  I don’t think that Camaro is going to race anymore today.  It looks pretty secondhand at this stage.

The #61 Audi is also forlornly sitting in the grass.  Seems that car’s day is over as well.  So, we have had multiple incidents here in Michelin Pilot thus far and that’s why you are hearing me rumble on about nothing as we wait for this wreckage to be cleaned up.  The AMR safety ceews are out there now, cleaning the debris up.  The driver will certainly be taken to the medican center for checkup even though he is out of the car and OK.  Game over for the Audi boys or so it appears.  Yes indeed.  #61, out of race.  Uh oh.  Speaking of Audi’s in strife, here’s another.  This is the #17 JDC-Miller Unitronic Audi RS3 LMS TCR SEQ (that’s a mouthful), stopping on course. 

SEQ means this car has a sequential gearbox.  Chris Miller (from Minneapolis, Minnesota, incidentally), sharing with fellow American William Talley, and South African Mikey Taylor, are stopped dead stick.  These are the drivers who won the season opener at Daytona back in January.  The field slowly motors their way ‘round the stricken Audi.  They trundle ‘round in single file behind the safety car.  What shall we talk about during this yellow?  The weather?  Football (as in soccer, not American football)?  Does anyone have any ideas?  We sure are not talking about motor racing just yet while we wait out this track cleanup.

Not even half an hour on the board yet and we still have many laps of this race to go.  The TCR field is now minus one Audi which will see a Hyundai vs. Honda battle the rest of the way.  We still see the McLaren’s as the bread and the Aston Martin as the jelly in the middle of the leading sandwich.  The Road Shagger Audi is on the rollback for it’s forlorn journey back to the paddock.  The field is still frozen behind the safety car.  I wonder how many commercials have aired on the television since this Full Course Yellow appeared.

Right now, is the perfect time for you to go to the fridge or the cupboard and grab a snack and a beverage that hopefully will last the rest of this race, because you may not have another chance to get some nourishment, assuming we will go back to green soon.  The stalled JDC-Miller Audi is being towed to the paddock as the cement dust is being put down, the speedy dry, to sop up the fluid dropped from a couple of those cars that had their mechanical woes.  Drivers wisely stay to the left side of the road to avoid the oil dry and here comes the jet dryer to assist.  The track crews are still at work. 

Once again, a Public Service Announcement.  Without the marshals and the volunteers to keep these races going, and keep them safe, there would be no motor racing at all.  We thank you, for your service to motorsports, from the bottom of our hearts.  Might as well take a breather now, because there’s still lots of hard driving ahead as we work our way through this four hour marathon.  If you think this is something, we have six hours for the WeatherTech Championship here at The Glen, tomorrow.  You won’t want to miss that one let me tell you.

Quite the variety of manufacturers of production sports and touring cars racing here in Michelin Pilot Challenge.  That is what keeps this and the WeatherTech Championship healthy.  Manufacturer involvement and talented drivers.  That’s what keeps sports car racing alive.  We look at the track map.  We are located a wee bit due west of New York City.  What a great circuit this is.  11 corners in 3.4 miles.  Super fast, super smooth, high grip.  Into turn one, go downhill and it’s a good overtaking place.  Stay tight through there to get maximum grip.

Punch it, as you speed through the esses uphill.  Fly through the Inner Loop.  You do have to hit the brakes through here, but it’s another wonderful overtaking opportunity on the track.  Into turn six, that is The Boot.  Into the heel of the boot, is another prime overtaking spot.  You drive down through the laces, then to turn seven which is the toe, and then through turn eight which is the heel.  The drivers love this track.  High speed, high load, high commitment, and watch out for the right side tires.  30 drivers have not raced here at Watkins Glen before.

Check what I said earlier.  That massive accident we saw for the Rebel Rock #71 Camaro, was in fact Frank DePew and not Robin Liddell in the car.  So, he got out of it OK, but their day, as well as that of the Road Shagger #61 Audi TCR is over.  The #17 JDC-Miller Audi we saw earlier stopped on the road, is now three laps behind.  We’re ready for a restart!  Finally!  The Wright Motorsports Porsche was the only car to pit and Michael Cooper shoots back into the lead with Kuno Wittmer second, as Spencer Pigot is doing his level best to make it a 1-2-3 for McLaren, trying to move ‘round the #8 Audi of Andrew Davis.  You must take the green on the track before pitting.

What will the stewards say?  The Aston Martin is pitting for a penalty.  This was the second place car that gives up a boatload of track position and could not take service.  They probably needed a splash of gas.  Notlad Racing is now on an alternate strategy.  Spencer Pigot did not qualify well but he is now third.  The Balance of Performance adjustment to the McLaren, has made it have a one lap pace, but they now are heavier and have a higher ride height.  Oh no!  Another spin!  You can hear the tires squealing from here.  Taylor Hagler spins the #77 Hyundai Veloster into the gravel trap!  She is beached in the kitty litter.  Goodness me.  They led the TCR championship over Ryan Eversley by 40 points coming and she was tagged by Michael Johnson in the #54 Copeland Motorsport Hyundai Veloster.  The #77 is going to lose a lap.

This is the Tioga Downs Resort & Casino 240.  Well, if you were betting on a poker game at the casino, you probably would have laid your chips on the table to say that the #77 team was going to win in TCR.  Today, you might lose a wee bit of bread on that bet.  Yet another Full Course Yellow, but this time is a standard yellow allowing wave by’s and so forth.  The #94 Atlanta Speedwerk’s Honda will take advantage of this misfortune for the #77 entry.  Hagler has beached that car.  She’s buried up past the tire and the car is sinking into the gravel trap.  She will surely need a rescue now.

The AMR safety truck has come to her rescue, and we see in replay it looks like just a slight touch with the other Hyundai, the Michael Johnson driven car.  Johnson remains on track.  Finally, Taylor Hagler is indeed rescued from the gravel trap and makes her way back to the pits.  It appears there is no excess gravel underneath that car, so no further debris and detritus to scatter all over the racing surface.  Honda #94 was about to hit the pit lane but ducked back onto the racetrack right at the last possible moment. 

Todd Lamb at the wheel of it, leading TCR ahead of Taylor Hagler.  Wholesale pit stops now in the Grand Sport class.  Everyone is venturing to the lane for service.  Michael Cooper comes to the attention of the Blackdog Speed Shop crew and hands the car over to Spencer Pumpelly for the next stint while fuel is added, and tires are changed.  The #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 is also in and out in a flash.  Not sure Jan Heylen stayed in the car or handed it over to Ryan Hardwick.  Or, it could be the other way ‘round.  Difficult to tell.  Automatic Aston Martin, Turner BMW, TGM Chevrolet Camaro, it’s a busy time down there in the pit lane.

40 minutes on the board.  A mad scramble out of the lane and back on track.  PF Racing Mustang, Volt Lighting Aston Martin, and more.  The Blackdog team is still getting used to the IMSA rules on pit stops hence why they are a tad slower than everyone else in the lane.  The car is off the air jacks, fires up, and peels away.  Full Course Yellow continues with Kuno Wittmer now leading Spencer Pigot, Nate Vincent, Jeff Mosing, and Tim Probert.  Both Murillo Racing Mercedes’ have made it to the top five. 

Jeff Mosing sharing the #56 Mercedes AMG GT4 with Eric Foss, and the sister car #65 has Tim Probert at the controls, sharing with Kenny Murillo, the team owner, and Jeff Mosing is also entered in that car as a third driver, just in case.  The field remains behind the Chevrolet Corvette safety car for now.  Pit lane is a busy place now, as the TCR machines are in for service.  Grand Sport cars go in first, completing their stops, followed the next lap by the TCR runners.  A couple of the Hyundai Veloster’s are in including the #81 CB Motorsport entry for CB Motorsports, Trenton Estep probably handing the wheel to Mark Kvamme for the next stint.

Ditto the #27 entry for Copeland Motorsports.  That is the Tyler and Tyler show.  Tyler Maxson sharing with Tyler Gonzalez.  Not sure which Tyler is taking over the car from the other.  We shall find out, perhaps.  The Honda teams are also in as we see the #88 VCMG entry, and both the Atlanta Speedwerks cars, #84 and #94.  #54 in the lane as well and it seems Stephen Simpson is now taking over for Michael Johnson, for the next stint of the race.  Smooth, clean pit stops for the TCR runners and there too is the factory Hyundai Elantra for Bryan Herta Autosport.  Not sure if it is Ryan Norman or possibly Parker Chase who stepped into that car.

Kuno Wittmer remains the overall leader.  Once again, the TCR pit stops are now done and dusted.  The field is fprming up for a restart with some TCR machines mixed in with the Grand Sport cars.  Ah yes.  The leader is in pit lane.  Kuno Wittmer is handing the car to Orey Fidani, returning to the championship after missing the most recent race at Mid-Ohio for an important event, the birth of his son.  We are still under the second Full Course Yellow.  #13 inherited the lead as they pitted after the rest of the leaders came in and the team Hs lost track position because of it.  Orey Fidani will drive the middle stint and then Kuno Wittmer will finish.

The Mid-Ohio race last month which the McLaren won, was not expected to be a track where they were successful, but they sure were.  Kuno Wittmer has gotten his minimum drive time for points.  But he has given up track position.  Nate Vincent is at the wheel of the #11 FCP Euro Mercedes AMG GT4 and he is right in line behind Spencer Pigot as we see the green flag again to restart this motor race.  Pigot leads the way and here comes Dillon Machavern as he is monstering Ryan Hardwick.  Machavern picks up places as we go onboard with the #40 Ford Mustang of James Pesek.  Now, we also see an onboaed view of one of the Hyundai’s.  Be very careful of the apex curbs so you don’t hammer the tires on the loaded side of the car.

Oh dear!  Patrick Gallagher is being pressurized right now by Michael Hurczyn I believe.  The #64 TGM Camaro is being called in for a drive through penalty for incident responsibility when Ted Giovannis turned Gavin Ernstone in the Road Shagger Audi RS3 LMS TCR.  Traffic is unbelievable.  What a shemozzle right now.  We watch James McCumbee as he runs flat through the uphill esses.  Pumpelly passes Mike McCann.  McLaren vs. Audi.  Spencer Pumpelly has driven many Porsche’s through his career and the McLaren is a different animal.  The suspension, the driveline, are completely different.

Pumpelly and Cooper have been adversaries in SRO competition through the years, but now, they are teammates.  Fascinating how motor racing works, sometimes.  Eric Foss and Jeff Mosing have teamed up a lot but sometimes one driver can only win a championship if another driver has family commitments.  Spencer Pigot leads the motor race as Spencer Pumpelly has moved the McLaren up from 22nd to 9th.  TCR action is still hot and heavy as well, look, and we are just shy of an hour into the race.

Tim Lewis Jr. in the black Alfa Romeo Giulietta is being harried and passed by Dennis DuPont aboard the #19 Van der Steur Racing Hyundai Veloster.  The KMW TMR Alfa Romeo is very quick, but they have never shaken bad luck.  We watch the Toyota Supra, (one of them), and those cars have made a good impression thus far in the race, and we’ve seen some great onboard pictures from the Toyota, too.  No further action on the incident between Michael Johnson and Taylor Hagler.  The stewards have deemed it a racing deal.

We ride aboard the Hyundai Elantra, the #98 car for Bryan Herta Autosport.  Parker Chase at the controls, chasing Tyler Gonzalez and Karl Wittmer up the hill and into the Inner Loop.  He tries to make a move on Gonzalez, but Tyler Gonzalez proceeds to slam the door in his face.  Downhill onto the outer portion of the track, the cars are still negotiating the cement dust, the speedy dry, from the earlier incident.  Thuis chain of RCR cars is massive and they are getting intermingled with the GT4 machines as well, look.  Meanwhile, Spencer Pigot leads by nearly a second a half over Patrick Galagher as we approach the one hour mark.  Nearly an hour of this four hour race is done and dusted.

The scrap continues through all the traffic.  A big field of cars here in Michelin Pilot Challenge.  That’s for dead sure.  Now we see James Pesek in the #40 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 making his move on one of the Mercedes.  Is that the #57 Winward Racing machine we saw spin earlier?  It appears to be that black and silver liveried car.  So, that is either Alec Udell or Bryce Ward at the wheel of it.  Difficult to say.  No dice for a pass for Mr. Pesek, sharing with NASCAR and road racer, Chad McCumbee.  A big scrap is brewing in TCR too.  Battles all over the track.  This is one of the Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic’s tussling with one of the Veloster’s and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, for Tim Lewis Jr., Lewis Jr. is keeping a watching brief.

Three wide!  Yikes!  Lewis Jr., Dennis DuPont, and Robert Noaker in the #84 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda!  Yikes!  Tyler Gonzalez, Parker Chase, and Stephen Simpson are all closing up on this battle making it even larger.  Parker Chase in the factory Hyundai Elantra for Bryan Herta Autosport, he is going to pass Tyler Gonzalez into The Boot, come what may.  The Veloster’s are ganging up on the factory Hyundai pilot.  A hot shoe.  Maybe just a shade too hot.  Frantic.  Hot and heavy.  Whatever adjective you choose, that’s what we’ve got for the racing action in TCR here at The Glen.

The back half of the top ten in Grand Sport is hotly contested too, look.  The GT4 cars are of course in a race of their own.  Hugh Plumb, chasing after Alan Brynjolfsson, has the Murillo Mercedes in the way.  Brynjolfsson is hot on the heels of Spencer Pumpelly for eighth place.  That is the Black Dog Speed Shop McLaren, car #34, that was leading earlier on.  Now back to the Parker Chase and Tyler Gonzalez story.  Gonzalez is really applying the blowtorch and he has Stephen Simpson lurking back there as well.  This is a mega scrum and extraordinary to watch!

Who says the TCR cars aren’t spectacular?  Kicking up the dust coming back out onto the main circuit, the train of TCR machines continues to chug.  Simpson has Karl Wittmer all over his six right now.  Wittmer, meanwhile, is being monstered by the sister Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic TCR with Todd Lamb at the wheel of it, and two more Hyundai’s.  Harry Gottsacker at the wheel of the #33 has the sister Hyundai Elantra factory car in hot pursuit just behind the #51 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster, A.J. Muss at the wheel of it, sharing with Mason Filippi. 

Muss runs wide and Gottsacker says “thanks, mate, for leaving the door open.  I shall waltz right through.”  Muss is now watching a battle in his windscreen between Parker Chase and Robert Noaker.  BHA Hyundai vs. Atlanta Speedwerks Honda.  A.J. Muss, too, look, wants a bite of the apple.  He’s still in this fight.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, (the front), you’ve still missed nothing.  You’ve paid for your seat, only used the edge, but now, can recline.  Spencer Pigot still has a second and a half lead over Patrick Gallagher.

Pigot is out for a Saturday drive.  But there’s just over an hour on the board and a long way to go yet.  James Pesek in the PF Racing Ford Mustang, the pink car, ahead of one of the Toyota Supra GT4’s.  Not sure if it’s the #21 or the #14.  Both of those Supra’s are run by Riley Motorsports, but one of them is being co-campaigned by Bluff City Racing.  Tim Lewis Jr. leads TCR in the Alfa and his gap back to Robert Noaker was a long one, but may be shrinking into turn one.

They are catching the tail of the Grand Sport field for the GT4 cars.  Parker Chase, meanwhile, moves past Dennis DuPont.  Here comes Tyler Gonzalez into the fight as well, look.  Stephen Simpson too, has something left in the locker and wants to join in.  They’re having a party, and they didn’t invite me!  The former race leader, the MIA (Motorsports In Action) McLaren is in the lane for scheduled service and a driver change.  Sheena Monk should be taking over from Spencer Pigot.  Four tires and fuel, and the car is serviced and sent.  Or is it?  Long hold on the fuel.  TCR battle, second verse same as the first.

Single file up through the esses and more passing abounds into the Inner Loop.  DuPont is the meat in the sandwich now between Gonzalez and Simpson.  Hopefully the two Copeland Hyundai’s don’t make a pizza out of the identical van der Steur car!  Gottsacker and Lamb are closing in.  The sister cars for Bryan Herta Autosport and Atlanta Speedwerks!  To quote a skit from The Muppet Show, “look, kid. You ain’t got no guns, those are pickles!  Alright!  You asked for it!”  Ping, ping, ping.  “Uh, sorry!  I didn’t know the pickles were loaded!”

That’s what this fight is.  Your confused, kid.  You think you’ve got a real hotrod?  Well, check this out!  A bit of argy bargy and then Gonzalez makes his move on DuPont.  Identical cars.  Identical power.  These two blokes are the fastest gunslingers in this battle.  Forget the pickles.  Use cannons!  ¼ distance into this race as we see Patrick Gallagher car in the lead.  Todd Lamb was dropping like a stone, and he is moving his way back up the order.  But, ladies and gentlemen, we have a huge wreck in turn one!  Oh my gosh!  Speaking of an explosion, that’s what this looks like!  This is mad!  The #27 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster pinballs into the wall and spins around, and there’s already big damage as well, to the #83 FastMD Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4!

That is the car of Alex Papadopoulos and James Vance and the whole front end of it is destroyed!  I told you the cannons were loaded!  Several of the TCR cars got caught up in the debris field.  #51 A.J. Muss is all torn up.  Tyler Gonzalez in the #27.  That loaded cannon just exploded.  Caution number three of the day so far.  The skidmarks are well past corner exit and the impact zone is right into the steel Armco barrier.  The car arced to the left and to the wall.  Terribly unfortunate that the energy was directed to the guardrail and not the tire barriers that would absorb lots more energy.

Muss was ninth.  Gonzalez was sixth, and Papadopoulos was running 13th in the Grand Sport order, for the GT4 machines.  Yikes!  This is a massive accident.  Muss has made his way back to the pits.  Vance got out of the Audi under his own power but is being tended to by the medics.  We are not even halfway yet.  Merely an hour and 15 minutes into the motor race.  The #51 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai is headed back to the garage.  We will look at a replay.  Here’s it all again in real time.  Gonzalez runs wide, the TGM Camaro t bones A.J. Muss, and Muss pinballs into Gonzalez who hits the wall with a glancing blow.

Three into one won’t work and Gonzalez just clobbered the Armco.  Heavy damage to the front and a huge debris field.  Pit stop time for Grand Sport cars, for the GT4’s.  Notlad and Black Dog Speedshop are in the lane together.  Brandon Kidd in the Automatic Racing #09 Aston Martin is going to assume the race lead.  The Wright Motorsports #16 Porsche Cayman is also in for fresh tires and fuel.  A mechanic scrambles to retrieve a loose wheel.  Turner Motorsports, TGM, and several other teams are in the lane as well as the GS cars pit.  Two hours and 40 minutes to go, the standard length of an IMSA WeatherTech Championship sprint event. 

An IMSA official retrieves an errant Michelin Pilot tire.  The cars circulate at slow speed behind the safety car and Brandon Kidd is still shown in the race lead as we look at a replay of the tire running loose in the lane.  On this lap, the TCR field is in the lane.  Alfa Romeo, Honda, Hyundai, and the rest.  Tires, fuel, and a driver change for Alfa Romeo.  Roy Block is getting into the car.  Hyundai #33 is in and the Elantra there will be taken over by Mark Wilkins.  Trouble, just outside pit lane for the #88 VCMG Honda Civic.  It may be that Victor Gonzalez took over that car from Karl Wittmer, but he is stopped at pit out.

No fire in the belly of the beast?  Maybe the electronics need to be recycled before he can start the car.  These TCR cars have nearly 300 horsepower at the front wheels.  In replay, we see the #5 Alfa Romeo racing the Hyundai’s out of the pit lane.  Gonzalez has his hazard flashers on, but the car still refuses to start.  Your top runners in Grand Sport behind the safety car are Jason Kidd in the #09 Automatic Racing Aston Martin, Eric Foss in the #56 Murillo Racing Mercedes, Vinny Barletta in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4, the sister #95 Turner M4 of Dillon Machavern, Mike McCann in the #8 McCann Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4, Orey Fidani in the #13 AWA McLaren, Spencer Pumpelly in the #34 Black Dog Speedshop McLaren, and Hugh Plumb in the #46 TGM Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

Roy Block leads TCR ahead of Robert Noaker, Todd Lamb, and Nick Wittmer in the much delayed #88 Honda.  It is Wittmer and he is still dead in the water down at the end of the pit lane.  Someone is going to have to try to tow him in.  The lights are on and there’s a bit of impact damage.  But the car is still not running.  Most of the leading GS and TCR cars are queued up behind the safety car at this point.  This is the third Full Course Yellow in today’s Tioga Downs Casino 240. 

The incident we saw with the #83 Alex Papadopoulos driven FastMD Audi was a single car accident.  The reason we saw the #94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda so slow (the car shared by Todd Lamb and Ryan Eversley), a boost pipe came off the turbocharger.  The problem is fixed now.  Ryan Eversley will get into the car at the halfway mark in the race at two hours, which is just about a half an hour away.  Sheena Monk has now taken over the once overall leading MIA #3 McLaren 570S GT4 from Spencer Pigot, and they are now tenth in the overall and in class in Grand Sport/GT4.

Spencer Pigot said the McLaren for MIA has not handled the way they wanted through the weekend but maybe they’ve sorted the handling.  The top two are off strategy, the Brandon Kidd Aston Martin, leading over Eric Foss and Vinny Barletta as team mate Dillon Machavern moves by.  These cars are off strategy.  The Mercedes and the Audi are right back in this fight.  Aston Martin, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW, as Nolan Segal is also a lap down and is in this pack, car #93.  Mark Segal, his dad, handed the car over to his son.  Team boss Steve Dinan at CarBahn is really impressed.  Brandon Kidd is a Syracuse University grad and is an investment advisor and has raced pavement late model stock cars and sprint cars, now in a GT car at his home track.

Spencer Pumpelly has moved the #34 Black Dog Speedshop McLaren to fifth overall and in Grand Sport while the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Veloster is slowing down.  Flat right front tire on that automobile.  Oh dear.  Harry Gottsacker at the controls.  At least Gottsacker was close to the pit lane.  Did he run over debris?  Probably so.  The tire was cut down and there’s got to be a suspension or steering issue on the Hyundai.  Team manager David Brown is looking things over.  He has had massive amounts of experience in racing, working with Porsche and before that, with the Williams Formula 1 team and was overseeing the team when Ayrton Senna drove for them all too briefly in 1994 before his tragic death at Imola in Italy that year.

Don’t forget.  Here’s a programming note.  Friday night, July 2nd, a double header for the Michelin Pilot Challenge and the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.  You won’t want to miss either event.  Tune in right here for both on Endurance… The Sports Car Racing Blog.  Have a car that is good now, but the weather could change in a big way before the racing next week.  The TCR action is hot and heavy as we near the halfway mark of this motor race.  We continue watching more major battles in the GS ranks at the moment. 

Oh dear!  More calamity as the #11 FCP Euro Mercedes AMG GT4 spins up the hill out of the esses and tags the wall on the left rear corner!  A wild ride!  He is crawling but he also has a flat right rear and a flat left rear tire.  Let’s see what happened.  Ah.  He just spun and hit the wall ending up in the middle of the road.  Now, is that Nate Vincent or Michael Hurczyn driving?  That was an ugly incident.  Oh, hello.  A beaver pops up out of a hole in the infield as if he is interested in watching the race here at Watkins Glen.  A beaver who likes sports car racing.  Who knew? 

The beaver appears to have made a home in the carcass of a discarded tire.  Meanwhile, a brake change is taking place for one of the Hyndai Elantra N TCR’s.  Not sure if this is the #33 or the #98 car.  Meanwhile, Mercedes #11 is a wounded bird, trundling his way back to the pit lane with that steadily delaminating left rear tire and crumpled left rear fender.  The crew goes to work and fixes the tire while also looking to tear away the loose bodywork and they do so.  A new tire goes on the car but more repairs to the rear fender must be made first.

Damage to the undertray on that car as well.  The mechanics are calling for a prybar to take the damaged bodywork and the undertray and fix it.  The Mercedes will not start now.  But it does fire up and will be back on track soon, albeit, a ways behind.  This is the fourth Full Course Yellow of the race.  We have not had as much racing as we’ve truly wanted to see.  That was Nate Vincent who spun and crunched the car into the fence.  Vincent got into the clag and could not thread the needle.  They had huge success in TCR a couple years ago for another championship, the SRO TCR series. 

Many of the cars have been able to extend their fuel mileage for over an hour due to the yellows.  But the #09 car could dispense with a pit stop.  This is a short yellow with the pit lane closed.  Wait for green flag pit stops and some cars have gone to the lane as we see the green back out.  They can come now due to the short yellow flag.  We’ve had less than an hour of racing with Brandon Kidd in the lead and the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 in the lane.  The #13 AWA McLaren has taken fuel only and there is a driver change from Vinny Barletta to Robby Foley in the #96 BMW M4 GT4 for Turner Motorsports.

Spencer Pumpelly is driving very well aboard the first-time IMSA competing Black Dog Speedshop #34 McLaren.  Michael Cooper said that Black Dog has not made pit stops.  In SRO sprint races they do driver changes but no tire changes.  Pumpelly unfortunately is sliding back down the order.  Eric Foss is in the lead of the motor race as Trent Hindman and Patrick Gallagher have both made their way around Spencer Pumpelly.  Brandon Kidd, meanwhile, gives it up, handing the lead to Eric Foss who now has a margin over the Aston Martin man of 7/10ths of a second. 

Trent Hindman in the other Aston Martin, the Volt Racing entry, car #7, is making his way past Spencer Pumpelly.  He needs to figure out the nuances of the car, but the car is good, and the team is good too.  Nolan Seagal will pit soon as we see Dillon Machavern passing Brandon Kidd and Eric Foss.  Patrick Gallagher makes a move past Jason Kidd.  Three Aston Martin’s in the top five.  The marshals won’t like what Dillon Machavern is trying to do.  Machavern moves past Kidd and Foss.  Machavern is on a line that isn’t the racing line.  Kidd is out of petrol.  So, he hits the pit lane. 

Brandon Kidd is going to hand over the car.  Not sure who they will change over to.  It will be either Rob Ecklin or Ramin Abdolvahabi.  Two top runners (one each in Grand Sport and TCR) get pinged for track limits by the marshals.  So, the #95 Turner Motorsports BMW of Dillon Machavern and the #94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic TCR.  Keep two tires on the curbs out of the corners.  Turns one, eight, and ten are the turns the marshals are looking at closely.  Abusing track limits, it isn’t egregious to the lap time but has to be consistent to every driver and they’ve been consistent all weekend long from when Free Practice 1 happened.  The #33 Hyundai Elantra has terminal trouble.  It is game over for Harry Gottsacker and Mark Wilkins.

Gottsacker says there was a “lump” in the steering.  So, it is game over for one of the Bryan Herta Autosport cars.  Also, we have trouble on track for the #14 Toyota GR Supra.  He tags the #65 Murillo Racing Mercedes.  Well, the #14 car is moving again, albeit slowly.  It looks like he is coming out of pit lane back onto the racing tarmac.  A big scrum here, too, for tenth on back in GS.  The MIA McLaren is being monstered by the PF Racing Ford Mustang as well as one of the Winward Mercedes cars, one of the Murillo Racing Mercedes’, and the blue TGM Camaro we saw in strife in pit lane earlier on.

Eric Foss wiggling all over the shop there, look, holding second place behind the dominant Notlad Aston Martin #23 in the hands of Patrick Gallagher.  More trouble for the Toyota Supra or so it appears.  Monk in the MIA McLaren, car #3, she is being hounded by the #40 PF Racing Ford Mustang and it’s likely Chad McCumbee trying to make the pass, and he also has his hands full with the Winward and Murillo Mercedes cars!  Mama Mia!, and I don’t mean the Abba song, I mean the Italian phrase expressing amazement or shock.  There’s plenty of bumping and boring between these three!  Yikes!

I don’t know if it’s Indy Dontje or Russell Ward in the #4 Winward Racing Mercedes, but whoever it is, he has his hands full with the #65 Murillo Mercedes and the #64 TGM Camaro!  They thunder up through the toe of The Boot and back onto the main part of the circuit here at Watkins Glen.  This is some spectacular racing we are seeing on a Saturday afternoon in upstate New York.  Classic racing at a classic track.  The #65 Mercedes runs wide and makes the move back on track chasing down the #4 Mercedes and the #3 McLaren and now we see Trent Hindman has moved past Eric Foss and he is moving in on Patrick Gallagher for the lead.

Monk gives it up to come to pit lane.  We’re past halfway in Michelin Pilot Challenge here at The Glen.  Gallagher leads Trent Hindman, Eric Foss, and Spencer Pumpelly.  In replay, ooh, the #4 Mercedes for Winward whacks the wall out of turn 11.  That had to give either Indy Dontje or Russell Ward a bit of a scare.  Bounding over the curbs, the #4 continues on it’s merry way.  Meanwhile, Sheena Monk has pitted the McLaren and maybe did hand it ba k over to Spencer Pigot, and we do see some slight fender damage for Mercedes #4.  A scrape on the fender. 

More argy bargy for the #4 Mercedes as Parker Chase muscles his way by in the Bryan Herta Autosport TCR Hyundai Elantra!  Get out of my way!  #4 is now pit lane and that minor damage may need to be buffed out.  The car is on the air jacks but there’s going to have to be a consultation.  Do we change tires?  Do we fix the dented fender?  Wait a minute.  Hold everything.  Lock the doors.  We’ve got to do a brake change first and change all the tires before we get to the damage at the rear.  Ooh!  Deary me!  That left a mark!  You can see where #4 swapped paint with the guardrail.

This is going to be a longer repair in the lane for the #4 team than they’d hoped.  The battle in TCR continues and it is Hyundai’s a go-go here.  Robert Noaker and Todd Lamb continue leading in class for the Atlanta Speedwerks Honda team.  But Parker Chase, Stephen Simpson, and Michael Lewis, are having a battle of their own.  Lewis taking over from Taylor Hagler.  It’s Aston Martin time at the front, with Patrick Gallagher moving ‘round the lapped #09 Automatic Racing Vantage entry.  Not sure who is in that car at this stage. 

In the background, look, Trent Hindman is lurking in the chartreuse Aston Martin, the Volt Lighting entry.  In the lane too, is the first of the Murillo Racing Mercedes automobiles, this is #56.  Tires and fuel, and no driver change, leaving Eric Foss to do a double stint.  Waiting on the fuel, the car’s tires are changed, he’s down off the air jacks, and away.  The Aston Martin scrum continues as Hindman moves past the Automatic Racing entry and is set to chase down Gallagher in the Notlad Aston Martin.  As you can see, the Notlad by RS1 entry is painted in the famous Eddie van Halen guitar livery, looking like one of Van Halen’s Frankenstrat Stratocaster guitars.

So, it is Gallagher vs. Hindman at the front of the pack.  Spencer Pumpelly who led the motor race earlier is now third at the keyboard of the Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren, car #34.  It was Russell Ward in the Winward Mercedes who whacked the wall out of the final turn as we watch again in slow motion.  2014 Grand Sport champion in Michelin Pilot Challenge, Trent Hindman, has the fastest lap of the motor race at 1:52.2.  The battle for third through fifth is steaming along well, too.  This is Spencer Pumpelly in the McLaren ahead of Colin Braun in the #21, the second Riley Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 being run in cooperation with Bluff City Racing.

Hugh Plumb is also making inroads in the #46 TGM Chevrolet Camaro GT4.  We saw Matt Plumb in the car earlier and now Hugh, his brother, takes over.  The third car behind Braun is the #93 Audi for CarBahn with Peregrine Racing, and that automobile is a lap down.  That is Mark and Nolan Siegel sharing with Tom Dyer.  Nolan Siegel at the controls now and doing a fabulous job.  Many teams went for two drivers for this event, the second four-hour enduro for Michelin Pilot.  That is along with the season opener at Daytona, a race yours truly saw in person before the pandemic in 2020.

Some teams have drafted in some top drivers for this enduro.  Hindman is closing up on Gallagher and it sounds like he needs to slow down and save fuel for their window to make the pit stop.  Hindman, though, is pushing, pushing, pushing.  Back time this race with an hour and 50 minutes to go.  Dillon Machavern in the #95 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4, he had a drive through penalty for exceeding track limits. Now, Patrick Gallagher is in the lane for service and changing drivers over to Stevan McAleer.  Tires and fuel for the boys from Notlad.

McAleer can make it to the end on two more pit stops, and we hear that a full fuel load in a GS car around The Glen lasts for 47 minutes or so.  Trent Hindman is in the pound seats on fuel while the Notlad boys will need a yellow to make up the difference.  Trent Hindman is back full-time in the WeatherTech Championship for the competing team, for Wright Motorsports in their GT Daytona Porsche.  So, stay tuned because you will read all about the 6 Hours of the Glen, tomorrow.  Hourly reports coming your way, right here on Endurance… The Sports Car Racing Blog.

Now, the plot thickens, look, between Spencer Pumpelly’s McLaren and Colin Braun’s Toyota Supra.  Braun right on Pumpelly’s six.  They’ve shared cars before but are now rivals.  These two blokes are the crème de la crème of sports car racing.  Nolan Siegel is only 16 years old.  Colin Braun debuted in sports cars at that age nearly two decades ago.  We go onboard in the Supra with Colin Braun and he’s on a Saturday drive.  Hindman, Pumpelly, and Braun, are three of the drivers we will see in tomorrow’s WeatherTech Championship enduro.

It will be screaming hot tomorrow.  Two driver lineups will be tough to deal with especially in the prototype cars.  This is a great time for drivers stepping over from other championships into sports car racing.  They aren’t obligated to do it, but they choose to race in sports cars because they enjoy it.  What we are going to see in the next couple years is more manufacturer involvement with GT Daytona Pro coming in 2022 and then the big news, with LMDh on the horizon.  Robert Noaker, another 17-year-old driver, who is on the rise.  He has pace, but he will gain experience and success to maybe move into the WeatherTech Championship one day.

Braun continues to hound Pumpelly for third spot.  Naturally aspirated 3.8-liter V8 McLaren vs. turbocharged V6 Toyota Supra.  This, ladies, and gentlemen, is a fair fight.  They move onto another lap, but are working to catch the leader, Trent Hindman.  One hour and 44 minutes remaining on the board.  We check back deeper in the TCR field.  The Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster is the meat in a factory Hyundai Elantra sandwich or so it seems. 

Check that.  The other blue Hyundai is the Veloster #77 for BHA, and so it is technically a factory car.  One is an Elantra and the other, a Veloster.  More battles afoot in Grand Sport, but speaking of Grand Sport, the #46 TGM Camaro is in the lane.  Meanwhile, the Hyundai’s are still enjoying their party.  Wow!  Stephen Simpson is making his move on Parker Chase, as we speak.  Into the Inner Loop, he gets the door slammed on him.  Ouch!  What did you do that for?  The KMW TMR Alfa Romeo is closing in as well, look.  Roy Block and Tim Lewis Jr. are in this fight.

Meantime, we return to the Spencer Pumpelly and Colin Braun story.  Short chapter.  Pumpelly ducks for the pit lane.  Fuel, tires, and a driver change back to Michael Cooper.  Waiting on fuel.  It looks like one tire will be changed, one Michelin Pilot tire before M.C. is sent on his way.  Back to the TCR battle and your regularly scheduled program right here on the sarcasm channel.  Wait.  Never mind.  More pit action.  Enter the Volt Racing/Volt Lighting #7 Aston Martin to pit lane.  Trent Hindman, in from the lead.  Tires and fuel.  No driver change, but a check of the passenger side of the car, as that door is open.  Maybe topping off a cool box or a drink bottle or something. 

Toyota in the lane with the Supra as well, the #21 machine.  It appears to be a driver change.  Colin Braun out, and either Scott Andrews or Anton Dias Perera, in.  Tires now going on the Aston Martin as fuel is added and Hindman is down and away.  The Supra is back on track and now we see the #8 McCann Racing Audi R8 GT4 in the pits.  Is it Michael McCann or is it Andrew Davis?  Michael McCann is into the car.  The TCR scrap rages.  A sole Alfa Romeo vs. three hungry Hyundai’s.

The order has shuffled at the sharp end.  Alec Udell leads in the #57 Winward Mercedes followed by the Volt Lighting Racing Aston Martin for Trent Hindman, with Kenny Murillo in the second #65 Murillo Racing Mercedes now third.  Fourth goes to Dillon Machavern in the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 #95.  Andrew Davis is fifth.  In TCR, Robert Noaker leads Todd Lamb, Parker Chase, and Stephen Simpson. 

Machavern in the lane now for service and handing the car over to the legend, Bill Auberlen.  Meanwhile, Stevan McAleer runs seventh in the verall and has a TCR battle right behind between two of the Hyundai Veloster’s.  #77 and #54.  Pit stop time for one of the factory Hyundai cars, serviced and sent as we watch the driver at work from the onboard camera.  Into the lane, too, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 for fuel and tires but no driver change, and the dame is true for the #65 Murillo Racing Mercedes.

Fuel and tires, for the most part, as wholesale pit stops continue.  A wee bit over an hour and a half remains on the clock.  Also in pit lane, the #13 AWA McLaren.  A driver change.  Not sure if it is Orey Fidani or Kuno Wittmer to be honest.  Stevan McAleer seems to be moving up in the Notlad by RS1 Aston Martin.  He is closing in on the two leaders who right now are both Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic TCR’s, but the #84 is in the lane for service as we speak.  The order will change.  Robert Noaker pits handing the car over to Brian Henderson.

Also pitting, the #19 van der Steur Racing Hyundai Veloster.  Down and away after a fuel only stop?  That could be.  The TCR Honda’s lead the motor race overall but things will reshuffle.  Stevan McAleer will likely assume the lead with Jan Heylen in second place and Trent Hindman in third.  We do see Todd Lamb in the lead in the sister Atlanta Speedwerks Honda.  But the equally quick GT4 Aston of Stevan McAleer is closing in hand over fist and makes an easy pass on the Honda driver who has to give it up.

Lamb is in the pit lane now and will hand the car over to co-driver Ryan Eversley.  The car undershoots the pit lane.  So, order is restored with the Grand Sport cars at the head of the queue.  This is the fourth race of the ten-race season for Pilot Challenge.  The next one will be the fifth race, the halfway mark of the 2021 season.  Stevan McAleer has pitted, and he is ahead of Jan Heylen.  Both have now leapfrogged Trent Hindman.  Aston Martin, Porsche, Aston Martin.  Notlad, followed by Wright Motorsports, followed by Volt Racing with Archangel.  Hindman might have enough fuel but could be squeaky, squeaky on getting it to the end of the race and will need a splash and dash.

Hindman has 18 laps more of petrol than his rival ahead, Jan Heylen in the Porsche.  McAleer is outside the window.  He might need another yellow to get a chance to top up the tank.  Stephen Simpson in the lane from the lead in TCR in the #54 Michael Johnson Racing Hyundai.  Stephen Simpson won the WeatherTech Championship race overall here at Watkins Glen in 2018 with JDC-Miller Motorsports.  Robby Foley, meanwhile, has brought to the lane, the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 as well.  This team is second in the championship with Foley second behind Kuno Wittmer in the drivers’ cup. 

Hindman is saving fuel but still has pace as he speeds past Jan Heylen.  When a car handles well you can save fuel.  Burning excess fuel trying to balance the car is not what you want as a driver.  Coasting is helpful and that is possible in some places on the track here at Watkins Glen, sailing the car into places like turn one, turn eight, and the Bus Stop chicane in the inner loop.  Ryan Norman in the Hyundai Elantra is chasing Brian Henderson in the Honda Civic TCR.  Ryan Norman will race in IndyCar next weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and he will miss the next race at Watkins Glen.  Gabby Chaves will drive the Hyundai Elantra this coming weekend.

So, we wish Ryan Norman well on his IndyCar debut.  Usually, you went to sports cars if you didn’t get an open wheel ride.  But now, you can drive almost anything.  Stay with a network for the team you are affiliated with.  Will Ryan Norman go on a path to IndyCar?  We’ll see.  If the funding dries up, don’t disappear.  If you are climbing the ladder, keep your name in the hat and keep your profile out there.  The TCR cars are far quicker than people might give them credit for.  We have an hour and 20 minutes left in the motor race now.  It is harder to drive a car that does not give you as much top speed, but if it can handle through the corners, your braking zones will be shortened up.  That is a good thing.  The #09 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 now is in the pit lane for service.  The challenges are there with a TCR car.  Ryan Norman has gone around Brian Henderson and Michael Lewis in the #77 Hyundai Veloster, trying to stay on the lead lap, the sister Bryan Herta Autosport entry.

Most of these cars are going to need a short fill to get to the end of the motor race.  Ryan Norman is on the power early, moving out of the draft, and takes the position away, out braking the car on the outside, taking the preferred line.  Ramin Abdolvahabi was at the wheel of the #09 and on the pit stop he very well could have turned the car over to third driver, Rob Ecklin.  A battle now rages between Grand Sport and TCR as we see Stevan McAleer going around Brian Henderson, second place man in TCR behind class leader Ryan Norman who we were just speaking of.  Norman in the TCR class lead in the BHA Hyundai Elantra.

The TCR scrum rages on as the tires squeal into the corners, the Michelin Pilot tires slightly protesting the side loads into the turns.  Here comes Henderson, right on Norman’s gearbox and they have Michael Lewis in the way but will likely clear him.  Teammates are door to door down the back straightaway and into the Inner Loop.  No dice yet.  Norman stays behind Lewis.  Pit stop time now, from fourth overall and in Grand Sport, for Jan Heylen in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche Cayman.  Just an hour and 15 minutes now remain in the motor race.  The TCR battle remains hot and heavy.  You have missed nothing.  Norman and Henderson are still going at it and they still have Michael Lewis in eighth in class to contend with as they are trying to put him a lap down.

This TCR battle is fascinating to watch.  The man with the front row seat to see all this happen is our overall leader, Stevan McAleer, continuing to steer the #23 Notlad Racing by RS1 Aston Martin Vantage GT4.  He will want to pass these cars and lap them, but knows they are in a battle of their own, or does he?  Henderson gves him room, and will the Hyundai lads do likewise?  My guess is that yes, they will.  Now, pit stop time again for our earlier leader, the #3 MIA McLaren.  MIA stands for Motorsports in Action.  That is the team’s name.  McAleer moves past Norman, but now has to work his way ‘round Lewis as well.            

Norman is making his move on Lewis and Lewis slams the door in his face.  Don’t roughhouse if you are teammates.  That will not look good.  So, now Trent Hindman is moving up on the TCR battle in the Volt Racing Aston Martin, closing up on Stevan McAleer.  Although, McAleer is nowhere in sight.  Norman is trying Lewis again and this time, passes sucessfulkly while the #13 McLaren, the AWA car, is also moving in fast.  That would be Kuno Wittmer, I think, in the driving seat.  The shadows grow long over Watkins Glen even though this race, and the WeatherTech 6 hours tomorrow, will be events run in full daylight.

Just over an hour to go yet.  The action is hot and heavy in TCR as we’ve documented so much today.  Ryan Norman is hot and bothered, probably, as Brian Henderson is right on his back door.  Norman did have some contact with Kuno Wittmer.  Yes, into the Bus Stop, there was contact between Norman in the Hyundai and Kuno Wittmer in the McLaren.  Lewis probably had clag on his tires and was squirrely into the laces of The Boot.  Focus forward.  That is all you can do.

The Honda accelerates well out of the heel of The Boot.  Henderson can’t go anywhere, but here comes the sister Atlanta Speedwerks Honda, Ryan Eversley at the wheel of it.  Side by side stuff and Ryan Eversley flashes by Brian Henderson!  Jeepers creepers!  Maybe the two cars are on different tire strategy.  He is bish bash boshing it right now through the toe of The Boot and Norman’s tires must be knackered as he can’t turn into the apex of the corner.  Eversley’s car is handling so much better.  Here he comes.  Ryan Norman is struggling.  Henderson and Stephen Simpson, if these two blokes make a pig’s breakfast out of all this, they’ll be there to pick up the scraps.

Eversley wants a win in TCR.  He is going to make his debut in NASCAR Cup for Rick Ware Racing, and they are also entered with Ryan Norman in IndyCar at Mid-Ohio next weekend as Stevan McAleer is still our overall leader of this thrilling motor race.  Now, the gloves are off!  TCR just gor serious!  Here comes Eversley on the outside of Norman.  I think Norman will get caught out, and he does.  Here comes Henderson!  So, Ryan Eversley and Brian Henderson both are moving around Ryan Norman!  Stevan McAleer is now in pit lane from the lead for tires and fuel. 

One hour to go, right on the dot.  Honda leading Hyundai in TCR.  You’ve missed nothing.  The order is unchanged in TCR but the battle is heating up tenfold.  We could see the BHA Veloster and the JDC-Miller Veloster join the fun fairly soon.  They are closing in.  The order is changing up at the sharp end in GS with the GT4 machines.  We have quite the fascinating top ten even though we’ve been paying a lot of attention to TCR.  Trent Hindman in the Aston Martin leads Alec Udell in an AMG Mercedes, followed by Bill Auberlen in the BMW M4, Matt Plumb’s Chevrolet Camaro GT4, Michael Cooper in the Blackdog McLaren, Kenny Murillo’s Mercedes, Andrew Davis in the McCann Racing Audi R8 GT4, Stevan McAleer in the Notlad Aston Martin (dropping to ninth), and rounding out the top ten, Jan Heylen in the Wright Motorsports Porsche.

This battle in TCR remains hot and heavy as the Hyundai has the slight edge on the two Honda’s while they are all working their way past the Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Tim Lewis Jr., the KMW with TMR Alfa, car #5 is running sixth in class and along with Mikey Taylor in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi, those are the only two TCR cars currently, in the top ten, that do not have an H badge on them for Hyundai or Honda.  This is a good little scrap in TCR as the leaders make their way ‘round the Alfa.  Another wreck!  Oh dear!  It’s the beleaguered Toyota Supra, one of them.  Both Supra’s have had a fraught race today.

It looks like game over.  The car is crunched against the Armco and we can see from the still operating onboard camera, the driver is unbuckling and clambering out.  Dear me!  Is that Scott Andrews in the third-place car?  If so, this retirement is massive!  The left front corner is crunched, and the Armco barrier is bent.  Pit stop time for Volt Racing and the Aston, for fuel and tires.  Down and away goes the Aston Martin.  The Toyota driver is out of the car, and hops over the Armco to safety but we are under Full Course Yellow so the marshals can retrieve the car.

Oh boy.  We do watch in replay, and it is the #21 of Scott Andrews that has crunched the wall.  What does the onboard camera tell us?  In replay through turn five or six, before The Boot, the car gets loose and, bang!  He hits the wall solidly on the left front corner.  The race cam still runs as he abandons ship.  Andrews will be taken to the medical center for precautionary checks.  The marshals will now retrieve that slightly used Toyota Supra GT4 and try to repair the Armco.

The wrecker comes to retrieve the car.  The field circulates single file behind the safety car.  Full Course Yellow still as we clean up the track.  Excuse me, while I snooze.  It looks like there are a couple wave by’s happening.  Hard to tell.  The race cam still runs in the Toyota Supra as it is on the back of the wrecker.  Maybe something broke on the #21 Toyota Supra.  Trent Hindman stays in the lead of the motor race and he will be in the pound seats if everyone else needs to hit the pit lane.  We believe Stevan McAleer should go to second.  He is pitting now along with a number of the GS cars.  The #34 McLaren pits for a final time and Michael Cooper is driving.  Alec Udell in the #57 Mercedes for Winward Racing.  They want to challenge for the win.  Pitting as well, Bill Auberlen in the #95 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4.  The #23 Notlad Aston needed a short fill.  Jan Heylen in the Wright Motorsports Porsche is up there as there’s trouble on the pit stop for the #34 McLaren.

That team, at Blackdog Speedshop, have raced well, but pit stops have been their Achilles heel all day. Uh oh!  Problems at Turner Motorsports as well, as the car left the lane with the fuel hose attached and there’s raw fuel soaking the pit box.  Best get that cleaned up so it won’t ignite.  That’s the sister #96 car for Vincent Barletta and Robby Foley!  In replay, we see the fueler trying to remove the hose and he undoes it but fuel sprays all over, and the hose comes loose from it’s moorings on the fueling rig, the gravity fed fueling rig as the fueler tumbles to the pavement in a heap and raw racing petrol spews all over the place!

Hopefully the pit crew is OK.  They are angry about this incident, and rightfully so.  More woes for the #34 McLaren and Blackdog Speedshop.  In their haste to get the wheel done up, they’ve cross threaded the nut.  McLaren have had a checkered history with the wheel nut material and the hub material, the different metals, being compatible.  Meanwhile, the track marshals are hard at work fixing the guardrail where we saw the Toyota come to grief a wee while ago.  Pit stops continue for the TCR machines now.  We see many takers as the van der Steur Racing Hyundai Veloster and both of the Bryan Herta Autosport Elantra’s are in. 

The #84 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda is pitting for routine service.  The car briefly stalls but then makes it’s exit back onto the track.  Presumably, we have just seen the final pit stops for the TCR contenders.  The safety car has scrambled the field a bit and we have a mixed bag, a candy dish, if you will, of various flavors of GS and TCR automobiles.  What will happen as we get closer to the end of this motor race in the fading, waning sunlight of a Saturday summer afternoon in upstate New York?  A couple stragglers back into the lane for service.

So, the remainder of the field is present and accounted for.  Barrier repairs continue here at Watkins Glen with a half hour to go.  Will we see a restart?  I wonder.  This is a head scratcher.  I wonder if we ought to insert more mindless yammering during a yellow?  No.  No.  No.  Not much to talk about.  Been there, done that.  Track cleanup continues as we continue with the coverage here on the sarcasm channel.  One or two drivers are weaving ‘round to clean their tires while everyone else stays in single file behind the safety car.  We have seen enough yellow flags to equal a whole bunch of bananas here.  Bananas, lemons, take your pick.  Banana cream, or lemon meringue?

Well, the guardrail is going to be as repaired as possible as the safety crews and vehicles return to the pit lane.  A long while for repairs.  Safety first.  The field is still circulating behind the safety car.  Wondering when we shall go back to green.  We have been under yellow for half an hour.  The leading #7 Aston Martin has dodged a major bullet.  Did Hindman get to the pit lane in time?  Yes.  He was right in the lane as the pit commit light was turned on.  We are back to green and Trent Hindman speeds away like a scalded cat!  Some fast cars are in the fight.  The championship leader is laps down as Bill Auberlen is moving to the front. 

The AWA #13 McLaren leading the championship as Auberlen is miffed with Tom Dyer for holding him up as Dyer in the Audi is a lap down and Spencer Pigot in the MIA McLaren, car #3 is in the hunt.  Here comes Jan Heylen through the traffic as well as this is a mad scramble.  Jan Heylen will have his elbows out.  20 minutes left.  They scream past Chad McCumbee in the #40 PF Racing Mustang.  Stevan McAleer is now fifth and Spencer Pigot in the MIA McLaren is up to third.  In TCR it is Trenton Estep leading Ryan Eversley.  So, the Atlanta Speedwerks boys have been snookered temporarily.  Estep in the #81 CB Motorsports Hyundai Veloster, sharing with Mark Kvamme.

Eversley now leads as team mate Brian Henderson is trying to move in on Kvamme while Ryan Norman has his hands full.  Michael Lewis is steaming up to try to make a move.  This is good stuff here.  Michael Lewis whistles past Dennis Dupont in another Hyundai Veloster, and he will go to work on moving past Ryan Norman in the Elantra.  Check that.  He has already passed Henderson and Norman and is closing up on Eversley as Trent Hindman leads Bill Auberlen in the overall for GT4/Grand Sport honors by three seconds.

Auberlen running wide, maybe abusing track limits through turn eight.  Stevan McAleer is monstering Spencer Pigot right now.  We have seen warnings from the marshals about track limits.  Oh no!  More bad luck for the Alfa Romeo boys as they have a cut down, right front tire.  Poor old Tim Lewis Jr. and Roy Block, these blokes can’t catch a break!  Right front tire, cut down.  They had to do a drive through penalty for late entry at Volt Racing for leader Trent Hindman.  There is a pit lane entry line and as long as the car is inside the line when the light comes on.

The lane gets you to pit lane and Hindman was right in the markers for that, 100 yards inside the line.  Hindman is staying out while the team debates with the marshals.  Now we return to the ongoing saga of Stevan McAleer vs. Spencer Pigot.  Hello, and welcome to the Spencer and Steve Show!  Bill Auberlen up ahead still in second spot.  Now, Hindman is in the pit lane for a drive through penalty?  Yes.  A drive through penalty it is.  So, he will lose the lead of the motor race to Auberlen as time is of the essence.  This drops #7 to seventh place right in between Jan Heylen and Kenny Murillo.

Meanwhile, there is a whole cluster buster of TCR cars as Hindman exits back onto the track.  He is in the clear, out ahead of the TCR scrap.  Meantime in TCR, the internecine battle of the Hyundai’s continues unabated.  Michael Lewis and Ryan Norman scrapping for position but guess who is right on their back door?  Yes, you’ve guessed it.  Our old mate, Brian Henderson is still one of the dogs in this fight.  We should get five or six more laps before this race is finished with 12 minutes and change on the board.  Wow!  Lewis blows past Norman.  I wonder if he missed a shift, or something happened to the Elantra.

It sounds peachy from the onboard camera.  So, he will be OK.  That was a strange moment, though.  Team orders?  Not likely.  Norman is trying to come back as they speed through a dust cloud.  The battle is clearly between the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 and the Notlad Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4.  The #7 Volt Lighting Aston Martin did their drive through penalty and dropped back.  Trent Hindman is tenth.  Auberlen leads McAleer.  McAleer might have something left in the locker and the same is true for Spencer Pigot in the MIA McLaren, car #3.

Auberlen said yesterday that the BMW boys don’t have the pace to match the Aston Martin’s, but they are doing so and perhaps exceedingly right now.  The BMW is harder on it’s tires.  McAleer now, he is the shark and smells blood in the water.  Auberlen just may become the minnow.  Ryan Eversley has pulled a gap on Denis Dupont and Trenton Estep.  This race is very nearly done and dusted.  Oh no!  Trenton Estep is off the road with damage, smoking squealing tires, locking brakes into the runoff pavement at the side of the road.  He was locked up, squealing, and smoking his way down the hill, so those tires are busted.  Estep, look, those tires are screaming for mercy and he’s pulling himself to safety or into oblivion depending on how you look at it.

He skids his way on the brakes, out of third in class in TCR.  In replay, we see Estep has a broken left front wheel.  It’s cocked inward, so there was a suspension or steering failure there someplace.  There just had to be.  That’s a broken wheel without a doubt via closer inspection of the replay, look.  Hindman is working his way through the pack and now, Stevan McAleer is right on Bill Auberlen’s six.  McAleer goes for the lead diving to turn one.  Auberlen has the preferred line.  He’s going to slam the door in his face.  Oh dear!  Auberlen runs wide and McAleer nearly does likewise! 

They are nose to tail into the Inner Loop, the Bus Stop perhaps for the final time or the penultimate time.  Here comes McAleer on the inside after Auberlen gets crossed up, and he makes the pass for the lead!  Down into The Boot, this is get your own back time for Auberlen.  No dice.  Nothing doing.  McAleer stays in front.  Up the hill from the toe and the laces of The Boot into the heel.  Back out onto the main portion of the circuit, and Stevan McAleer, wow, he’s staying in front.  Looky there.  McAleer is in the lead.  Will; Auberlen be able to do anything with just over a minute to go?

Auberlen can’t hang with the Aston in the corners.  The speed isn’t there.  Auberlen has recovered from a penalty earlier.  But they could have to settle for second.  McAleer has a one-off race here, probably, at The Glen.  Take the maximum points.  White flag.  One lap to go.  Auberlen runs wide.  Final lap in TCR as well and Ryan Eversley could be on his way to a win as Dennis Dupont is five plus seconds in-arrears.  Patrick Gallagher and Stevan McAleer have had a shot and are going to take it.  Both of them have had a long time between drinks, and Notlad Racing by RS1 win the 4 Hours of Watkins Glen!

Let the celebration begin!  Thank you, Mat Dalton!  He stepped out of the car after an injury at another race.  Wow.  In TCR, the winner is the #94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic of Ryan Eversley and Todd Lamb.  Lamb gets his first win and Eversley gets his first win in five years!

Overall/GT4: #23 Gallagher/McAleer     Notlad Racing by RS1 Aston Martin Vantage GT4

              TCR: #94 Lamb/Eversley              Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic FK7 TCR

That’s a wrap from the enduro at Watkins Glen.  But, no.  We’re not done.  There will be a sprint race for Michelin Pilot Challenge in a doubleheader with the WeatherTech Championship, this coming Friday.  Also, don’t forget to tune in tomorrow, Sunday, for wall to wall coverage round three of the Michelin Endurance Cup for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen!  We’ll see you tomorrow from Upstate New York.  Good night for now.  Bye bye.

 

           

 

 

    

 

 

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