Hello, and welcome, everybody, to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. It is time for 40 Michelin Pilot Challenge cars to take on this tricky track located between Cleveland and Columbus for the second and final four-hour event of the season. There are 24 Grand Sport entries running to GT4 specifications, and 16 TCR touring cars ready to race. On the overall pole and the pole in the Grand Sport class, it is Michael De Quesada at the wheel of the #69 Motorsports in Action McLaren Artura GT4 that he shares with co-driver Jesse Lazare. Meanwhile, the pole position in the TCR class was earned by Honda over their rivals from Hyundai, Alfa Romeo, and Audi, and the pole position car is the #93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic Type R TCR in the hands of Karl Wittmer, from Montreal, Quebec, in Canada, sharing with Japan's Daijiro Yoshihara.
This is round four of the championship. 62 years ago, 380 acres of rolling Ohio farmland was developed into what is now the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with 11 manufacturers represented on the grid. Welcome to the O'Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio. This is the ninth race of our weekend, the headlining event. We join Dave Burns and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth. We did not race here in 2023 and there is a brand-new racing surface. It is a one line track this weekend. New track records have indeed been set in both the Grand Sport and TCR classes. Three different winners in GS competition. We have a 70-point spread in the top five and 160 points between the top ten in the Grand Sport class with Matt Plumb currently the sole points leader, 30 markers ahead of the duos of Riley Dickinson and Michael McCarthy, Jesse Lazare and Michael De Quesada, and then, Rory van der Steur all by himself in fourth spot, as he and the Dickinson/McCarthy duo are each 50 points back.
In fifth place, 70 markers out of the lead is the duo of Robin Liddell and Frank DePew in the #71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin. I believe two or three of these teams have already won races in the championship in 2024. We have Dillon Welch and Brian Till both on pit lane today. The last time McLaren started out front at Laguna Seca, they won. Jesse Lazare won the second VP Sports Car Challenge race in an identical McLaren. Lazare set a new track record in qualifying and knows the car and the track well. Now, there is a new contender we will be keeping an eye out for in this race. This is car #3, the JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche Cayman of Jared Thomas and Nick Shaeffer.
Thomas from North Vernon, Indiana, and Shaeffer from Salt Lake City, Utah, are new to the championship. Jared Thomas has been racing now for several years in the one-make Mazda MX5 Cup championship sanctioned here stateside, by IMSA. MIA needs a victory. Their rivals, Matt Plumb and Paul Holton are close behind aboard the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. In the TCR class we have seen sheer dominance from JDC-Miller Motorsports and the #17 Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor. However, in their home event here at Mid-Ohio, Honda have stepped up to the plate. They swept the front row of course with Karl Wittmer and Dai Yoshihara.
They have a plant an hour away from here and sent some plant workers and staff to help engineer the race cars this weekend. Some bigger points gaps in the TCR class as Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor lead the championship on a total of 1,050 points with a 180-point cushion over the #98 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Mason Filippi and Mark Wilkins. They have 220 points over third spot, the #76 team car at BHA of Preston Brown and Denis Dupont. Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker next in the #33 BHA Hyundai Elantra are 260 points out of the lead. In fifth spot, it is the #61 Road Shagger Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Jon Morley and Gavin Ernstone.
However, the #61 team are not racing here this weekend at Mid-Ohio. We have spoken about the resurfacing of the track. We are midway between Columbus and Cleveland. Very challenging with good overtaking zones and braking zones as well as a lot of elevation change. It is also very narrow. It is an old school circuit. Climbing the hill into The Keyhole, this is the first major overtaking spot on the course. It is a short braking zone. Control the left front tire. This leads to the backstretch where we will see the race start taking place. Turn four is another good braking zone. But watch out for the giant gravel trap on the outside of the turn which is known as China Beach.
Through turn four and a little beyond is a section of the course we call Madness. Watch for the final section of the lap, too, through The Carousel. Patience is a real virtue through there. Don't overload the left front wheel. We are not worrying a great deal about tire degradation for today's race. I should make a correction to the TCR front row before we get started. The second car that was supposed to start at the top in TCR was dinged for a technical infraction after qualifying and have been demoted. Therefore, we have a front row lockout for Montreal Motorsports Group and for Honda. #93 Karl Wittmer and Daijiro Yoshihara alongside the sister #6 car for Louis Philippe Montour and Bryan Ortiz.
Alright. So, we came across the start/finish line a wee while ago as I have been speaking to you this whole bloody time about how I think the race might go. So, we technically have started the motor race even though the cars have not come to the start zone just yet. We start on the backstretch just for the drivers to be able to give each other more room at the start. Whoa. Hang on. We have a couple of pit callers here before the race has even started. The first of these is the sister TGM Aston Martin, the #64 car being driven today by a trio with Ted Giovanis sharing alongside both Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson. Giovanis at the wheel of it. I think they picked up a puncture on the left front tire. So, the team elects to change it.
Michael de Quesada and Jared Thomas on the front row. It's race time! Green flag! Away we go! Now, whatever you do, don't cross over columns before you get to the start/finish line. de Quesada gets the jump and now, Jared Thomas is looking to the outside. Thomas on the inside, inside, inside! He runs out of room and has to give it up. Here comes the TCR field to start. Wittmer to the lead while Chris Miller is settling into third place. Screen left we see Mark Wilkins in the Hyundai in third place. Michael de Quesada looking for tire grip and temperature. Everyone is being patient at the start of this race.
Paul Holton in the Aston Martin is in third spot. Then comes the #19 Aston Martin, the van der Steur Racing Aston Martin with Danny Formal at the wheel of it, the Costa Rican driver taking the start of this race sharing with Rory van der Steur. In fifth place it is Jesse Webb at the wheel of the #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 he shares with Michai Stephens. A clean start for the most part. But we do see in this replay, some early action for the #5 Alfa Romeo of William Tally. He pulls off onto the grass. Tally the starting driver in the KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR, the only Alfa TCR in the field. He is sharing alongside Tim Lewis Jr. That off course excursion is over in turn nine. He'll have to watch the grass for that front radiator grille. It is in the low 70s ambient. At 40 minutes, that will be the minimum drive time met.
Chris Miller is backing up a wee bit and is now behind the #80 of Morgan Burkhard, the #80 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra. Burkhard sharing that car with Chase Jones. Right off the start, Chris Miller radioed the team and said, "somebody just drove right into the side of my door!" Is it the drivers' side or passengers' side door that was damaged? Trouble too, look, for the #73 car. This is the Racer's Edge Motorsports Honda Civic FK7 TCR with Daniel Wu at the controls, in an all-California duo sharing the car. Wu from Oakland, California, sharing alongside Tazio Ottis from Alameda, California.
Daniel Wu, he is an actor turned racer, who has not raced since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. We have just started this race. I don't think Daniel Wu hit anything. Just get back in the game. Now we see a battle for third spot in Grand Sport and in the overall. This is Danny Formal in the #19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin and he is being harried by both the similar Aston in the hands of Paul Holton, the TGM entry #46 and the Mercedes #34 of Jesse Webb, the JMF Motorsports machine. Formal just passed Holton. Rory van der Steur and Danny Formal happen to be mates who race go karts together.
It is all about networking and past history. We have seen Danny Formal racing in the WeatherTech Championship. He is from Costa Rica and is on an upward career trajectory in sports car racing. Danny Formal in turn is right on the tail of Jared Thomas in the Porsche Cayman. Thomas, Formal, Holton, Webb. This is a four-car battle for second place. Good stuff! This is a four-hour endurance race for Michelin Pilot Challenge, one of two they usually have on the schedule. Daytona, the season opener, is always a four-hour enduro and then the second one switches to different courses every year. Keep your nose clean in the first half, the first two hours. Then, you can begin to push and go for it in the second half, the final two hours.
These teams have either chosen a two-driver or a three-driver team. Now, the minimum drive time is 40 minutes for every driver listed in the car on your team roster. So, if you have three drivers listed on your team, everyone must do their drive team and do their part. You cannot just elect halfway through the race to pull the third driver out of your rotation. Michael de Quesada leads Jared Thomas right now. Thomas' team is also entered, with him as one of the drivers, in Mazda MX-5 Cup and in fact they had nine cars entered throughout the field in both of those sprint races here at Mid-Ohio this weekend. One of Thomas' cars won yesterday's race and he finished second.
So, it is smooth sailing for Michael de Quesada. Race Director Beaux Barfield was down explaining to Michael how to start the race because co-driver Jesse Lazare was pinged with a penalty in one of the VP Challenge races for moving over when he shouldn't have, moving out of the columns. So, Barfield had to be clear with Michael de Quesada and say "OK, Michael. These are the rules, and this is how I want you and all other drivers to handle the start of the race." Typically, the left column can swing over to the right. It is just a case of not moving over too early, onto the racing line where the rubber is embedded into the track surface for more traction. Race one of VP Challenge yesterday, we saw Jesse in the pit lane and didn't know why.
Then, we found out. It is a good rule. I have nothing against the rule of staying put before the green flag waves. But it boggles my mind how often drivers make a pig's breakfast out of it and constantly break the rule. Good grief! It happens in Michelin Pilot, VP Challenge, the WeatherTech Championship. Everyone straps on their fireproof overalls and their helmets and immediately forgets that rule exists before they are pinged with a penalty from the stewards right from the start of the motor race. Come on, ladies and gentlemen. Use your heads, please. The Honda teammates lead Honda's home event in the TCR class. Karl Wittmer ahead of Bryan Ortiz.
Wittmer started the race from pole. As we look at the charging pack behind these two, there are a phalanx of Hyundai's and a lone Audi as well. Ortiz won't be pressuring his teammate. Managing the front wheel drive cars around Mid-Ohio puts load on the front tires. Robert Wickens has been on the move early doors after starting from the back due to a ride height infraction. Mid-Ohio is a special place for Robert Wickens because this is the first place he ever drove a race car after his horrible IndyCar crash at Pocono Raceway back in 2018. He had a car set up with hand controls of course. He recovered and was paralyzed from the waist down and had an incredible recovery.
Wickens knew he could not race an IndyCar, a single seater, with hand controls. But he can do so in a touring car and has gone on to be incredibly successful. He and Harry Gottsacker won the championship last year. They ironically did not win a race in 2023. Now, look, the battles are beginning to heat up in Grand Sport. Jesse Webb doing everything he knows to hold off Luca Mars. #34 JMF Mercedes vs. #59 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang. Behind these two, right on their tails are Jenson Altzman in another Mustang, the #13 McCumbee McAleer Racing entry, and the #28 RS1 Porsche Cayman with their third driver this weekend, Austin Krainz at the wheel of it. Krainz is sharing with Stevan McAleer and Trent Hindman.
Altzman qualified in the top ten and is motoring. The Mustang Dark Horse GT4 is running well and of course, the other division that was introduced is the one-make Ford Mustang Challenge using the production version of the Dark Horse Mustang in a series of identically prepared automobiles running sprint races, sanctioned by IMSA. Whoops! We have a car stopped on the side of the track. The #71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin is by the guardrail and is not going anywhere, presently. Frank DePew is off the road, one of our three winners in 2024 so far, winning at Sebring International Raceway in that car he shares with Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis. Yikes! In this replay, he runs wide and over the grass, and clangs the wall before spinning right back across the track!
Phew! That was a close one! I don't see much if any damage to the car. Frank DePew does get the car back on track. That is such a tricky turn with elevation change at turn nine. Hit your marks. Control your speed and your throtttle application. DePew has not hit the pit lane yet. I think he is going around for another lap to see how the car feels. Can I drive the car? Does the car need any repairs? There is grass in the radiator inlet. Hoping that motorcar doesn't overheat. On corner entry, if you miss your mark turning in late, as you crest the hill, you lose grip. That is why Frank DePew spun off. Alright. Let's switch gears for a wee while back to the TCR fight. Wittmer being hounded by Ortiz and in the background, look, it is Mark Wilkins and Chris Miller in their own battle, making inroads on the top two.
Wilkins and Miller are reeling in these other two chaps. We anticipate the TCR cars going just over an hour. Three stops, four stints (double stints per driver I believe, if you have two as opposed to three). How do you slice the cake for the driver rotation? Do you do double stints or do a couple of singles? Chris Miller has moved back to fourth place and says he has a long brake pedal. The team came on the radio and said that the brakes are likely still being bedded in early doors, and that is why he is feeling the long brake pedal. If you think about it, we've barely been racing now for 15 minutes. There's a bucketload of time left on the board.
Four hours is a manageable duration for a TCR car to run. We have seen TCR cars globally run for whole 24-hour endurance races, thinking about the Creventic 24 Hour Series amateur endurance championship. You want to have a fresh brake package on the car and want to make certain that the brake system is going to be working and in good order towards the end of the race. Oh dear. Someone does not have a strong brake package, or even a rear wheel on their motorcar any longer. Poor old Jacob Deily. For him it is three wheels on me wagon, apparently. Deily is missing a left rear wheel. This is Jacob Deily sharing with James Vance now campaigning for Deily Motorsports, an Audi RS3 LMS TCR and not a Hyundai Elantra. Jacob Deily is in a world of pain because not only has the wheel departed company from the car, the entire rear upright in the suspension is busted.
Such a shame for Jacob Deily and his father, Bob Deily, who are running this team. This is a brand-new car and there is very little signage on it. Full Course Yellow. The Deily Motorsports team has also had braking issues on this car and had to have a new ABS module brought in. The Gou Racing team and drivers Eddie and Eduardo Gou assisted them, with the part being flown in from Laredo, Texas. A fraught race on debut for the #70 team barely 15 minutes into this long, long race. You cannot have a Full Course Yellow within the first 15 minutes and have an open pit lane. So the pit lane will stay closed.
So, we watch the replay and let's see what happened. There is a piece of the upright that fell out of the car after the wheel came off and he is fortunate he was not fully loaded in a high-speed turn or that shemozzle would have been far worse. The whole hub has been sheared off and the lubricant or whatever was used to grease the hub so it would work properly and not seize up, is on fire. James Vance, the co-driver, just signed on to compete with the team for the next five years. Vance is from Canada. Deily and his team are from Edmond, Oklahoma. This is an unusual failure. That fire we saw is from a brake line being severed.
Don't let a brand-new race catch on fire. Jacob Deily is just 18 years old, and his father is also a racing driver. They started at the 2022 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Bob Deily is the team manager. James Vance is an established, experienced driver. So much effort goes into a race weekend and when it goes wrong like this is completely and utterly frustrating. Gorgeous, Chamber of Commerce weather here at Mid-Ohio for today's O'Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio. I see opportunities for some nature photography on the back part of the course, but of course, the racing is what everyone is here for.
Ambient temperatures in the low 70s. It is a great spot to sit on the mound by the esses, camp out, have a picnic and a cold beverage on a lovely sunny summer day. Pit lane stays closed if a yellow comes out within the opening 15 minutes or the final 15 minutes of a race at least for the Pilot Challenge and WeatherTech Championship races. This does not apply to the shorter races like VP Sports Car Challenge for instance with a single driver format and only 45 minutes of scheduled racing. That is typically if there are multiple drivers. Now, we have another father and son team we are about to be updated on.
This is car #52 in the TCR class. This is the Baker Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR of the Canadian father and son duo of Sam and Dean Baker from Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, right by Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport Park). They are a longtime racing family who does race in Canada and Michelin Pilot Challenge was the obvious choice. Getting to race with your dad is very special where you can do that. We have three father/son pairings in the field today all in TCR. Alex and Eric Rockwell, Dean and Sam Baker, and Eduardo and Eddie Gou.
Again, this is the second and final endurance race of the year in Michelin Pilot Challenge. Into The Keyhole, there is a seamless transition between the racing surface and the curbs and drivers will use that to their advantage as the race goes on. These are pretty light curbs. The racing line is getting wider. Therubber is laid down on the track surface and there is a gradual slope between the pavement and the curb as well as the grass. The #69 MIA McLaren is the most race GS class winner in Michelin Pilot Challenge from the May Laguna Seca race. The restart is on the front straightaway, not the backstretch. Stack everyone up, and punch it, trying to hit the torque curve. Green flag. Jared Thomas and Danny Formal are both staying right with him.
Oh dear! We have a GS car spun at the back of the pack. This is the #97 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4, the blue and yellow car. This is the car with a three-driver team. Joe Dalton sharing with Patrick Gallagher and Vincent Barletta. Dalton is at the wheel of it. He is back on his way. Great to see Barletta back in the championship after winning the 2023 championship with Robby Foley. He was working through some injuries. He is back now and will keep on trucking. Now, Danny Formal wants to make a move on Jared Thomas, but decides wisely that discretion is indeed the better part of valor. Poor old Dalton got nerfed by Frank DePew in the Aston Martin, just turning the BMW sideways.
Again, Joe Dalton is back on the button and meanwhile, Michael de Quesada's car is coming to life in the McLaren. This car has been bullet fast all year. A drive through penalty for Frank DePew has been called by the stewards as de Quesada is scampering away. What is the tire degradation rate? Four stints and three stops, 55-58 minutes on green flag running and the TCR cars go over an hour on fuel. We are now having a Captain Cook at the lead battle in TCR as they latch onto the tail end of the Grand Sport field with the #16 Aston Martin for Skip Barber Racing. Ken Fukuda is at the wheel of it, sharing this afternoon with Will Lambros and Celso Neto. Neto, the Brazilian, we have seen how quick he is in TCR in a different championship.
The classes are merging together, and you get that a lot but particularly at Mid-Ohio. The TCR cars are more nimble and agile, able to change direction quicker than a big, lumbering GT4 car. The GT4's bring more power but they are heavier. Robert Wickens has now moved his #33 BHA Hyundai Elantra into the top five places in class. Top six, excuse me. During the yellow the team was doing system checks to get telemetry for Wickens back up on his dashboard. Wickens said they will need half the race to get back to the front of the pack here. We won't know until under an hour to go where the chips are going to fall on the old card table. It is like a basketball game almost, like the third quarter of the game.
Back time the race. That is what you want to do. Wittmer wanted to open the lane for Ortiz but then closed it again. The two tail end Charlie GS cars can stretch their legs over the TCR machines. That's the Fukuda/Lambros/Neto Aston Martin and the #43 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4 being shared by Sean Quinlan who is at the wheel right now, and his co-driver Greg Liefooghe. Quinlan does not want to mess up someone else's race. He has the horsepower down the backstretch, but as soon as he gets to the esses, to the tight, twisty corners, the TCR boys are all over him like a dang hornet's nest.
There are high speed straightaways and there are technical corners too. On the old surface you had to be so precise and so patient. With the new racing surface and the grip level ramping up, drivers can find new ways to drive the course. The compression of the field of the TCR cars is truly bonkers! They will want to dispose of these slower Grand Sport entries ASAP. Ken Fukuda is the recipient of the Diverse Driver Scholarship, seeing drivers of diverse backgrounds to go racing. He slept on people's couches, he worked his tail off for ten years. He is such a character because his life goes way beyond just being a racing driver.
Check this out. Ken Fukuda is a former captain of the UCLA rowing team. He is a licensed EMT and ambulance driver. He is the Race Director and a driving coach for the Skip Barber Racing School. He is also the recipient of this aforementioned IMSA Diverse Driver Scholarship. Now, if that isn't a resume, I don't know what is. Kudos to you, Ken. He also taught students in Liberia working with the Peace Corps, I might add. His students asked him, "Mr. Fukuda, what is your dream?" He said "I want to be a race car driver." Now, he is. He is living his dream. He is Tail End Charlie on the GS field but has loads of talent.
For 20th spot, Fukuda is all over Quinlan like a cheap suit, and Karl Wittmer leading the TCR class aboard the #93 Honda Civic FL5 for Montreal Motorsports Group, he is asking, where in the blazes can I go now? Wittmer ducks inside of Fukuda heading for The Keyhole. Fukuda will have more horsepower out of the 4-liter V8 turbo motor in that Aston than the little turbo 2-liter 4 cylinder in the Civic. Fukuda is initiating an escape plan simply because he knows the TCR cars want by and he is going to have more straightaway speed than they do throttling up, punching it down the backstretch. Morgan Burkhard too, is putting in a great drive so far aboard the #80 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra.
Keep an eye on Burkhard and co-driver Chase Jones. They have a two-car team. Victor Gonzalez came over from Puerto Rico with a small team, but he now runs in a handful of championships. He had the determination and grit to make it happen. Victor Gonzalez is driving the sister VGRT Hyundai #99 sharing with Tyler Gonzalez and Elliott Budzinski. Victor Gonzalez from Puerto Rico, Tyler Gonzalez (no relation), from St. Cloud, Florida, and Budzinski from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Karl Wittmer to the outside of Sean Quinlan trying to run the cushion. Now he is getting hot and bothered because his teammate Brian Ortiz is right behind him.
Mark Wilkins is patiently waiting, like a fish waiting for a fisherman to cast his line into the water and take the bait. Here at Mid-Ohio back in 2019, Bryan Herta Autosport claimed their first TCR victory on the way to a championship racing Hyundai's with Mark Wilkins and Michael Lewis driving. They won the championship that year. They are coming off a victory last weekend at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring that we covered here on the blog. They also ran the TCR World Tour support races here at Mid-Ohio. The Grand Sport battle for second place is heating up. Michael de Quesada is in his own zip code currently. But, in the background, look, the battle is getting feisty between Jared Thomas in the Porsche and Danny Formal in the Aston Martin.
Paul Holton sharing the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin with Matt Plumb has dropped down to fifth spot as we have a car in the pit lane for fuel. This is the #50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 Evo being driven today by the duo of Canadian Parker Thompson and Yuichi Nakayama of Japan. Thompson is at the wheel. Jack Hawksworth who normally is in the car for Michelin Pilot races was a late call up to Le Mans for the Akkodis ASP Lexus GT3 team for the race next weekend. So, they needed a sub and found Yuichi Nakayama to come and fill in. Mike Conway who should have been competing for Toyota's Hypercar team at Le Mans was involved in a bicycle accident this week and they brought in Jose Maria Lopez who was supposed to be in GT3.
Now, Jack Hawksworth makes his debut in the test day today and in the race next weekend. The battle in TCR is heating up mainly between Honda and Hyundai. Bryson Morris at the wheel of the #77 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra, he was on the TCR class pole at the Nurburgring for the 24-hour race. We discussed the race and of course it turned into the ten hours of the Nurburgring because there was so much fog on the mountain that weekend. There was a 14-hour fog delay. The drivers had time to go back, get a full night's sleep, recharge, refresh.
But, when they came back to the track, the fog was still so thick, there was no chance of the race resuming safely except for what I believe was just a couple of laps in the afternoon before it was called official and the shortest Nurburgring 24 ever. The seven and a half hours of the Nurburgring, really. I think that is the most demanding circuit in the world. So, the winning team in TCR.
Gottsacker/Morris/Wilkins/Filippi Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR
Congratulations! Morris sharing his car in this race at Mid-Ohio with Taylor Hagler. Morris is under the tutelage of Niclas Jonsson, the Swedish former endurance sports car racer. There are many boxes a driver must tick to survive in the motorsports industry today. Jonsson is teaching the drivers how to manage all of it. Speed behind the wheel, fitness, discipline, social media engagements, and more. It is a busy job that goes beyond just driving the car. Bryson Morris is in fifth place in TCR right now right behind the Victor Gonzalez run Hyundai in the hands of Morgan Burkhard.
We have been racing now for 40 minutes. Driver changes are possible, but I think most teams will be waiting for a yellow to do it. The conundrum is a driver who is struggling for pace. Wittmer gestures to his teammate, "Blimey! Dude, stay in line! I can't race if you are trying to pass me!" If a driver is losing steam with his pace, do you pull him in and risk adding an unscheduled pit stop to your race just to do a quick driver change? Do you let them stay out for the extra 20 minutes to make it a three-stop strategy? Fuel strategy means TCR cars go just over an hour and the GS cars are right at an hour. With a little yellow, it could be a three-stop race.
It can pay dividends because if you stay on the lead lap, catch a yellow, and then come to the lane for service, you can leapfrog a bunch of other cars and come out on top in the pound seats for a wee while. It is sometimes worth it to roll the dice. McLaren leads the motor race to this point. What a gorgeous day for racing. 40 teams, two classes, 11 manufacturers. Car #97 pitted for a driver change, the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. Patrick Gallagher takes over from Joe Dalton I believe. Check that. I think it was Vincent Barletta who got in the car. They have a three-driver lineup. The sister #64 TGM Aston Martin is in the lane with Ted Giovannis at the wheel of it.
Giovannis sharing with Kris Wilson and Hugh Plumb. Plumb takes over, and his brother Matt in the sister car is leading. The tires are being changed and the fuel is being added. These are five lug nut wheels on the GS cars, not a central locking nut like the GT3 or prototypes cars, or the Generation 7 NASCAR Cup cars. Let me correct myself. Hugh Plumb was assisting with the driver change and it was Kris Wilson who got into the car. You are allowed for a driver to assist if you have a three-driver team.
If you have a program at home, please do use it to keep up. Or, check out the entry list on the IMSA website. Hopefully you have it on a computer or mobile device or printed on a couple sheets of paper to follow along with us. Like I said, grab a cold beverage and some snacks, and stay with us, because we still have a long way to go this afternoon. Ooh! Check this out! A pass for second spot in TCR. Mark Wilkins in the Hyundai passes Bryan Ortiz in the Honda. There have been some TCR World Tour races here at Mid-Ohio. I may blog them or I may post video of them to the blog, so you can check them out. Details to follow when this race is done and dusted.
Wilkins a former champion in TCR. Trouble in paradise for Scott Blind at the wheel of the #45 Ruckus Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. He pulls over onto the grass and got off course somehow, sharing that car with Ohio native J.P. Southern, out of Westlake, Ohio. Blind is getting back on the circuit out of turn nine. Yikes! Scott Blind just spun after committing too hard going to power and gets off on the wrong trajectory. He was thinking, "oh, I can make the turn", the front end goes numb, washes away, and he spins like a top. Scott Blind an advocate for racers out of the St. Louis, Missouri, area.
Patrick Gallagher was assisting on the Turner Motorsports driver change pit stop and it is indeed Vincent Barletta behind the wheel. Jesse Webb will drive for two hours, then Michai Stephens will do the same. Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe are doing the same. With three drivers, look at the fastest drivers you have. BGB Motorsports has both Jeroen Bleekemolen and Spencer Pumpelly. They are both incredibly fast and thus will get the most time. Thomas Collingwood is the third driver, and he probably got an early stint out of the way, bish, bash, bosh, and then, he can hand off to the more experienced racers for the second half.
Three hours and 20 minutes is the maximum allotted drive time. It is mild today at Mid-Ohio, not hot. Mid-Ohio as a circuit is busy and physically demanding though. The drivers will not be boiling hot, but they will probably have some aches and pains after this one. Oh dear. We have an incident on course. Those are a couple major GS contenders! Austin Krainz in the #28 RS1 Porsche Cayman is backwards and also involved in this mess is the #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Sean McAlister sharing with Jeff Westphal. McAlister had the pole at Daytona and they have been off the pace recently.
In the replay, it is a tough spot to make a move, the front drifts up, and there's synchronized spinning. Austin Krainz sharing with Stevan McAleer and Trent Hindman. Austin Krainz runs with his father Roland in the SRO America GT4 championship and they won a race together in that series earlier in the year. If you go through the archives on the blog for this year, you may find it. This car has a stacked driver lineup. It's incredible. The real key is, will he be pinged with a drive through penalty? Yes. He is pitting now but there hasn't been anything called. He could be pitting to repair damage. Wait. Hold the phone. This isn't a penalty call.
This is a strategy pit stop with the team doing a reset and they are fueling the car and changing tires. They are also doing a driver change, waiting for the penalty. RS1 are on top of this. A very professional team. Krainz is furious! He is fuming, slamming his hands on the pit wall in frustration! Never approach an angry racing driver. Austin, chill out, mate. Don't hurt yourself. Early doors we have had just a single Full Course Yellow. Jesse Webb is now catching both Jared Thomas and Danny Formal hand over fist. This is a three-way battle for second place as Michael De Quesada is on his merry way in the lead.
Such a great, flowing rhythm through the section of the course called Madness and into Thunder Valley hearing the engine noise ricocheting through the trees. In the TCR class things are starting to settle down 53 minutes into the race. Karl Wittmer continues to lead in the division. Mark Wilkins in the Hyundai in second is the meat in a Honda sandwich. Bryan Ortiz runs third. Wilkins is finding the opportunity to be taking points away from the #17 JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi team. Currently, Chris Miller has the #17 car down in seventh in class. Miller sharing with South African co-driver Mikey Tyalor in a two driver lineup/
Karl Wittmer's co-driver who will get in at the next stint is Dai Yoshihara of Hachioji, Japan. He is one of the kings of drifting. He just raced in Drift Appalachia. So, he is expanding his resume as a driver and is now able to run drifting and full-fledged road racing in TCR touring cars. Dai Yoshihara says the car has been driving well and he is getting used to being a circuit racer. Stay out of trouble and go for the podium. This is a totally different kind of racing, but it is still about car control. Yoshihara loves touring car racing. We have seen the #17 Audi hit the pit lane.
The other thing about Dai Yoshihara is that in his drifting car, that one is rear wheel drive. The TCR car is set up as a front wheel drive car. So, the handling of the two, is comparing apples and oranges. Now, could Dai Yoshihara drift the TCR Honda in reverse? That would be something. But the team would need a spare car for that exhibition. They are telling me in my ear, "please! Don't ask for it! He might do it! Be careful what you wish for!" So, Chris Miller stayed in the car for a double stint. They are fine on strategy and can go 62-63 minutes on fuel.
Backtime the race and recognize how far you can go. Some drivers can strategize from the cockpit while driving the car. That is bananas! How do you have your brain doing both at once?! Spencer Pumpelly has that strategy mindset. He has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona both as a strategist and as a driver. Some drivers just want to drive and when people like yours truly might ask "how far will you take it on fuel during a stint?" The driver looks at a writer like me and says, "mate, I have no idea." Drivers have different mentalities and personalities. Some want to know every piece of information they can. Others are like Kimi Raikkonen in Formula 1 and call on the radio, "leave me alone. I know what I'm doing. Let me drive."
The teams want the drivers' fuel numbers right now setting up for pit stops, so they will have to discuss strategy, maybe on the straightaway. OK, mate. Keep doing what you are doing. You are doing a fabulous job. How much fuel can you save to maybe eliminate a stop? GS cars have a range of 55-58 minutes. You have to adjust and can't just bank on your strategy staying constant through the whole race. Let's take a look at the top ten positions in each of the classes before we keep discussing the race itself.
Grand Sport:
1. #69 de Quesada/Lazare Motorsports in Action McLaren Artura GT4
2. #3 Thomas/Shaeffer JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS
3. #19 van der Steur/Formal van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4
4. #34 Stephens/Webb JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4
5. #46 Plumb/Holton Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4
6. #59 Mars/Michaelian KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4
7. #13 Altzman/McCumbee McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4
8. #96 Selldorff/Foley Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
9. #57 Ward/Morad Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4
10. #67 Carazo/Lastochkin/Lee Czabok-Simpson Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS
TCR:
1. #93 Yoshihara/Wittmer Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR
2. #98 Wilkins/Filippi Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR
3. #6 Montour/Ortiz Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR
4. #80 Burkhard/Jones Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR
5. #77 Hagler/Morris Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR
6. #33 Gottsacker/Wickens Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR
7. #52 Baker/Baker Baker Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR
8. #99 Budzinski/Gonzalez/Gonzalez Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR
9. #76 Brown/Dupont Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR
10. #55 Gou/Gou Gou Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR
Strategists are able to think on the fly and adjust. As a driver, don't ask me to save fuel with ten minutes to go. Give me a number I need to hit as a target. Full throttle to the braking point, pick it up again at the apex. Do a lot of coasting. Don't tap the throttle. That is how you drive a go kart to turn it. Every time you tap the throttle that burns fuel off. Sailing or coasting into the turn, coming downhill, roll out of the power before braking to save fuel. Formal and Webb pass by Yuki Nakayama putting a lap on him. It will be time to pit in another five minutes as we end the first hour of racing. You don't want to overshoot the pit entry.
Now, we see a pit caller in TCR. This is the Baker Racing Audi in the pits, the Liqui Moly and A2Z Automobiles liveried and sponsored car. Sam and Dean Baker. Sam Baker was within the pole position range and they want to do more racing in Michelin Pilot in the future. They don't have a full-fledged rattle gun like some of the other teams and are using a drill with a nut driving bit on the end of it to change tires. Put it in reverse to take the tires off and put it in forward motion to attach the wheel nuts to the new tires. We have both Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4's in the lane and the #34 Mercedes for JMF Motorsports should also be in soon.
Francis Selldorff and Robby Foley teamed up in #96 and the sister Turner Motorsports car is the usual duo, in #95, of Robert Megennis sharing with Dillon Machavern. Selldorff doing a double stint and the same for the #95. Four Michelin tires and fuel. The #92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 is also in. Kenton Koch climbing in and taking over from Paul Sparta who drove the first stint. Kenton Koch will have a long, long triple stint. Koch won in 2022 with Murillo Racing and Eric Foss in a Mercedes-AMG GT4. That was the last time Michelin Pilot Challenge raced here at Mid-Ohio. Formal hangs onto the place over Webb for third place. Aston Martin vs. Mercedes.
Danny Formal put his Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini on pole at Laguna Seca. The first time he tried coming to the United States to race, it did not work out for him. So, he went back to his home country of Costa Rica and was involved in motorsports there. Now, he is linked with Wayne Taylor Racing and first won a couple of Lamborghini Super Trofeo championships with them. Now, he has the opportunity with them in the WeatherTech Championship as well. Winward Racing are now in pit lane. They current sit sixth in the points standings with seven races remaining in the season including today. They had a disastrous race at Sebring in March, they finished second at Daytona, third at Laguna Seca, and won a couple races in 2023.
Now, the Grand Sport and overall leaders are in. The leading Motorsports in Action McLaren is in. No driver change this time. Michael de Quesada is doing a double stint and then we will see Jesse Lazare take over behind the wheel for the next one. This is the third time in a row they qualified on the pole. The #19 Aston Martin is also pitting and Rory van der Steur is taking over for Danny Formal. To compensate for a lack of grip, they've gone to a rain setup to compensate for the grip leveo. Trouble for MIA! The fuel hose is not connecting to the fuel filler probe on the side of the race car and neither is the compressed air line to operate the air jacks.
They need an extra pit crew member to hold it into position. This is a disaster because every time the air wand operator is trying to connect to the car, the McLaren just falls back down on the floor. Ker-thunk. The mechanic must keep that air line connected or it will pop out of the socket on the back of the car and now, poor old Michael de Quesada has gone a lap down. It is now just pushing compressed air out like a compressor does. There is no way to connect that pneumatic device to the car. This is an unmitigated disaster for the MIA team! Criminy! At the same time there is also trouble in paradise for Formal and the #19 team.
The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes was serviced and sent. That train left the station eons ago. Double disaster for two of the top runners. The drivers are getting very impatient and are fit to be tied. MIA now has to throw a manually operated floor jack under the car to get the thing up off the ground. Unlike the prototypes, there is no way to use that air bag that looks like a football, to get these cars up off the ground if the air jacks go on the fritz. Luca Mars has now moved up to second behind Jared Thomas, and now, Jared Thomas does bring the #3 Porsche Cayman for JTR Motorsports Engineering to the pits.
Fuel going in, tires being changed, and there is a driver change. Jared Thomas is done with his stint, and he hands over to Nick Shaeffer. This isn't the first time JTR has run Michelin Pilot Challenge, but it is in 2024. Oh, good grief! The pit stop is still taking place for the MIA McLaren! They can't find a leverage point to get the floor jack under the car. The mechanic says, "we practiced this routine, and it has never happened before!" Danny Formal over at van der Steur Racing also explains that their issues are fuel flow problems with the fueling rig. Just an hour into this race and two of our top GS class contenders are having miserable days already. Meanwhile, the leading TCR entry is in the lane, too. This is Karl Wittmer in the #93 Honda Civic for Montreal Motorsport Group.
Dai Yoshihara should get in. So, Mark Wilkins and Hyundai are the erstwhile leaders. This is crazy! Check this out. The #69 team's pit stop was so fraught that they lost a lap to the #19 who were having massive troubles of their own! Unreal! Rory van der Steur now in the #19 car. The #76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai is now in the pit lane, and you would expect that Preston Brown who started the motor race would hand over to co-driver Denis Dupont at this time. Denis could take the car two hours and 50 minutes to the end. I think he is fit enough. He is the real deal with the speed to do the job. We also see the #38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman exiting the pit lane.
Tom Collingwood finishes his stint, and he has handed the car to Jeroen Bleekemolen. Keep an eye on BGB Motorsports. They could spring a real surprise before this motor race is done and dusted because they have two of the best drivers in the business on this time with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Spencer Pumpelly. Team manager and owner John Tecce is a great strategist as well. This car is liveried in dark purple and green, sort of an aubergine scheme. This is to commemorate the hippie liveried Porsche 917 that raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 I believe. Tom Collingwood is a massive fan of the hippie liveried 917 and that is why the paint scheme on this car is what they use.
Now to pit lane is the #89 HART Honda. This is the Honda Development and Manufacturing of America entry with the trio of Chad Gilsinger, Steve Eich, and Tyler Chambers sharing the driving chores. Steve Eich is out of the car and Tyler Chambers is in. All three of them are Honda engineers just down the road in Marysville, Ohio. Tyler Chambers has been part of the pit crew for years and he can drive, too. Chad Gilsinger is one of the drivers but is also the team manager. We have seen some driver managers or player managers in other sports. So, it works. We also see the Wilkins/Filippi BHA Hyundai in pit lane, the #98 car.
There are a couple of the Hyundai's in the lane. Mark Wilkins will stay put in the #98 and do a double stint and in the sister #77 entry I think Bryson Morris is going to take over for a double stint, after Taylor Hagler has completed her driving duties for the day. Or maybe she will get back in towards the end. Routine service and front tire changes because of course, the TCR cars are all Front Wheel Drive. Robert Wickens has gone one lap further and now, he brings the third BHA Hyundai, the #33 car, into the pit lane and might hand over to co-driver Harry Gottsacker. We'll see. Wickens stays in the car and has charged from stone last, to the lead.
It takes 52 seconds to fuel a TCR car and 48 seconds for the GS cars. The fuel strategy on the #33 needs a little different approach considering Robert Wickens needs assistance into and out of the car. He will do this stint, and maybe have Harry Gottsacker take the car to the end. Despite Robert Wickens' disability from his 2018 IndyCar wreck, he is still in top condition and tremendously fit to be able to drive a TCR car. He gets in the car and does what he needs to do, drives the wheels off of it. Oh dear. Wickens is getting into a bit of a contretemps with the #52 Baker Racing Audi. Hmmm. Let's not let this situation get ugly, boys.
Wickens outbrakes Sam Baker and he yields the place, reluctantly. Karl Wittmer is right behind these two chaps. By doing the overcut, the #33 Hyundai has the track position over Wittmer and the #93 Honda. Wickens would have run a quicker in lap than the out lap for the #93. It sounds like the BHA team short-filled Wickens in the #33 on fuel and maybe that is part of the plan. Hopefully it will not backfire, because a short fill can mean the tank may run dry earlier than expected according to the teams' fuel mileage calculations. Two- and three-quarter hours remaining. James Vance is in his civies and very disappointed about the outcome for the new Audi #70 for Deily Motorsports this afternoon.
The team has gone through a lack of sleep and getting the Audi five days ago. They forgot to torque the hubs properly before the race. Human error. IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is some of the tightest, most competitive racing on the planet right now. Honesty can be appreciated, and it is, even though it is embarrassing for a team to admit they made a mistake. Now, in this replay we watch a move by Karl Wittmer barreling down into the turn known as China Beach. Yikes! He is drifting that Honda! I'll bet Dai Yoshihara has been teaching him how to drift! That was awesome! How do I pull it out of a slide? It is very different with a front wheel drive car.
It is all about weight transfer. The TCR World Tour cars that are supporting the IMSA action this weekend at Mid-Ohio is the same. Now, we might be able to bring you that TCR World Tour race weekend, probably in some form of video. Stand by for that, soon. You want to accelerate with a front wheel drive car and pull the car out of a slide. With the grip level of the new pavement here at Mid-Ohio, the TCR drivers in Michelin Pilot and the World Tour are saying that the car gets loose offline and starts to understeer on corner exit, turning in late, and sliding when the left rear tire is loaded. But these drivers can pull out of the skid and keep on trucking.
A quick spin for the #95, Dillon Machavern in the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 but he gets it righted and is back on his way. Maybe he was assisted. Yip. He got tipped by the #34 JMF Mercedes with the Michelin Pilot tires squealing for mercy as he rotates. Whoops! I think dad, Eduardo Gou, has spun off the road, nicknamed "Lalo". So, "Lalo" spins off. If you go through the gravel trap, straight, keep the motor powerboating through it, but if you spin sideways or backwards, it is harder to get out. Luckily, "Lalo" Gou only spun into the grass approaching one of the downhill turns and was able to get back underway.
A wonderful day today to be at the racetrack, or even watching the race from home. We are closing in on the halfway mark, everybody. Currently, the #71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin in the hands of Andrew Davis, is on the tail end of the lead lap. Now, another Aston Martin currently leads this motor race and that is Paul Holton at the control of the #46 car for Team TGM. They weren't far off the strategy of the front running cars. Strategy is important for them as Matt Plumb is leading the drivers' championship in the Grand Sport class. Paul Holton is getting back on the radar after being on it for a while, years ago and then, dropped off the mark for a wee while. He is a super talented racer.
We have an interview with Ken Fukuda. This is the Skip Barber Racing School Aston Martin team. He has sacrificed a lot for racing. He wishes there was more he could have sold and given up and thanks the entire Skip Barber Racing School and IMSA as well with the scholarship. At age ten he was starting to drive. You cannot learn anything about driving fast cars, race cars, on the street. They've dove into the deep end of the pool, and it should be deep. Ken Fukuda admits he has a lot to learn, and his number one job is to bring the car back to the front. Mason Filippi was catching up on his sleep between the Nurburgring and Mid-Ohio. They won the shortened 24-hour race of course.
On a technical course like Mid-Ohio, Mason Filippi feels the Hyundai Elantra N TCR performs very well. Through the weekend with the new pavement on the track, it adds to the course. It is supposed to have lots of grip on it currently with the tires laying the rubber down. The IMSA Diverse Driver scholarship is for more than just a year, but a driver still must earn his or her way into the sport. The pressure environment doesn't happen naturally, so a two-year deal works out great. Ken Fukuda will make the most of it. In qualifying yesterday, Michael de Quesada set a pole position time of 1:26.262. de Quesada has the fastest race lap thus far, but it is only a tenth of a second off that.
Oh dear. A flat right rear tire on the #99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR! This is the Victor Gonzalez, Tyler Gonzalez, Elliott Budzinski car. Victor Gonzalez, the team owner, at the controls. Karl Wittmer in the Honda makes slight contact, and this pass he made, cut down the tire. Will there be an incident responsibility call? That was some aggressive argy bargy. I don't think it is enough for the #6 car to earn a penalty from the stewards. Let's have a Captain Cook at the TCR top ten at this moment.
1. #6 Montour/Ortiz Montreal Motorsports Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR
2. #33 Gottsacker/Wickens Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR
3. #93 Yoshihara/Wittmer Montreal Motorsports Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR
4. #98 Wilkins/Filippi Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR
5. #77 Hagler/Morris Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR
6. #80 Burkhard/Jones Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR
7. #17 Miller/Taylor Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR
8. #76 Brown/Dupont Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR
9. #89 Gilsinger/Eich/Chambers HART Honda Civic FK7 TCR
10. #5 Lewis/Tally KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Veloce TCR
While we're at it, let's also take a peek at the top ten places in Grand Sport for the GT4 cars.
1. #46 Plumb/Holton Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4
2. #57 Ward/Morad Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4
3. #3 Thomas/Shaeffer JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS
4. #50 Thompson/Nakayama Hattori Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO
5. #13 Altzman/McCumbee McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4
6. #34 Stephens/Webb JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4
7. #96 Selldorff/Foley Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
8. #39 McAlister/Westphal CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
9. #43 Quinlan/Liefooghe Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4
10. #28 Krainz/McAleer/Hindman RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS
The #69 McLaren nudges a TCR Audi off the road! Things are beginning to ramp up. Alex Rockwell is off the road and in the gravel trap aboard the #15 Rockwell Autosport Development Audi RS3 LMS SEQ. So, this is one of the Audi's that has a sequential gearbox in it. Alex Rockwell, Eric Rockwell, and Tom O'Gorman, sharing in a three-driver lineup today. Alex is the father, and Eric is the son. The father at the wheel of it and he's not going anyplace. This will necessitate a Full Course Yellow. Two into one ain't workin' and I think Tyler Chambers in the #89 HART Honda may be slapped by the stewards with incident responsibilty on that little shemozzle.
They won't let that car sit there for too long as we see the Toyota Supra hitting the lane. Chambers and Wittmer are fine. They have no damage. A driver change back to Parker Thompson at the Hattori Motorsports pit in the #50 Toyota Supra. Full Course Yellow, now. This is the second of the day. Turner ,otrsports brings their #95 BMW to the lane. Two and a half hours to go. So, we are closing in on halfway. #95 is the Dillon Machavern, Robert Megennis car. So, the AMR safety team is towing the Audi out of the gravel trap, or trying to. It is a beautiful day for fans at Mid-Ohio but not so much for the drivers.
Again, we did see the world TCR championship here and I shall cover that one, I hope, in some form of a video, for everyone, more than likely. Let me tell you, if you bought a ticket to the races here at Mid-Ohio, you are so lucky! You've seen some world class, fabulous, awesomely gargantuan motor racing this weekend. The fans come out as true winners in this situation. I assume there is fire in the belly of that Audi of Rockwell, but maybe the engine didn't crank so the safety crew is towing him all the way back to the garage. It could be game over for the #15 Audi. We had 16 TCR cars in the field today.
Plenty of action in the pit lane for Grand Sport. This is for quick fuel fills and not for driver changes. Paul Holton's Aston Martin is topped up with fuel as are everyone else. Trouble locking in the fuel hose on the #43 Mustang for Stephen Cameron Racing and finally he roars back into action. Again, Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe share the driving chores. That car is new to them for the 2024. This is the Ford Mustang Dark Horse GT4. They also have the spec racing Ford Mustang Challenge, the new GT4 Darkhorse Mustang, and the GT3 spec Mustang with customer teams in IMSA, FIA WEC, and SRO, as well as the full-fledged factory GTD Pro team in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
Fingers in several pies for the Ford Mustang team in 2024 on the car's debut. The cars look great, and the programs will continue to evolve and blossom. Now, the TCR cars pit, but not all of them. Honda and Hyundai split their sttategy for short fuel fills. Robert Wickens is out, and Harry Gottsacker gets into the #33 Hyundai and the #17 JDC-Miller Audi has Mikey Taylor taking over from Chris Miller. They have tried and tried to maintain track position but have been having handling issues with the Audi this afternoon. Hyundai #77 had a pretty rapid stop. #17 still on the pit lane. They have a decent championship lead. It has been quite the season for JDC-Miller Motorsports in 2024.
They won Daytona after waiting for a part to be flown in. They won at Sebring and went two for two, and then, did the hat trick and Mikey and his new wife Wimberly were married in Praiano, Italy. Very cool! Horsepower of two varieties as Wimberly is a horse person and Mikey is a race car driver, obviously. Mikey Taylor seems to be Robert Wickens' nemesis. JDC-Miller Motorsports led by John Church; they also enter a Porsche 963 in GTP in the WeatherTech Championship. That is the #85 "Banana Boat" of course. Pit stop time now for Vincent Barletta aboard the #97 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. He will step out and hand over to either Joe Dalton or Patrick Gallagher.
Gallagher will be in the car. He is on home turf and his father raced here at Mid-Ohio, he teaches at the racing school at Mid-Ohio, and his father was a racer. Green flag! Porsche leads Mercedes and Toyota. Shaeffer, Webb, Thompson, the top three. We have Porsche ahead of Mercedes and Toyota. Patrick Gallagher stays ahead of the leaders and does not lose a lap. He is on the tail end of the lead lap. Dillon Machavern aboard the sister #95 Turner Motorsports BMW makes a bold move into the braking zone! He was spun around like a top earlier. The McLaren has fallen behind and they are the second car in line as the #19 Aston Martin is back in the pit lane. Right now, it is Nick Shaeffer in the race lead, and I wouldn't be surprised if he lets Michael de Quesada by. Jesse Webb happens to be lurking in second spot.
McLaren #69 is two laps down. So, there is enough time on the board if the #69 gets the yellows and the wave by opportunities, he can come back. Parker Thompson, in the meantime, wants by his fellow Canadian racer and wants to make a move on Jesse Webb so he can chase down Nick Shaeffer for the overall lead of the motor race. Thompson won for Lexus in GT Daytona in the WeatherTech Championship at Long Beach earlier in the year. Yikes! Webb goes off in the dirt and has to give up second place. If you get off the racing line, you go for a ride. Parker Thompson goes well in this Toyota Supra. He is competing with a similar chassis this year in SRO GT4 racing.
Jesse Webb is now passed by the identical Mercedes, the blue Winward automobile of fellow Canadian Daniel Morad, aboard car #57. This is a battle for fourth place and maybe Webb's tires are still dirty. Morad now harrying Dillon Machavern in the BMW. Thompson is now glued right to Shaeffer's six! Morad tries the inside on Machavern! Holy cow! This is great racing! This next two and a quarter hours is going to be hot! Now, Paul Holton makes his move around Jesse Webb as well, look. When you are offline you have the line but you don't have the grip. He managed it and kept Jesse offline but did not run into the back of Daniel Morad.
The talent level of this series in Michelin Pilot Challenge is amazing. We just saw Jesse Webb get roughed up. His co-driver Michai Stephens says that he was looking for damage on the right rear corner of the car if Webb feels any vibrations or anything like that. Mid-Ohio is a rollercoaster and a wild ride for everybody. The extended yellow meant extra pickup of tire debris onto the tires. Michai Stephens believes the car will be very healthy with team boss John Farrow and the Mercedes-AMG package itself. They had much success with two runner-up seasons in SRO America GT4 competition the last two years in 2022 and 2023. They are a quality group.
Parker Thompson has asserted himself and taken the lead away from Nick Shaeffer. Shaeffer took him in deep under braking and his slid into second ahead of Dillon Machavern. Parker Thompson won with Lexus at Long Beach alongside co-driver Ben Barnicoat. He is smart, talented, and ticks every box. Vasser Sullivan love him, Toyota/Lexus love him. Mike Conway injured himself for the factory Toyota Hypercar program, and Jack Hawksworth called Parker Thompson and said he was going to go to Le Mans. Jack Hawksworth will fill in at Le Mans and hence, Parker Thompson is filling in for the Toyota Supra team here. Look at the deflection of the rear window on the RCR cars, the plexiglass rear windows going concave from the air pressure changes.
So, we watch the top three in TCR. Honda, Hyundai, Hyundai. Bryan Ortiz, Mark Wilkins, and Harry Gottsacker. Robert Wickens tells us that finding the limit on grip with the new pavement is not easy. There's not a ton of downforce but the front splitter is very effective, and the front tires are chattering due to the high grip surface. A driver needs to be disciplined and watch out for understeer. We are still watching the lead battle in TCR. Now, we will hear from Jared Thomas, the co-driver and team owner of the second place GS car, the #3 JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche Cayman. Thomas says they were surprised by where they ended up in qualifying.
Everyone was pumped when the team went to P1 and then they were pipped by the McLaren of course. Thomas and his team are here to race and try to win the thing. No pulling over for the others. Jared Thomas will do the last stint. Meanwhile, there is a massive battle for fifth place in Grand Sport. Stevan McAleer followed by Paul Holton, Jesse Webb, Aaron Telitz, Robby Foley, Kenton Koch, and more. McAleer makes a brave move at turn six at the bottom of the hill and very nearly chops Paul Holton's nose off! Holy cow! He is supporting his full-season teammates.
He is playing the support role. Don't screw up one race that costs your teammate a championship. Robby Foley is motoring forward to the front. The BMW's felt they didn't have the right performance factors coming into this race. But now, the soolid driving and good strategy is helping matters. Meanwhile, Jesse Webb is under tons of pressure from four, five, six more cars! Kenton Koch is right on his six and Koch is going for the pass. He doesn't want to play anymore. Webb has just enough of a margin out of the final turn to stay ahead, and now, look, we have the Ruckus Racing Aston Martin and the CarBahn Motorsports BMW also right in this scrap.
Koch slams the door in Jeff Westphal's face. Also, Westphal is being monstered now by J.P. Southern in the #45 Ruckus Racing Aston Martin, the bright, dayglow, highlighter yellow machine that he shares with Scott Blind for Ruckus Racing. Oh, my heavens! J.P. Southern is getting monstered by former NASCAR racer Chad McCumbee in the #13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4! I love it! Don't touch that dial. Make sure you still have beverages and snacks. You don't want to miss the closing two hours as we are inching our way towards the halfway point in this motor race. Oh, by the way. Attention, J.P. Southern and Chad McCumbee. Uh, blokes, look behind you. It is Andrew Davis mowing his way through the field aboard the #71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin!
This is the team that won all the marbles at Sebring International Raceway back in March in the second round of the championship. Jeroen Bleekemolen puts the cork back in the bottle against Andrew Davis who has to back out of it. Also, look out for the #91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche Cayman. That is Riley Dickinson sharing with Michael McCarthy and these guys won the season opening four-hour race at Daytona International Speedway back in January. Riley Dickinson's performance, saving fuel, at the Daytona opener, running on fumes, was a fabulous performance! If you remember, in the final hour of that race, car #91 were nowhere. You thought, hey, maybe we should just call this one for whoever was leading at the time.
Then... boom! Like a bolt out of the blue, the leaders begin dropping like flies due to running out of gas, and who is there to pick up all the shattered remains of that broken jigsaw puzzle? It was Riley Dickinson and Michael McCarthy who were sharing with Brady Golan, from Austin, Texas. Right now, behind Riley Dickinson, it is Jackson Lee, son of Kevin Lee who is a member of the NBC Sports broadcast team for IndyCar and IMSA. Lee had a couple second place finishes earlier in the year in the doubleheader of races for the VP Racing Fuels Sports Car Challenge on the street course at St. Petersburg, Florida, as well.
It is amazing that Jackson Lee is keeping up with a couple of real veterans in Porsche sports cars such as Jeroen Bleekemolen and Riley Dickinson. Lee is 17th in the GS class out of 24 cars and we have 16 TCR cars as well for a total of 40 on a two and a quarter mile racetrack. Manage fuel and tires for the next little while before backtiming the finish as we approach halfway here in Lexington, Ohio, that has been here since 1962. This track has really been a gem over the years and was put on the map when the IndyCars first came here in 1980. The resurfacing of the track is a facelift for the first time in a while. McAleer passes Holton and Foley passes Shaeffer as we hear from Turner Motorsports team boss, Will Turner.
Three cars in the race means a lot to look after. This could be the GS race of the year. The lap times show anyone can be a winner as we are into the second half of the race now. Their strategy is covered with Don "The Ice Man" Salama, a former driver himself. The McLaren seems to have a major pace and the Mercedes' are strong too. Parker Thompson is the erstwhile leader in the meantime aboard the #50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota Supra. Poor old Nick Shaeffer has just been dropped like a stone by the competition and meanwhile, there's a wicked battle on between Kenton Koch and Jeff Westphal once again, look.
The BMW's have struggled for pace this year, but the #39 car led by Steve Dinan. Dinan was a BMW tuning wizard for years and has returned to the rondel after campaigning with other German brands these past few years. Koch has tenth place and Westphal is following right in his wheel tracks. This is the first time Mid-Ohio has been resurfaced since the offseason between 2005 and 2006. 6,000 tons of old asphalt was removed with 100 people and 5,000-man hours. They did due diligence laying a test patch back in 2022. Meanwhile, Stevan McAleer has come to the front, surviving the shemozzle with Austin Krainz. It appears Trent Hindman will finish the race once McAleer finishes his stint.
All three drivers felt like they had the strongest lineup. We have also seen Trent Hindman and Stevan McAleer in the GT Daytona class in the WeatherTech Championship. Stevan McAleer has quite the resume. He is the 2012 Mazda MX-5 Cup champion, the 2015 Michelin Pilot Challenge champion in the old Street Tuner class, and he has won two championships in SRO competition. In 2022 he was the SRO GT4 America Silver class champion and last year, the SRO GT World Challenge America Pro class champion in a GT3 spec Porsche 911 GT3R.
He is now back full-time in an Acura NSX GT3 with Gradient Racing and Sheena Monk. He is one of the go to drivers to get a result, who is solid, who can mentor other drivers, Stevan is a smashing bloke in that respect. We will show you another Michelin Pilot Challenge event, soon, from Watkins Glen International Raceway in New York. Now, I know what you are thinking. We've already covered a wet and wild 6 Hours of Watkins Glen from the WeatherTech Championship that took place there. Well, after this race is complete, we will bring you coverage of Michelin Pilot Challenge from Watkins Glen, too. Trust me, you will want to read all about it.
Now, here is some historical data for you, that could play into the strategy as we have crossed the bridge into the second half of today's race. Over the previous six four-hour MPC races there has been either four or five yellows but only one of those half a dozen races only one has had more than one yellow in the final half. I think, to be totally and completely honest, we would be delving way back to Daytona, 2022. So, we cannot bank on much more yellow. It is the first time we have seen a four-hour race here at Mid-Ohio. The 2025 schedule by the way, sees Michelin Pilot Challenge with the same venues and race durations as this year, and so once again Daytona, and here at Mid-Ohio, will be the two four-hour races of the championship.
Now we look at the 2020 GT Daytona Sprint Cup Champion in the WeatherTech Championship, Aaron Telitz, sharing the #88 Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 with Todd Coleman. Mike Johnson, the team boss at Archangel Motorsports, he is just as good on the strategy here in Michelin Pilot Challenge as someone like Don Salama at Turner Motorsports is. Telitz has been a great co-driver for Todd Coleman. Colemans is a Pro-Am driver who does not do it for a living as he is in business as well. Billy Johnson worked with Todd Coleman racing GT4 cars in SRO and now, Aaron
Telitz here in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
Coleman has been very calm and collected with Mike Johnson on the box as team manager. The Aston Martin is a very balanced car throughout the stint. In this replay, we can see Taylor Hagler grass tracking it, autocrossing the Hyundai Elantra through the final corner. That is into The Carousel, braking before the crest of the hill before the road turns to the right and getting the left side tires off in the weeds. Taylor Hagler has had wonderful career here in Michelin Pilot Challenge particularly co-driving with Michael Lewis. We have not seen Michael Lewis in racing lately because he has been fighting through medical stuff, with a concussion or the after effects of it. We hope to see him back in the seat soon.
The TCR battle for the lead is heating up between Bryan Ortiz in the #6 Montreal Motorsports Group Honda and Mark Wilkins in the #98 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai. Ortiz is on a different fuel strategy and didn't pit alongside everyone else. But, as soon as I say that, here he comes to the lane, right now, as we speak. He is off strategy compared to everyone else. Did he miss the call? It is a strategy call. Fuel going in the tank and tires being changed. Bryan Ortiz who has driven since the start of the race is handing over to L.P. Montour who will race the final hour and 50 minutes of the event. They could take one more stop to get home. The other teams will have to do two stops as well, but the other teams will have shorter stops.
We shall see what happens. Meanwhile, the #77 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai is in as well. If you don't have great track position, you will roll the dice and try hard to stay on the lead lap. The pit lane delta not including the service (or maybe it is including the service), but give or take, is only 15-18 seconds from line to line, pit in to pit out. If you can stay on the lead lap and catch a Full Course Yellow, you are in the pound seats to be able to come back down and top up the gas tank with a far shorter refueling time. Then, you can leapfrog your competition. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
So, teams in GS and TCR are pitting ow thinking they might catch a break with a yellow. We may have seen a small piece of debris, a piece of trim hanging off the #17 Mikey Taylor driven Audi for Unitronic JDC-Miller Motorsports. That's nothing to worry about. It is not a large piece of bodywork that could affect the aerodynamics. Taylor is a few tenths off some of the best times in TCR and the best of those is Denis Dupont in the #76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra. Dupont has the fastest lap of the day at 1:27.762. 1:26.274 by Michael de Quesada in the now much delayed #69 Motorsports in Action McLaren, is the fastest lap of the race in the GS class.
Only a second and a half between the two classes at the top of the tree in both concerning fastest laps. No worries about the bodywork for Mikey Taylor as J.P. Southern goes off and back on. Southern was having issues with applying all that power in the Aston Martin through these tight corners as we see the #91 Porsche Cayman in the pit lane for Kellymoss with Riley. That's Riley Dickinson and Michael McCarthy of course. The #77 Hyundai of Taylor Hagler, she was rotating the wheels, wheel spinning on the air jacks, and she had to serve a drive through penalty.
Again, the #91 Porsche rejoins the fray and still has Riley Dickinson at the wheel of it. Kellymoss and Riley Technologies are teamed up with this Porsche effort. Now, we see a great scrap for third place. Paul Holton goes by Dillon Machavern. TGM Aston Martin vs. the first of the Turner Motorsports BMW's and Dillon Machavern says, "oh no you don't, sunbeam" and is going to do everything to get the place back. Now Aaron Telitz wants a bite of the cherry.
He pokes his nose inside and, crunch, as Telitz gives Machavern a little nudge and loosens him up. Robby Foley in the sister Turner Motorsports BMW wants in on this fight. Ooh! Argy bargy and this forces Telitz to the outside, look. Koch and Westphal in the other BMW's are going to freight train Telitz and now he is on the back foot. Westphal had nowhere to go with the radius he was creating through the corner and that is part of the reason we saw all that hip and shoulder, push and shove kind of business there. Poor old Telitz got out of sync through Madness and was put through the wringer! Things are going from bad to worse for Taylor Hagler and the #77 BHA Hyundai team, now pinged for a pit lane speeding violation! Sheesh. When it isn't your day, it isn't your day. You might as well pack it up and go fishing.
Machavern in the lane too and now, Robert Megennis is going to take over the #95 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. Mid-Ohio always requires aggressiveness to get passes done. That is the need for the argy bargy, the hip and shoulder that we are talking about. Robert Megennis speeds away. Don Salama must love having three cars on the team and on track with all the strategy he can employ as part of the Will Turner organization. Now, we look back at all that shemozzle through the downhill. There's the argy with Machavern giving Holton a big clonk in the rear bumper. Then he dives again, in for the bargy, and there's more of this craziness.
Telitz tries going for the opening down the hill and gets the door slammed in his face. No cookies for you, sunshine. Someone just got their fingers slammed in the lid of the cookie jar. Telitz stalls out aerodynamically and Robby Foley whistles right by him. Now, hold the phone, mate. There's more. Foley pounces and then Koch and Westphal in the other BMW M4's, they are going to follow him all the way through this ice cream headache.
Telitz was trying to race cleanly, and he gets dumped by almost everyone. He gets run over and has to be thinking, "ugh! Why me?! I didn't do anything wrong!" Westphal was pushing for all he was worth and all over the shop. Taylor Hagler, meanwhile, her race continues going more and more pear shaped as she slides off the road into the grass and back on. That Hyundai Elantra is not tracking very well. Finally, she pulls the proverbial parachute and escapes to the pit lane. She is frustrated and needs to get back into a rhythm. Robby Foley is in the lane for the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 for fuel and tires and will need to get sme damage buffed out.
Now that all this has come out in the wash, Parker Thompson in the Toyota Supra leads the motor race ahead of Daniel Morad in the Mercedes Benz. Hattori Motorsports leads Winward Racing with just over an hour and 40 minutes left on the board. They have traffic ahead of them. Liddell won't want to go down a lap and he is going to fight for it. The Rebel Rock Aston Martin is still on the lead lap. He must stay in his rhythm because if he lets Parker Thompson move ahead, then, the Scotsman will be on the back foot. He is praying for a yellow. Liddell will not make this easy for Parker Thompson.
Now, we will hear from Stevan McAleer after his stint. He was working had on his driving stint. He is excited for Austin Krainz to be on their team at RS1. McAleer says they need more speed from the Porsche Cayman. He did have a fun time but knows the team needs to make up places and make up time. Trent Hindman is now in the car. There are corners like turn one or The Keyhole where if you run wide, you are off the road. They need luck on their final pit stop. That's for dead sure. Currently, Trent Hindman is doing everything he can to pass Greg Liefooghe in the #43 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang. This is for 13th spot in GS. Trent Hindman is a two-time Grand Sport champion in Michelin Pilot Challenge, who got engaged in the offseason.
Morad is going for the lead pestering Thompson into China Beach. Morad wants the outside. No dice. Thompson slams the door in his face and allows Liddell to motor away. Daniel Morad and his wife Jessica are expecting their first child. Daniel Morad is sought to race worldwide for Mercedes and is indeed affiliated with Winward Racing. I don't believe Morad is on Mercedes-AMG's books as an official factory driver. However, they know who he is and place him with Mercedes-AMG teams in GT3 or GT4 globally. Bryce and Russell Ward appreciate what he brings to the table and in addition to the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, they have given him opportunities with the SRO championship in Europe, too, GT World Challenge Europe.
Well, well, well. With some hip and shoulder, Hindman works his way past Liefooghe. Parker Thompson continues in the race lead. Unfortunately for Liefooghe, he goes off the road a bit, and Hindman had established himself into the turn while Liefooghe tried finding an opening, but it didn't work that time. You must coexist with your fellow drivers. The Mustang is a strong car. Sometimes when you are transitioning, it is a fast change of direction, and it is hard to see where the other cars are. Robby Foley is inching closer in a battle of his own, mid-pack. Now, we resume taking a look at the lead battle. Toyota vs. Mercedes, Thompson vs. Morad.
Just over a year ago, Morad and Ward won their first ever Michelin Pilot Challenge race on the streets of downtown Detroit. Remember, last year, that was a standalone event for the Michelin Pilot Challenge. This year, the same venue hosted a standalone race for the WeatherTech Championship. Daniel Morad just radioed the team asking what he should do. The answer is 'try to get by him and stick to the plan." Morad saw the Toyota moving in reaction heading down to China Beach. Some of it is legit and other times it is politicking.
Liddell has fresher tires and more fuel. So, he has beginning to move in. The Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin is still on the tail end of the lead lap. Jackson Lee has made it to the top six and he is right behind Jeroen Bleekemolen. So, Lee is showing his potential, currently. Morad is looking racy with a little over an hour and a half to go. If we stay green then all the leaders will need at least one more stop to get to the end of the race. Oh boy! A slide through turn by Thompson and Morad is going to pounce! Yup. Morad goes by after Thompson has a wee moment in the final turn. Toyota #50 is set up for a stop. Morad needs to put the hammer down. I think Thompson needs fuel and new boots on that car. The current set of Michelin's are beginning to give up the ghost.
Mercedes to the top of the shop with Daniel Morad. Uh oh. We are under our third Full Course caution period of the race as we see the #39 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 has been totally destroyed! Jeff Westphal is out of the car but that automobile is absolutely crunched. Thak God he is OK. The right front corner is ripped out of the car! Sometimes, if you are outside, side by side through turn one, it can be real trouble. Let's see if we can tell what happened here to Jeff Westphal. Kenton Koch in an identical BMW M4 GT4 is right behind, the Random Vandals Racing entry.
Westphal takes a sharp turn to the right and clobbers the wall! Oh, my heavens! He misjudged the crossover and as he lifted the car turned hard right and absolutely hammered the wall! Dear God in Heaven! He hit the bridge abutment! Let's hope Jeff Westphal is OK. That was a bell ringer! Debris is strewn all over the road. Westphal walks away from the car under his own steam. This is a severe accident and we will keep you updated. For now, we should switch gears back to race strategy. The #50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota Supra was just in the pit lane. Parker Thompson had the lead and then went off strategy as the safety marshals are cleaning up this wreck.
In replay again, Kenton Koch has a head of steam, and then, Jeff Westphal is protecting his line in the middle of the road. They make contact, and this spears Jeff Westphal wildly into the barrier, into the tire bundles. But that wasn't the tire bundles. That was the bridge abutment as Westphal was lifting to control speed. That is a real access bridge to the inside of the circuit. Debris everywhere. This is our third Full Course Yellow of the day. Thank God, Westphal is OK! Koch was trying to go for the corner and again, the #39 car is demolished.
Steve Dinan tells us that they leapfrogged the other BMW in the pit lane, and he says the other driver was totally impatient, took the car out and destroyed it for no reason. So, they have a second car in California that needs to be prepped for Watkins Glen, for the next race on the schedule. An hour and 25 minutes to go. That bridge has been there for a long time. We have to learn from massive accidents like this. I wonder if wrapping a piece of steel Armco or a SAFER barrier (steel and foam energy reduction), around that barrier, around the bridge abutment, would help lessen the impact. We can't "wrap the track in bubble wrap", meaning tire packs, all the way around.
Race cars will find the weak points in racetracks causing calls for changes. That BMW will be parted out. It is totally destroyed. CarBahn has another chassis they can prepare for the next race at Watkins Glen. Pit stop time now and here come the GS leaders with a bit over an hour and 20 minutes of racing remaining. It is getting busy. The #88 Aston Martin for Archangel Motorsports is in, Aaron Telitz staying at the wheel taking the car to the checkers it appears. Fuel is going in and a new set of Michelin Pilot tires is going on the car. This is the trickier side of the pit lane because it has an uphill climb in it. We also see the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin in the pits as well.
Make sure the car doesn't roll when it gets off the air jacks. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes were in the lead. They were trying to pit before we saw the Full Course Yellow for Jeff Westphal's accident. They didn't get in before the pits closed, did a drive through, fell back to third, and are now making their pit stop. Bad timing on this yellow has dropped the #57 team back from the lead. There is no penalty involved except for being passed. They just lost track position. Robin Liddell, I believe was back into the pit lane and and came out ahead of both the #46 and the #57 so he should get a wave by from the safety car.
A massive debris field from the #39 BMW. It is so abrupt, front the drivers' seat, the impact had to be immense. I have to wonder if Jeff Westphal got the wind knocked out of him. Is there a way we can make sure a crash like that doesn't happen here at Mid-Ohio again? My God, I sure hope so. Now, the TCR cars are in the pit lane. Tim Lewis Jr. brings in the Alfa Romeo. Watch the air hoses for the rattle guns, underneath the car, or you could be penalized. The Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai's are also in the lane. Rear tires staying on the #5 Alfa Romeo. In the #98 there is a driver change and the #33 is in as well. Pack these cars full of fuel and stretch fuel so this can be their last stop. We have a long cleanup ahead and potential for more yellow to come with an hour and 20 minutes of racing left on the board.
It is easier to save fuel at Mid-Ohio than at other tracks. If you have bad track position you can dive back in again and you may be in the window to make it to the end. The calculators, the keyboards are going. The woodfire is burning. It is decision time. Make sure no one picks up the debris. The size of the components off of the BMW, you will not sweep those up with a broom. Not in the least. In the #5 KMW TMR Alfa Romeo camp, they are eight minutes short on fuel, but the fuel save under this yellow could help them out a ton. They are ready to roll the dice at Alfa Romeo and they could top right up. So, now, the #6 MMG (Montreal Motorsports Group) Honda is in and so is another BHA Hyundai.
It is now overcast. We have had cool temperatures all weekend. There's now an hour and 15 minutes to go. With the new track surface here at Mid-Ohio, we have seen two brand-new track records set. Great racing, too. This is now a multiple groove racetrack. The #3 JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche Cayman is making a pit stop for fuel. I think Jared Thomas has taken over from Nick Shaeffer to take it to the end. This is a top up to get in the window to get home without needing another stop. We have seen a very busy weekend for many of the drivers, pulling double duty along with Michelin Pilot Challenge. Here is the list of drivers who have done so.
Driver: Series raced in along with Michelin Pilot Challenge:
Jared Thomas Mazda MX-5 Cup
Nick Shaeffer Mazda MX-5 Cup
Tyler Gonzalez Mazda MX-5 Cup
Scott Blind VP Sports Car Challenge
Luca Mars VP Sports Car Challenge
Jessie Lazare VP Sports Car Challenge
Frank DePew VP Sports Car Challenge
Vincent Barletta VP Sports Car Challenge
Joe Dalton VP Sports Car Challenge
Harry Gottsacker FIA TCR
Mark Wilkins FIA TCR
Jared owns nine of the MX-5 cars that race in that series. Just over an hour to go and we are going to have a race that might just go bonkers here. Save fuel but keep the lead. Parker Thompson with his pit stop timing, he elected to stay on track. Check that. I think he did top up. He has more fuel than some and less than others. Watch out for Robin Liddell. He is saving fuel like mad. Can he pull the rabbit out of the hat? It's possible. He is savvy. Give him a sniff of a chance, and he can go for it. But it is far more overcast than what we saw earlier.
We don't see any blowers or jet dryers on course, but all of the incident in turn one needs to be cleaned up. It does not matter how fast you are, well, it does, but if you have no fuel, then you are S.O.L. Quick update on penalties. The #28 RS1 Porsche Cayman will cop a penalty for hitting the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes' tire in the pit lane. Trent Hindman will serve that. Meanwhile, the #57 are not unscathed either because they will be penalized by IMSA for having their tire outside of their pit box. I didn't see that, but one must negate the other. Goodness gracious. I can't open the rulebook, and actually, I don't want to.
We hear that Brian Till and our colleague at IMSA Radio, Shea Adam, were talking about Liddell and his fuel saving. He and his team saved fuel to win at Sebring and did os several years ago when they raced a Chevrolet Camaro at Rebel Rock Racing. So, we are looking to go back to green. Parker Thompson in the Toyota Supra is the race leader while right behind him is the BMW of Kenton Koch. The McLaren, third car in line, is not on the lead lap. Safety Car in the pit lane now, and we are back to green! Parker Thompson steps on it! Let's go!
Koch is right on his six. He is not in great shape fuel wise. Three wide into the Keyhole, up the hill. Side by side scrapping, and we especially focus on the two Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4's. You have Robert Megennis racing Robby Foley. The difference in their cars is on the bonnet and the roof. A white bonnet and a mostly white roof panel for Megennis in the #95 while Robby Foley's car has the yellow bonnet and all yellow roof panel. They are side by side and creating a king-sized roadblock for the Porsche's that are fighting their way through.
Down the hill they go to turn five! Kenton Koch is going to get a stop and hold penalty for five minutes for the crash with Koch making contact with Jeff Westphal. Megennis passes Foley through Madness, and there's contact, look! A three-way battle, Trent Hindman and Robin Liddell make contact and Riley Dickinson is on the outside of both of them! That could have been pileup! Dickinson forcing his way past Liddell and it appears he will make the move stick! One car peeling off into the pit lane and we have three cars serving their penalties save for the #57 who may come in next time. Daniel Morad who will be serving the penalty for the #57 is harried by Aaron Telitz.
Elbows will be out for the next hour as Kenton Koch must remain in the pit box for five minutes. He must be very disappointed. He got it wrong and made a mistake. Random Vandals Racing team boss Paul Sparta tells us this penalty is not fair. He expected that a drive through would suffice. Kenton Koch feels awful about it and the team is glad their competitor, Jeff Westphal, is OK. That was huge. But he moved sharply to the right, braking early. It was not intentional. A five-minute hold is brutal. The most important thing is that everyone is OK.
Meanwhile, in the TCR class we have a good battle shaping up between Denis Dupont and Tim Lewis for the lead. Lewis in the Alfa Romeo has it and Dupont in the Hyundai, he wants it. "The Little Alfa that could" has always been rapid and they have won races every year with that car. Tim Lewis and Roy Block had three wins in 2023 and there is a new co-driver, William Tally. Mikey Taylor in the #17 JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi and Harry Gottsacker in the #33 BHA Hyundai are also right in the fight. The racing is great just after green.
L.P. Montour in the Honda is chasing two of the factory Hyundai's for Mason Filippi and Harry Gottsacker. A lot of these TCR cars are managing fuel through this stint. You don't need a boatload of of fuel to make it to the very end. Will we see final pit stops? Will we see another yellow? Time will tell. More penalties for two of the GS cars. #38, the BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman ran over equipment in pit lane and the #43 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 left pit equipment unattended. Who is manning the rattle guns and the fueling rigs out there? Uh um. I am not sure if the two are related.
Montour looking late and cannot make the move and finally, Kenton Koch is released from his penalty. Head down, keep pushing. Don't freak out. Harry Gottsacker recognizes he must pass Mikey Taylor and get past the Audi. Now, the #57 Mercedes is in the lane as well, look. Again, this isn't routine service, this is a penalty being served. You cannot service the car while taking a penalty. No free lunch. The track looks great, and the grip is there. Kudos to Mid-Ohio and the track owners to make this upgrade on the track. Everything has been great thus far. No obvious situational troubles with the new surface.
Jenson Altzman aboard the #13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang has all kinds of pressure being applied to him for third spot. The bloke applying the pressure is Robby Foley at the wheel of the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. You cannot forget that Riley Dickinson and Robert Megennis are also within striking distance. Mustang, BMW, Porsche, BMW. Foley is in the best shape for fuel from the latest round of pit stops. Foley is in P4 on the road. The Mustang on it's, fuel range, there is enough data on the car for the fuel, but all of these manufacturers are on a similar stint length. Foley rolls big speed through the apex of turn four.
Riley Dickinson is right on his six or inching towards being at Foley's back door, anyhow. Liddell in the Aston Martin is charging! He wants by Megennis is and is doing everything to take the spot away. That is the old "intimidator", Dale Earnhardt tactic from NASCAR. Riley Dickinson is not getting away from these two either. Liddell is based in his homeland of Scotland but also travels to Florida here stateside to work with the team between races. Less than an hour of this race remaining. Ooh! Foley and Altzman, they make contact! Foley is in the danger zone.
He has a punctured, flat right front tire and now, he and Altzman along with the MIA McLaren are all entering the pit lane. Unfortunately, this is more than a flat for Robby Foley. I think the wheel and the suspension are both broken. Right front, I think it's busted. He hit the tie rod and that will put pay to the suspension working correctly. That is way more than a flat tire. Altzman in the gray Mustang, Foley in the yellow BMW to the ouside, tags Altzman. That was quite the shot! Altzamn jumped into the pit lane, diamonding the corner. This circuit has a variety of lines.
Such trouble for Robby Foley. They needed a big result to leapfrog places in the points after being in seventh. This does not bode well for the team coming to the second half of the 2024 Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign. They needed a podium. Meanwhile, in the battle of the Aston Martin's, both Telitz and Plumb have gone by Liddell. I don't know what happened. No visible damage to Lidell's dark green Aston Martin with the red splitter and red mirrors. But he is losing track position hand over fist. Liddell too, dives for the pit lane. Is their trouble with the race car? Is this a strategy call?
The #45 Ruckus Racing Aston Martin is also in, and they've had a good, solid performance today. So, the yellow Aston is in, J.P. Southern at the wheel of it. Fuel into the #71. The car looks to be fine. Many of the GS teams have waved off the attempt to get to the finish, and Liddell is down and away. In the pit lane, Liddell also lost a place to Southern. Oh dear. Parker Thompson has not decided to pit yet but remains in the race lead as we get into the fourth and final hour of this motor race. The overall leader is in the pit lane. This will be an all skate for many. Four Michelin tires. Parker Thompson has done yeoman service. The team was timing the fuel stop and changing just the left front tire.
Japan's Yuichi Nakayama has only run one stint in the race today. The left front tire is fully loaded. Michai Stephens, the erstwhile leader, on the same pit schedule and I don't think saving fuel is going to work out. The #92 Random Vandals BMW is in the pit box being repaired and this is going to hamper the #34 Mercedes because they are in the pit box behind. Michai Stephens and Jesse Webb, they will need to stop the car short to stay out of the way of Random Vandal's as those boys are making repairs. Stephens is in the lead and has the advantage of clean air, a clear track ahead.
Michai Stephens can get every ounce of performance out of this Mercedes. In the TCR class, the battle remains between Lewis Jr. and Dupont. Like the GS cars the TCR cars will need to manage fuel. Mikey Taylor in third is some six seconds behind this battle between the top two. He too will be managing fuel. That's for sure. Eddie Gou off and on in The Keyhole. Eduardo Gou with his son Eddie. Gou owns one of the largest moving companies in Mexico. Meanwhile, it does not look good for Foley and company as he is going behind the wall and Matt Plumb is in for a fina pit stop. Fuel only and no tires. 49 minutes left on the board.
Where will Matt Plumb blend in? He is the championship leader on consistency. He has not won in Michelin Pilot in 2024 but he is tied for the record number of wins in Michelin Pilot Challenge with Billy Johnson at 20 wins. He is looking at the big picture, the championship. He has that three-way battle for sixth right behind him. Thompson in the Toyota, Dickinson in the Porsche, and Southern in the Aston Martin. This is the battle for sixth spot. Stephens and Telitz run 1-2 but they will need assistance with fuel mileage. I really don't know if they are going to make to the end without a splash and a dash/
Telitz rolling the dice. Right now, we are watching the fight for third in TCR as Mikey Taylor has dropped six to seven seconds behind the TCR leaders, Tim Lewis Jr. and Denis Dupont. Is he managing everything? JDC-Miller Motorsports have the brain trust on the box of John Church, the team owner, and team strategist Cole Scrogham who has been around endurance sports car racing for a long time. Taylor is feeling the heat and the left front fender of the Audi is loose. The trim around it at the very least. The top five in TCR all pitted on the same lap and then a lap later L.P. Montour came to the lane and Burkhard and Gilsinger pitted I think a couple laps before that.
No real advantage on the road. It is fuel management, and you must do it continuously through an hourlong run. Harry Gottsacker and the #33 team is two laps short. Not everyone has the same fuel mileage or saves fuel in the same way. If you are calculating fuel, two and a quarter miles is a big difference for an extra lap. Taylor has not moved in on the top two and Gottsacker is to keep an eye on Taylor. The Audi might not be as quick as the Hyundai or the Alfa Romeo, or perhaps the fuel management situation is happening. JDC-Miller Motorsports has a chunky lead in the championship as things currently stand.
So, they are doing everything they know to protect that. They did the hat trick at the start of the season and they don't want to be sitting in turn eight out of gas. #17 is setting up for a podium finish as the top two cars of Tim Lewis Jr. in the Alfa Romeo and Denis Dupont in the Hyundai are not necessarily championship contenders. Although, Dupont and his co-driver Preston Brown are up in the points standings. The dark clouds might open up and we could see rain in the final 40 minutes. On the old surface at Mid-Ohio, this place was known for having a true wet line. You did not want to touch the dry racing line in the wet, but that has all changed.
The grip level is consistent across the racetrack. The racing line has been polished but offline there is more aggregate to bite into the tires, and now, that is consistent with the new surface. Now, Michai Stephens is the overall race leader as we are having a Captain Cook at fourth place Matt Plumb. Plumb sharing with Paul Holton. Holton says that the #34 and #88 have something figured out. #46 at TGM should be good although there is a fuel number to hit. The overcut is very powerful which is unheard of for Pilot Challenge. Nothing on the radar, but there are threatening clouds.
It has been spritzing with rain for the last few minutes. Here's the Grand Sport points standings as they run, currently.
1. #46 Matt Plumb Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 1,110 points
2. #91 Dickinson/McCarthy Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 Cayman
GT4 RS CS 1,050 points -60
3. #57 Morad/Ward Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 1,010 points -100
Oh boy! Someone has gone off and on! That's Parker Thompson in the #50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota Supra! Hang onto it, Parker! I think he was conservative on the brake pedal but he will have clag all over his tires as he put all four wheels off the road and into the dust! Good thing he kept the welly in it. Blimey! That was a close shave! He had all four wheels off the road and in the air! Oh boy! That's a rodeo ride. Maybe, Parker Thompson should have been an off-road racer! More fun and frolics in the grass. It's like that Hugh Masekela song with the cowbell from the '60s. Grazing in the grass, it's a gas, can you dig it? The answer... no!
Danny Formal, the Costa Rican driver, pushed wide, and he records, with 40 minutes left on the board. But if you get off the racing line onto that less polished area, you are going for a ride whether you dig it or not. Formal with the Turner Motorsports BMW on the inside. That's Robert Megennis in the #95 car. Formal kept it together, but that, ladies and gents, was a wild ride. Robin Liddell in the meantime, passes Parker Thompson for sixth place and now Thompson has two wheels off in the sand! Yikes! He weaves the car before hitting the brakes to make sure things felt fine. Is he plowing a new furrow? Now he has Megennis right on his tail! Aye yaye yaye yaye!
Hang on! Watch out! Luca Mars in the Ford Mustang is now right on Thompson's six as both are trying to pass Megennis in the BMW! Eating up the curb, here comes Mars. He's running to the inside down the hill and here comes the #28 RS1 Porsche of Trent Hindman, look. Hindman wheel to wheel with Megennis and makes a clean pass. Well done, mate. Well done. Robby Foley is in damage limitation mode. The 2024 season has not gone how the defending champions in 2023 anticipated. Stephens now leads over Telitz but the strategy is in question.
I believe we are about to hear straight from the horse's mouth and get a word from Jesse Webb. Oh, froget it. We are going to let Jesse Webb get into the car and see the stop coming up when Michai Stephens reaches the lane. Danny Formal has a radiator full of grass and is in limp home mode trying not to overheat the Aston Martin. The leader is in the pit lane with 38 minutes on the board. A bit of damage on the right front and the right side of the diffuser is hanging off the car. The marshal in the pit lane checking it. The team deliberating with the pit marshal saying, "everything is fine." The official says, "no, it is a safety risk and must come off the car."
The mechanic cannot just rip the material off the car so they will have to do another lap and then come in and make repairs. Fuel only for Stephens. Formal has the front grille clean. It's a 50/50 chance that piece will stay put. Don't let it cut down the right rear Michelin tire. Luca Mars in the Mustang is eighth, Trent Hindman in the Porsche in ninth. We have TCR cars in third through sixth overall, I think. Lewis, Dupont, and Taylor. Aaron Telitz leads. Stephens is right in front of Robert Megennis in ninth. Aaron Telitz leads the motor race and was six laps to the good over the #34 Mercedes. That's not going to do it.
Telitz leads by 18 seconds but with pit lane delta and making the stop, you will lose 12-15 seconds depending on how much of a splash of gas he needs. Do you go full fuel save? Do you keep the hammer down and do a splash and a dash? These are the decisions that must be made by Telitz and the pit crew at Archangel Motorsports. Michai Stephens cycles back into ninth place after his pit visit. Meanwhile, Parick Gallagher has his hands full with Hugh Plumb. So, that is the #97 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 vs. the #64 Team TGM Aston Martin. Lewis Jr. still leads Dupont in TCR. Alfa Romeo vs. Hyundai.
These two have gapped Mikey Taylor by nearly nine seconds. The top six in TCR I believe are all on the same fuel strategy. Trouble for the #50 Toyota Supra at Hattori Motorsports as it appears the mechanics are lifting the bonnet. Engine trouble it looks like. I don't see enough grass or debris in the grille but there is a technical problem. In the replay, we see he jumped over the grass with all four wheels up in the air and did it again and damaging the car. Now and again cars will fly off the racetrack if the grass is rough. The late, great Justin Wilson actually broke his tailbone in an accident here at Mid-Ohio aboard an IndyCar.
How long will Aaron Telitz go on a tank of fuel? Telitz is running in the 1:27 range as the fastest lap of the motor race has been a 1:26.2. He is running a similar pace to everyone else out there. Yikes! On traffic overlap between GS and TCR we can see the #89 HART Honda Civic FL5 going off and on. Chad Gilsinger at the wheel of it. We used to call him "Gunslinger" Gilsinger. Robin Liddell goes to the inside to make a pass and gives Gilsinger a little nudge, and then, the red Honda went off the road. Personally, I don't think the stewards will call that. That's part of sports car racing with multiple classes.
Riley Dickinson in the #91 Porsche Cayman goes off the road and back on. Dickinson is holding off Liddell for fourth spot. We have prognosticated that Liddell, the Scotsman, he could be in the catbird seat for a win here this afternoon. Although Paul Holton might just have more in the tank with four to five laps more fuel onboard his Aston Martin than what we see with Dickinson or with Liddell. If Telitz and Morad hit pit lane, it will be Matty Plumb, our championship leader in the #46 Team TG Aston Martin, he is the bloke who could truly be in the catbird seat with just half an hour to go. Plumb has a six second gap back to Dickinson who is running fourth. Plumb is in third place.
Aaron Telitz is co-driving with Todd Coleman as he has been a Toyota and Lexus factory driver for many years with the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team in the WeatherTech Championship. Later, he was moved into a role that only encompassed the endurance races. Lexus had to give Telitz the nod to run for other brands in other championships. Telitz has been coaching Todd Coleman as a driver for a long time and ended up with this opportunity to race with him in Michelin Pilot Challenge in this Aston Martin for the Archangel Motorsports team. Half an hour remaining.
Honda #89 in in and loads of grass just came off the grille of this car. There's tons of grass and they cleaned it out to avoid overheating and filled the car with fuel. In the GS battle. Daniel Morad is doing math in the cockpit. Morad is n second place and is discussing fuel numbers. They are trying to decide how much fuel they need to save to stretch it to the end of the race. Aaron Telitz and Mike Johnson are working on their strategy. Mike Johnson is confident that the Archangel team can make it on fuel to the end. 131 laps, 295 miles around this 2 and a quarter mile track, have been completed. Morad last pitted the Mercedes at the 109 lap mark, 22 laps ago.
22 laps is 33 minutesd and he'll complete a 61-minute stint and can make. I am not sure about Telitz. He is going to be edging it close, 20 seconds ahead of Morad. The pit lane delta is 25 seconds, I think. In TCR, the leading Alfa Romeo is in for a top up. Telitz could do a five second splash and dash and hang onto the lead of the motor race. Morad can make it if he does a full fuel save during this last stint. The #6 Honda of L.P. Montour is in. Last time by he went off the road into the grass running wide. That was weird. He might have had the gas and brake pedal working together and he felt something.
His speed looked right, and his line was right. Dean Baker goes off the road and back on. It has been impressive to see what this team has been able to do. Baker Racing are running in conjunction with MLT Motorsports who are running this #52 TCR Audi, and I believe we have seen MLT race in the WeatherTech Championship when the LMP3 cars were allowed there, and also, if I am not mistaken, in what is now VP Sports Car Challenge. Parker Thompson did not have the stint as long as he wanted, but he is definitely giving kudos to the team as he fills in for Jack Hawksworth who is racing with Akkodis ASP Lexus at Le Mans for the test session and the race.
The car was not in a great window. He thought they'd win for a moment but they had a longstanding oil pressure warning light. He was over the limit and did everything he could. Thompson thinks his rivals might save fuel. Of course, Parker Thompson is teammates at Lexus with Aaron Telitz in the endurance races for the WeatherTech Championship. The race for second is what we will be watching with just 24 minutes to go. Daniel Morad vs. Matt Plumb. Morad must let Plumb pass. Winward is in fuel save mode. Unless there is a yellow, I don't think Telitz is going to make it.
A splash and a dash might make it for Telitz while Plumb is being bogged down. Morad could keep Plumb behind him and that could help Telitz. Team manager Joe Varde might be able to tell Plumb that he can go for it. Yikes! Rubbing is racing as Morad moves by the Aston Martin. Morad takes it in deep under braking and now, we see the #46 scrapping. All of the TCR cars get good fuel mileage, but each manufacturer will have their strengths, but the Alfa is an interesting case because it has better straightaway speed but is thirstier when it comes to fuel usage.
Morad and Plumb straighten things out for the moment. But this is dicey because Telitz now leads by over 22 seconds. Can he make a splash and dash? 21 minutes to go. The delta for Telitz will be 15 seconds at the very least. Plumb has more horsepower because as we said, I think Morad is definitely in fuel saving mode. If Telitz wants to do the splash and dash, he must do so now because Matt Plumb is going to get into the zone and start running fast lap times. Telitz is lifting early into turn one. Lots of the IMSA endurance drivers in the WeatherTech Championship go through fuel save and so on, on the simulator.
In TCR, Denis Dupont has eight seconds in hand over Mikey Taylor in second, and both drivers pitted on the same lap. Different cars, different drivers, cars will consume fuel differently, and drivers will save fuel differently. Fuel range is equalized for filling the tank and so forth to make it a level playing field for all the manufacturers. Mikey Taylor is still using all of the road. Everyone is very close. At JDC-Miller Motorsports, they don't think they can make it to the very end of the race. We will have to watching Tim Lewis Jr.'s pace aboard the Alfa Romeo. That will be the key. 1:28.7 for Lewis Jr. and Dupont runs a 1:28.6.
Most of these cars have a reserve tank. But it is harder for the TCR drivers to guess when the finish of the race might be. Now, we return to the Riley Dickinson, Robin Liddell story. This is great racing and fun to watch. Everything is going on ahead of them right now. This is a 22 second lead and change between he and Plumb and is now backing up. Just under 17 minutes to go, Aaron Telitz can go into fuel save mode and stay in front of Matt Plumb who is 21 seconds behind. We have a slow TCR car on the circuit, and that is the #99 VGRT Hyundai. That is the Elantra driven by Tyler Gonzalez sharing with Victor Gonzalez and Elliott Budzinski, and they are a lap down. With 16 minutes to go we can run ten or 11 laps. Telitz has a gap of 21 seconds.
Try being conservative now and hitting the fuel number to make it to the very end of the race in 16 minutes' time. But by running in the 1:28 range I don't think you are being conservative enough. Meanwhile, we can see that poor old Tyler Gonzalez is pulling off the road and not in a safe spot either by any stretch. The orange markings on the concrete wall do indicate a safe haven but he has not parked squarely within those markings. So, he remains in harm's way. Get the car behind the barriers. Tyler, please move the car forward. If he is out of gas, the other TCR cars would need to be concerned. He is pulled back up inside the gap in the wall and keeps the race green.
Thank God for that! No yellow. Morad and Winward are confident but of course they are running the Mercedes-AMG compared to the Aston Martin's that are ahead as the #17 JDC-Miller Audi of Mikey Taylor is in the lane, not rolling the dice, not being too aggressive on strategy at this point. But where will they come out? Where will the Alfa Romeo of Tim Lewis Jr. be? No tire change. No driver change. Fuel only. The Alfa Romeo of Lewis goes by. The delta is 15 seconds going onto the pit lane and getting service.
Will the Hyundai's of drivers like Denis Dupont, Harry Gottsacker, and Morgan Burkhard have enough fuel? They are the top three in TCR as things stand. It could be that Denis Dupont could hit the pit lane. Telitz is running the same pace as Matt Plumb. What I don't get, and I think it perplexes our mates in the booth, too, at NBC Sports, Calvin and Dave, is how they are running this torrid pace and saving fuel simultaneously, insofar as the Archangel Aston Martin boys are concerned. Stranger things have happened for sure. Matt Plumb came into this race with swagger and the championship lead. Good things happening for the two-car operation at TGM Racing.
They finally got their arms around the Aston Martin. Joe Varde s a great race engineer and is a former driver himself. Now, we see Riley Dickinson being harried by at least five more cars including J.P. Southern, Robin Liddell, Luca Mars, Michai Stephens, and Robert Megennis. Trent Hindman in the Porsche is also poking his nose into this fight. 11 minutes to go in the second and final enduro of 2024 for Michelin Pilot Challenge, as Liddell passes Mars. In the TCR class, Gottacker is in for fuel and the #76 Hyundai also pitted for a splash and a dash. Megennis is inside of Mars and now look at Stephens!
Stephens in the Mercedes is right on Megennis' gearbox as he is trying to make his move on Mars. Meanwhile, two of the Posche's are back there. I think one is a lapped car. There's the Trent Hindman driven RS1 Cayman and the #3 JTR Engineering Cayman which has either Jared Thomas or Nick Shaeffer at the controls. I think it is Jared Thomas bringing it home. TCR cars need nine seconds of fuel on this final stop to get to the bitter end. Michai Stephens is harrying Luca Mars! He runs too wide and still gains the place over Mars! Look at that!
The curbs are an extension of the track and now, Jared Thomas makes his move. Very impressive as Thomas has also raced Mazda MX5 Cup today in addition to this four-hour race in Michelin Pilot Challenge. Riley Dickinson is still holding down fourth place. The bright neon yellow Aston Martin of J.P. Southern, the #45 Ruckus Racing car is still hanging on right behind in fifth place. Telitz is doing all he can on fuel save but why wouldn't you do it more aggressively? It reflects upon lap time if you are doing it completely.
Now, we see the battle heating up as Southern is moving to the outside of Dickinson! No dice. Riley Dickinson slams the door in J.P. Southern's face. Southern is still pushing it, riding the cushion and he gets muscled out of the way by Robin Liddell! Mama Mia! That was brave! If you get outside the racing line you will be on the marbles, guaranteed. If Matt Plumb can get around Aaron Telitz and score the victory, he can break his tie with Billy Johnson and become the sole posessor of the most wins in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition. The #76 Hyundai is in the pits for a splash and dash, just a couple seconds worth of petrol.
Splash and go for the #76. Where are the #5 and #17? The Alfa and the Audi. Dupont comes out ahead of both Lewis and Taylor. Don't come too late and the Alfa has used its pace. Don't be fooled by the livery, the #76 car is part of the Byran Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian team. The Alfa is not far behind. What will the fuel strategy do? Will the strategy work? Will the Alfa of Lewis Jr. run him down? The delta between the GS and the TCR cars is virtually nothing with just six and a half minutes on the clock before the race ends. Plenty of grip on the new pavement. Liddell chasing Dickinson. In turn, Liddell and Dickinson are both chasing Morad.
Morad is just not able to run the pace that the two cars behind him can. Lots to play for here in the final podium places. The leader has nine laps less of fuel than the second place GS car. Aaron Telitz is ahead of Matt Plumb to the tune of over 17 seconds. The twin turbo V8 Aston Martin is so quiet it sounds like he is on fuel save when he is at full speed. Looking at the numbers, he pitted 19 laps earlier than Matt Plumb's last pit stop, and 11 laps earlier than Daniel Morad in the Mercedes. Telitz is now told to put the hammer down.
Meanwhile, the #16 Skip Barber Racing School Aston Martin is off the road, through the gravel trap and onto the grass. This is the Ken Fukuda, Will Lambros, Celso Neto driven car. Lambros at the wheel of it, getting off the circuit. There are 50 laps into this stint, 75 minutes for Telitz and we were told 58-60 was the maximum. Yikes! Riley Dickinson is spinning like a top in the #91 Porsche! That is right out of turn one and he gets it point in the right direction but there might be damage to that automobile. He was heading for The Keyhole. The fourth-place car has spun. Jeepers creepers! He's all by his lonesome. No help whatsoever! Holy cow!
Holy cow! He was a jolly lucky bloke to recover from that and the tires on that Porsche Cayman are going to come off in the shape of cubes! Dickinson has flown Plummet Airways down to 12th place. But now, look at the job J.P. Southern is doing, holding onto fourth place! Blimey! Drive of the day? It's possible. Liddell is driving the same car, the same platform, as Telitz, with another Aston Martin. So, when he pitted compared to Telitz, Telitz is 51 laps into a stint on fuel. He is almost 115 miles into the stint, 114 and 3/4 actually. That's crazy! That's bananas! He has two minutes and 40 seconds. He has heard go, go, go, as though they have no trouble.
He slowed down considerably and if he slows down, he will have a lap to go on fuel. He needs to make sure that there is a slow car he needs to see, and they only need one more lap. The slow car is the purple and green hippie liveried BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman, car #38. That is the Thomas Collingwood, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Spencer Pumpelly car. A time certain race is a different animal. Telitz is very slow, managing fuel. I wonder... I don't want to play devil's advocate, but he could be out of gas. Never mind. He could uncork a lap record and still chug the car to the finish.
Telitz has been running 1:27-1:28 laps with the fastest lap today being run at 1:26.2. He has backed off to 1:35. That is why IMSA has not thrown the white flag yet. He should be coming to the checkers. If time is up, time is up. I feel we should do a countdown and let the ball drop. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. White flag. He has to do another whole lap! Oh my! This should count back because the four hours is up. Matt Plumb is only six seconds behind! This is squeaky, squeaky time right now. He can't slow down much more. This lap can't possibly count if the clock is at zero.
The stewards are going to tear this car down and inspect every nut and bolt. They will be looking at that fuel tank even after he did a 25% save. This is the first win for Archangel Motorsports in Michelin Pilot Challenge! Aaron Telitz does it! He and co-driver Todd Coleman can celebrate! That's a head scratcher and everyone in the pit lane will say, "how did they do that?!" Meanwhile, Denis Dupont has a lead on Tim Lewis Jr. So, Denis Dupont will win for Bryan Herta Autosport in Hyundai with Preston Brown, and they get their first wins as well! I am gobsmacked. Absolutely gobsmacked.
Overall/Grand Sport: #88 Coleman/Telitz Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4
TCR: #76 Brown/Dupont Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian
Hyundai Elantra N TCR
This makes for four different winners in the first four races in GS in 2024 Michelin Pilot Challenge competition. A first-time TCR winner, not for the team, but the driver pairing of Denis Dupont and Preston Brown. A great race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on this Sunday afternoon. The next Michelin Pilot Challenge event is at Watkins Glen International Raceway in upstate New York. We will have it for you, on the blog. Join us at Watkins Glen. For now, so long, everyone from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Bye bye.,
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