“No, that’s not a typo!” headlined the release announcing Turner Motorsport’s 2025 IMSA plans, as the most experienced BMW racing team of all time announced its line-up of not one, not two, but six BMWs that will compete across all IMSA …
“No, that’s not a typo!” headlined the release announcing Turner Motorsport’s 2025 IMSA plans, as the most experienced BMW racing team of all time announced its line-up of not one, not two, but six BMWs that will compete across all IMSA championships at Daytona later this month. Last year, Turner set the record for the most entries by a BMW racing team, and this year Will Turner and company begin their 27th professional racing season.
Leading the way is the new No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, running for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD Championship in 2025.
The No. 96 team will feature familiar names, led by BMW M Motorsport factory driver Robby Foley and co-driver Patrick Gallagher, who enter their third season together. 18-year-old Jake Walker Jr. returns for the Michelin Endurance Cup events, and Jens Klingmann, another BMW M factory driver, will complete the team in Turner’s 15th Rolex 24 At Daytona start. Foley and Gallagher finished fourth in the 2023 IMSA GTD standings, and improved to second in 2024, with a race victory at Road America and three runner-up finishes.
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Turner’s iconic blue and yellow livery will be present in the Michelin Pilot Challenge paddock as the team also adds two new BMW M4 GT4 EVOs, both of which will compete for the GS (Grand Sport) title.
After spending two seasons in GS in separate Turner cars, Francis Selldorff and Dillon Machavern will team up for the first time in the No. 95 BMW. Matt Dalton and Patrick Gallagher will split the season with Vincent “Vin” Barletta and Robby Foley in the No. 96 car. And as confirmed this week, Barletta will join Dalton and Gallagher for the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona.
“I’m really looking forward to being back for my seventh full-time season with Turner Motorsport,” said Foley, Turner’s lead driver. “We have a lot of momentum coming off a strong 2024 season, but equally some new challenges.
“In the No. 96 GTD car, we have a lot of continuity with Patrick and Jake, and Jens ‘The Maschine’ for Daytona, so it’s business as usual there. Of course, there are a lot of new aspects on the technical side with the beautiful new BMW EVO car, but also from IMSA,” he adds, in reference to IMSA’s new torque sensors that will be mandatory in GTD this year. “This will keep us on our toes, but we’re ready for the challenge. Plus, it’s always exciting to debut new cars at Daytona, and I’m excited to see how we stack up!”
Three Turner BMWs will run in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge opener at Daytona, including two BMW M4 GT3s in the new GTDX (GT Daytona X) class.
GTDX is a new category open to GT3 models that participated in the previous year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (meaning that the M4 GT3 EVO is not yet eligible) and will not use torque sensors.
After three seasons in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, the aforementioned Walker will run full-time in the VP Challenge series — driving the No. 6 BMW M4 GT3 — as he looks to gain more experience in the category.
“It’s great having Jake and Francis continue to move up in their racing careers with Turner Motorsport. We’ve almost created a driver development program with the way our drivers have shuffled around and moved up,” said team owner and namesake Will Turner. “It started with Robby learning under Bill [Auberlen] and now Robby is mentoring the next wave of talent. Patrick is coaching Matt as well, and as a team owner, you couldn’t ask for a better group of drivers all working to improve themselves but also as a team.”
At Daytona, Walker will be joined by the No. 95 BMW M4 GT3 of Barletta, and the No. 96 BMW M4 GT4 of Dalton.
“As usual, it’s been a crazy off-season to get this fleet of BMWs set for 2025,” Turner said “It’ll be a busy two weeks in Daytona, but I can’t wait to get to the track with the BMW M4 EVOs. It’ll take a lot of tacos to power my crew across six BMWs but we’re up for the challenge.”
IMSA has published the provisional entry list for the opening round of the 2025 Michelin Pilot Challenge, the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona. A showcase event for the dual-class series, the entry list features 42 total entries: 26 …
IMSA has published the provisional entry list for the opening round of the 2025 Michelin Pilot Challenge, the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona.
A showcase event for the dual-class series, the entry list features 42 total entries: 26 GT4 cars in the GS (Grand Sport) class, and 16 TCR touring cars. 36 of these cars will also take part in testing during the Roar Before The Rolex 24 weekend.
“Two new models, the BMW M4 GT4 EVO and Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, will each make their Michelin Pilot Challenge debuts at Daytona. Turner Motorsport will enter two new M4 GT4 EVOs, as will Auto Technic Racing and CarBahn with Peregrine Racing — while two previous M4 GT4 models will appear, from Team ACP-Tangerine.
Francis Selldorff and Dillon Machavern will drive the No. 95 Turner BMW, with Matt Dalton, Patrick Gallagher, and Vincent Barletta in the No. 96. Stevan McAleer will join Roland and Austin Krainz in the No.27 Auto Technic BMW, while Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal reprise their roles in the No.39 CarBahn/Peregrine machine.
Francis Selldorff and Dillon Machavern will drive the No.95 Turner BMW, with Matt Dalton, Patrick Gallagher, and Vincent Barletta in the No.96. Stevan McAleer will join Roland and Austin Krainz in the No.27 Auto Technic BMW, while Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal reprise their roles in the No.39 CarBahn/Peregrine machine.
The restructured RAFA Racing, Hattori Motorsports, and Kingpin Racing will each enter a new Toyota.
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The defending GS class champions, Team TGM, arrive with two new Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 ‘Evo’ models. 2024 GS drivers’ champion Matt Plumb will share the No.46 Aston Martin with Paul Holton, opposite Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb, and Kris Wilson in the No.64.
Last year’s GS runner-up, RS1, returns with a new line-up in the No. 28 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4: Teenage rising star Luca Mars, and Porsche veteran Jan Heylen. They’ll also be joined in a five-car Porsche contingent by last year’s TCR championship-winning team, Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports, moving up to GS with the No. 17 Porsche of Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor.
There are five Ford Mustang GT4s — including two from KoHR Motorsports. Billy Johnson Jr., the joint record-holder for most wins in the Michelin Pilot Challenge with Matt Plumb, returns to the series full-time in the No. 59 KoHR Ford Mustang. Johnson and Bob Michaelian will team up with the No. 60 KoHR Ford of Christian Bach, Dean Martin, and inaugural FEL Sports Car Championship Canada GT4 Champion, Marco Signoretti.
There is also a single McLaren Artura GT4 from Accelerating Performance, and a single Mercedes-AMG GT4 for Winward Racing, Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad.
TCR’s 16-car field has seven Hyundais, including four from Bryan Herta Autosport. 2024 series runners-up Mason Filippi and Mark Wilkins will be split up within the BHA camp: Wilkins will join Bryson Morris in the No. 33 Hyundai, and Filippi will join Harry Gottsacker in the No.98 car. Denis Dupont and Preston Brown remain together in the No.76 Hyundai.
Gou Racing, and the father-son team of Eddie and Eduardo Gou, will drive the new No.55 Cupra Leon VZ TCR that will make its American debut at Daytona. This is in preparation for Cupra entering the U.S. car market before the end of the current decade.
Five Audi RS3 LMS TCRs are entered, most notable the new two-car program from Precision Racing LA. Veteran Ryan Eversley will share the No. 7 PRLA Audi with 2025-26 IMSA Diverse Driver Scholarship recipient Celso Neto. They’ll be joined by three Honda Civic TCRs.
There are a few drivers still to be confirmed before the BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona, which starts Friday, Jan. 24 at 1:45pm ET. The race will air in the United States on Peacock, and elsewhere around the world on YouTube and IMSA TV.
Van der Steur Racing (VDSR) has confirmed its drivers for its debut Michelin Endurance Cup campaign as it steps up from the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot …
Van der Steur Racing (VDSR) has confirmed its drivers for its debut Michelin Endurance Cup campaign as it steps up from the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot were the first two drivers confirmed to drive the No.19 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 in the five-race endurance calendar, and today it was confirmed they will be joined by Anthony McIntosh and Maxime Robin.
McIntosh arrives off the back of his second consecutive Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals class victory, and two Super Trofeo North America Am Championships.
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“After racing in Europe, I’m excited to return home and compete on some of the best tracks in America,” said McIntosh. “I can’t wait for this next step in my career.
Robin will make his American racing debut at Daytona. The Frenchman is a member of the AMR Driver Academy.
“I’m thrilled to join the VDSR team for the 24 Hours of Daytona,” said Robin. “This race marks my debut in the US and an important chapter for the team as they enter GTD competition.”
“This race is a dream come true,” said second-generation driver Van der Steur, son of team founder and former American Le Mans Series driver Gunnar van der Steur. “I’ve been watching it since I was a kid, and now I get to race in my first Rolex 24. I’m going in with an open mind and putting my trust in every member on the team!”
“After two years of working with VDSR and Rory, I am proud to be a part of this important new chapter in the team’s history,” remarked Hasse-Clot, AMR works driver. “Let’s continue the great work we started in November [at the IMSA Sanctioned Test] and make it count!”
Rockwell Autosport Development has finalized the driver line-up for its No. 10 Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen 2 in the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, which starts next month at Daytona International Speedway. Christina Lam, a two-time finalist for …
Rockwell Autosport Development has finalized the driver line-up for its No. 10 Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen 2 in the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, which starts next month at Daytona International Speedway. Christina Lam, a two-time finalist for the IMSA Diverse Driver Development scholarship, will join Eric and Alex Rockwell in the car.
“Competing in IMSA, one of the most prestigious racing series, fills me with immense pride,” said Lam, who will be making her debut in IMSA competition. “As a grassroots racer, putting this program together has been a dream years in the making. Eric and Alex bring a wealth of experience with these Audi TCRs, we have a strong line-up together. I
“I’m grateful to be part of the RAD family for this season. All the hard work is coming to fruition, and I couldn’t be more excited to take on Daytona. I’m thrilled that our partners — Helium Mobile, OG Racing, Sparco, and the National Center for Women’s Innovations — are supporting this program. Their backing means a lot to us, and we’re excited to represent them on track this season.”
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“I am excited to continue our relationship with Audi with the Gen 2 machine,” said team owner Eric Rockwell. “We have had four years of experience with the manufacture and looking at taking that forward and applying that to the new platform.
“I have competed against Christina for a couple years in the grassroots events in which RAD provides opportunities for up-and-coming drivers. When I saw she was a finalist, it sparked a conversation and all the pieces fell into place from there.”
Helium Mobile is a revolutionary user-built cell network that rewards its users with unlimited talk, text, and data. Helium Mobile enables users to help build the network by deploying hotspots, with coverage available in the IMSA paddock.
OG Racing is the premier supplier of motorsports safety equipment, offering a wide range of racing suits, helmets, and neck protection from top brands. OG Racing is dedicated to providing drivers with the best in safety technology.
National Center for Women’s Innovations is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting women innovators by sharing their stories and promoting hands-on STEM projects. Their mission is to empower women in technology and innovation.
The Bryan Herta Autosport IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge team is suing a former client for allegedly failing to honor the terms of its contract, which includes non-payment for a significant sum of money. Under the Bryan Herta Rallysport LLC, banner, …
The Bryan Herta Autosport IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge team is suing a former client for allegedly failing to honor the terms of its contract, which includes non-payment for a significant sum of money.
Under the Bryan Herta Rallysport LLC, banner, the team owned by Herta and Sean Jones filed a lawsuit against Deily Motorsports LLC and its owner Robert Deily as an individual, in Deily’s home state of Oklahoma, seeking remuneration for the terms in the loan of a Hyundai Elantra N TCR fielded by Deily in 2023.
Deily Motorsports purchased one Hyundai and made use of a second lent from BHA for its two-car TCR effort, and according to the filing from September 2024, the BHA and Deily entered into an agreement on Jan. 6, 2023, with a “Vehicle Loan Agreement for lease of a race vehicle,” and in that agreement, Deily was “obligated to return the race vehicle in the same race-ready condition it was received.”
The complaint also describes the agreement as containing terms where Deily was “responsible for all damages incurred during the loan period,” and Deily “was to return the vehicle with all components it received.”
BHA alleges Deily “failed to return the race vehicle in the same race-ready condition it was received, that it was returned damaged, that it was missing components and other ways breached the agreement.”
Having allegedly taken receipt of a crashed and incomplete Hyundai Elantra TCR N, BHA has asked the court to deliver a finding in its favor, stating “as a result of the default of [Deily] under the terms and conditions of the agreement, [BHA] has been damaged and is entitled to judgement in the amount of $110,704.26.”
In the filing, BHA included a copy of the invoice generated on Feb. 23, 2024, sent to Bob Deily and Deily Motorsports at an address in Edmond, Okla., with terms listed as due on receipt, with $102,604.26 listed under Miscellaneous for “Chassis #31 – damaged and mileaged parts to put car back into condition when leased,” and 54 hours of labor at $150 per hour for “labor on repaired parts,” at an additional $8100, to reach the total of $110,704.26.
Separate from the running of its championship-winning Hyundai TCR program, BHA also serves as the primary importer, distributor, parts supplier, and technical support agent for Hyundai’s race cars in North and South America.
The Deily team contested the majority of the Michelin Pilot Challenge series calendar in 2023, which included using the loaned car from BHA. It returned in 2024 to participate in the opening MPC TCR race ahead of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January with Robert Deily’s son Jacob Deily and Jordan Wisely as the drivers (pictured, top), returned the car to BHA afterwards, which led to the issuing of the six-figure invoice in February, and participated in one final MPC TCR race in June at Mid-Ohio, but in an Audi RS3 LMS TCR with a different driver line-up.
Formed as an LLC in August of 2022, documentation supplied in the filing from BHA says Deily Motorsport is currently listed as an inactive corporation.
Following RACER’s documenting of BHA’s complaint against Deily, Deily sent an email documenting numerous ways in which he believes the contents of the lawsuit are without merit.
Herta, in kind, declined to comment on the matter due to the ongoing litigation, telling RACER its opinion on the matter is fully represented in the lawsuit.
This story has been updated to reflect communications with both parties following its original publication.
Two was the number of the day to cap the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season in Friday’s Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Matt Plumb finished second Friday in the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4, which was enough to …
Two was the number of the day to cap the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season in Friday’s Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Matt Plumb finished second Friday in the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4, which was enough to secure his second Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class championship and first since 2013.
It nearly would have been the No. 46’s second win of the year, except for a late-race pass by Riley Dickinson in the No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport.
That move wrapped the second win of the season for Dickinson and co-driver Michael McCarthy. The pair bookended the year having also won the season-opening four-hour race at Daytona International Speedway in January.
The No. 46 Aston Martin that Plumb shared with Paul Holton was in a strong position entering the race, needing only a sixth-place finish to clinch the championship. Holton solidified their spot when he won the Motul Pole Award late Thursday.
Like the season, the race featured a battle with championship rivals RS1 and co-drivers Trent Hindman and Stevan McAleer in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche.
As McAleer and Holton contended for the lead early in the race, they briefly ceded the position to Zach Veach in the No. 50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo after he made a bold three-in-one pass to the inside of Turn 10 in the opening 15 minutes.
Veach controlled the pace before the second full-course caution of the race, which shifted the strategies as teams dived to pit lane just after the 40-minute minimum drive time had elapsed. Crucially, that included both McAleer and Holton, who leapfrogged the handful of GS class cars that stayed out prior to the caution.
The order shifted a bit as a handful of Touring Car (TCR) class cars moved to the overall lead before they shifted to fuel-save mode to make the race on one pit stop rather than two.
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GS cars, having made their final stops anywhere from 47 to 53 minutes before the checkered flag of the two-hour race, then charged back through the TCR cars ahead in order to retake the overall lead.
There was a further wrinkle in play with the second Team TGM entry, Bronze Cup GS class champions Ted Giovanis and co-driver Hugh Plumb, in their No. 64 Aston Martin. Hugh Plumb led the race for the balance of the second half before needing a splash of fuel in the final 10 minutes of the race.
Dickinson’s pursuit of the leaders included battles with both GS title contenders. He made slight contact with the fellow Porsche of Hindman, although the action was reviewed with only a warning. Hindman and McAleer eventually finished sixth.
An easier, cleaner pass of others in the GS field including Matt Plumb on lap 64 of 74 was for second place on the road and the net lead once Hugh Plumb pitted.
“I hate to have that contact happen,” Dickinson said. “I had to come through the field, I knew we had the pace advantage. I knew every lap I’d be stuck behind other cars compared to the No. 46, I’d run out of time. It’s a race we wanted to go win, and we did.”
Ultimately, Dickinson held on to capture the victory by 1.849s over Matt Plumb. Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister, winners last time out at Indianapolis in the No. 39 CarBAhn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 finished third to complete the podium.
For Plumb and Holton, second matched the theme of their season – consistency – en route to the title.
“It sounds pretty good considering what a competitive year it was,” Plumb said. “We have had a long and productive season. Things have worked out well. It could be winning, or be sixth.
“With this level of competition, we have to settle sometimes. We may have settled for second in the race today, but it worked out.”
No. 98 Hyundai squeezes every drop of fuel to win in TCR, No. 17 Audi locks down title
Jake Galstad/Lumen
The Touring Car (TCR) class warranted watching from start to finish, literally. For the second year running, the season’s team and driver championships were decided at the drop of the green flag.
Last year, the championship-leading (and pole-winning) No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR suffered a mechanical failure while bringing the field to the green and the team could only watch as Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi won the race in the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR, with teammates Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker finishing fourth to clinch the driver, team and manufacturer TCR titles.
It was more than a little ironic Friday when, with Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor needing to finish 11th or better in the No. 17 Audi to claim the driver and team TCR crowns, the 12th and final starter in the class (the No. 73 Racers Edge Motorsports Honda Civic FK7 TCR) was unable to start the race after experiencing mechanical problems of its own. Mission accomplished for Miller and Taylor.
Fast forward to a race dominated virtually from start to finish by the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai of Tyler Gonzalez and Morgan Burkhard. Virtually is the key word, as the white flag waved to signal the final lap, Burkhard peeled into pit lane for a splash of fuel, handing the win to Wilkins, Filippi and the No. 98 BHA Hyundai.
“We were all in the same boat trying to get to the end,” Wilkins said after he and Filippi won their second straight race of the season and second straight at Michelin Raceway. “It was a battle of who did a better job of getting there.
“The No. 99 is the same car, and I didn’t know where they were [on fuel]. I was just trying to gauge off of everybody else, honestly. I felt like we were all so similar. I didn’t know if he was going to make it or not. It looked the way he was driving that maybe he had a shot to make it to the end, so he had to push, obviously a little bit more. I think we did a good job earlier in the stint to allow ourselves to run a bit more aggressive at the end, to put some pressure on him. I guess they were waiting for a yellow that never came.”
Although sixth place was a disappointing and uncharacteristic showing for a team that amassed four wins and stood atop the TCR standings from the opening round of the season at Daytona International Speedway, there was plenty of joy to be found in the JDC-Miller compound after the race.
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“No question, last year was heartbreaking,” said Taylor. “The whole team set out to make amends for that this year. We had a great year but it wasn’t easy. Some rules changes in the middle of the season meant we had to redevelop the car. Even this weekend wasn’t easy by any means. We had an off in qualifying that damaged the car, so the team was here until midnight repairing the damage. Even when we found out the [No. 73] wasn’t starting the race, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Although the other shoe never dropped, Miller, Taylor & Co. had a tough day at the office, so to speak.
“Of course, it was in our minds that we’d won the championship,” Taylor continued. “But we’re here to race, and we wanted to finish the season on a high note. Although the crew did a fantastic job fixing the car, we didn’t have another session before the race to test the repairs and the car was not exactly right today. The Hyundais had more speed and, obviously, a couple of them went the distance on one pit stop, where we had to stop twice.”
Meanwhile, the race win vaulted Filippi and Wikins into second place in the driver and team standings and added another feather in the proverbial cap of Hyundai, which had already clinched its fifth consecutive TCR manufacturer championship.
“It’s been a tough year,” said Filippi. “We had a lot of ups and downs and at the end we just went for it. The synergy within the whole team has been amazing. We’ve been working on fuel save all last year and this year. The Hyundai is really good around here, fun to drive and, after winning the last race, Mark and I were just saying, ‘What if?’ It’s really cool to win and get second place in the championship.
“For Hyundai to win a fifth manufacturers championship is really amazing. There’s a lot of tough competition in TCR, and to win five straight championships is a tribute to Hyundai’s commitment to the series and their support of our team.”
CUPRA is set to become the 19th manufacturer participating in IMSA competition as it joins the TCR class in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with the CUPRA Leon VZ TCR. With CUPRA, a subsidiary brand of Spanish manufacturer SEAT, set to launch U.S. car …
CUPRA is set to become the 19th manufacturer participating in IMSA competition as it joins the TCR class in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with the CUPRA Leon VZ TCR. With CUPRA, a subsidiary brand of Spanish manufacturer SEAT, set to launch U.S. car sales by the end of the decade, the car is eligible for IMPC competition in 2025.
“Racing is in CUPRA’s DNA,” said Xavi Serra, head of CUPRA Racing. “We are always looking for new challenges that dare to be better, and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is certainly one of them. We are very excited to participate in our first competition in the USA ahead of our market launch by the end of the decade.
“The CUPRA Leon VZ TCR has already proven its performance in other international championships and now it’s ready to compete in a new challenge.”
Launched in May 2024, the CUPRA Leon VZ TCR has participated in 42 races over the last few months, scoring podiums at Spa-Francorchamps, Estoril, Brno and Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Teams in IMPC will have the option to race the Leon VZ TCR in 2025.
“IMSA proudly welcomes CUPRA to our family of manufacturer partners,” declared IMSA President John Doonan. “This manufacturer partnership is unique in that CUPRA is a brand that will use the IMSA platform to introduce itself ahead of its planned expansion into the U.S. market.
“This approach reinforces the values of IMSA – and specifically the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge – and opens the door to new storytelling opportunities and perhaps a blueprint for other manufacturers to follow in the future.”
CUPRA joins Hyundai, Honda, Audi and Alfa Romeo as a manufacturer participating in the TCR class.
Ramin Abdolvahabi, a longtime competitor in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, died on September 23 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Abdolvahabi was a co-driver with Rob Ecklin, Jr. in the No. 9 Stoner Car Care Aston Martin. He and Ecklin had just …
Ramin Abdolvahabi, a longtime competitor in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, died on September 23 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Abdolvahabi was a co-driver with Rob Ecklin, Jr. in the No. 9 Stoner Car Care Aston Martin. He and Ecklin had just achieved their series goal – the Bronze class victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring weekend – when Abdolvahabi was diagnosed.
A nationally recognized neurosurgeon, Abdolvahabi was based in Wellington, FL. He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia, interned and completed his residency at Wayne State University in Detroit, and set up practice in the Palm Beach area of Florida.
While he was proud of his many professional accomplishments, and the many lives that he helped to improve along the way, it was at the racetrack that Abdolvahabi found his passion. He particularly loved his home track, Sebring Raceway, with its history as a former World War II airbase.
“You could drive Sebring for years and never get bored,” said Abdolvahabi back in 2022. “And it has such a legacy, with its history before it was a racetrack – what it went through, how it was changed. There’s no track like it in the world, and after 80 years, no one wants to change it.”
Abdolvahabi competed in several Trans-Am races but focused primarily on the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, racing in the series since 2014. In 2017, he found a home with Orlando-based Automatic Racing, run by longtime team manager David Russell.
“I love racing with Automatic,” Abdolvahabi said at Daytona in 2022. “It’s really a team of like-minded people, crew and drivers, so there’s really no ego or fear about asking for help. The Stoner and Invisible Glass liveries are so recognizable, and you can’t say that about that many other cars, so that brings a very enjoyable element to the program.”
The partnership with Ecklin clicked on and off the track as well, with the duo complementing each other’s racing abilities and keeping the atmosphere in the team truck light and fun.
“Ramin would do anything you asked of him,” remembered Russell. “He was always there to pick me up when things weren’t necessarily going as planned. I always look forward to our dinners together where we would dice up our entrees and share with each other – that was a common theme. Most dinners we would laugh so hard until we cried. He truly loved the team and considered it part of his own, I was blessed to know him and be a small part of his journey.”
“I enjoyed a lot of good racing years with my racemate Ramin,” said Ecklin. “It was very satisfying to pick up some Bronze victories with him in the last couple of seasons, along with other podiums.”
The team will support Lustgarten pancreatic cancer research foundation. Donations can be made in Ramin’s name here.
It was a long time coming, but CarBahn Motorsports finally found its way back to victory lane in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal put in an impressive drive in Saturday’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 to capture …
It was a long time coming, but CarBahn Motorsports finally found its way back to victory lane in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal put in an impressive drive in Saturday’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 to capture the overall and Grand Sport (GS) class win in the No. 39 BMW M4 GT4. It’s the first time CarBahn has won a Michelin Pilot Challenge race in nearly four years, when Westphal and then-co-driver Tyler McQuarrie took the checkered flag at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Halloween 2020.
“The team deserves it, they worked so hard with such precise detail in the car,” Westphal said. “We’ve always had potential; it’s just been putting it together. It’s great for everybody.”
McAlister started sixth in the 20-car GS field and was still there when he turned the No. 39 over to Westphal on a pit stop under a full-course caution some 45m into the two-hour race. Westphal then battled his way past GS points leader Matt Plumb in the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and both Turner Motorsport BMWs to seize control.
From there, it was a matter of holding off the charging Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4, which with co-driver Bryce Ward was seeking back-to-back wins at Indy.
The gap in the closing half hour varied depending on who was mashing the accelerator harder – Westphal or Ellis – with Westphal prevailing by 3.658s.
“I’ve raced against Ellis in GTD (IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) and I knew he was quick,” Westphal said. “Every time I would push, I’d pull out a couple tenths. He’d push and he’d pull out a couple tenths. … I think we were both playing the cat-and-mouse game trying to catch each other without making big mistakes, and the gap stayed pretty stagnant.”
For Westphal, it’s Michelin Pilot Challenge career win No. 4 and his first since that Halloween triumph four years ago. For McAlister, it’s win No. 1 at a very memorable venue.
“I’ve been in this series almost three full years now and I haven’t even been on the podium,” McAlister said. “It’s great to finally come out and get top of the podium – especially at Indy. It’s amazing!”
Plumb, with co-driver Paul Holton, brought the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin home in fourth place. With the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport finishing ninth, it stretched the GS lead for Plumb and the No. 46 to 110 points unofficially over Stevan McAleer, Trent Hindman and the No. 28. Only the season finale, the Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 11, remains.
“As we learned in the last two races, things can go real south, real quick,” Plumb said, referring to finishes of 11th and 15th in the past two races. “We played this whole season the same thing, which is take what you can get and don’t get upset. So, fourth was great. … I think we probably could’ve done a little bit better but we’ll take it.”
Chaos early, strategy late brings Hyundai TCR win
Jake Galstad/Lumen
Chaos and strategy, early and late, Hyundai had the Touring Car (TCR) class covered. After a chaotic start and an early full course yellow, the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR bolt rocketed from deep in the field to the lead and looked a potential winner. Until, that is, lap 22 when a hapless Morgan Burkhard found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and was punted into the Turn 1 grass by a Grand Sport (GS) competitor.
Burkhard’s misfortune opened the door for the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai to take the lead. Mark Wilkins and, later, Mason Filippi duly maintained that lead for the remainder of the race, leading a 1-2 sweep for the team ahead of the No. 33 Hyundai of teammates Harry Gottsacker and Robert Wickens. TCR championship leaders Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor finished third in the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR.
Although the No. 98 Hyundai led the final two-thirds of the race and enjoyed a relatively comfortable 4.427s lead over the No. 33 Hyundai at the finish, Filippi himself was by no means comfortable. He’d taken the helm from Wilkins on lap 26 and as the laps clicked off with no sign of a full-course yellow to slow the pace — or the rate of fuel consumption — Filippi slowed his pace by two or more seconds a lap to make the finish without a late splash of VP Racing fuel.
“The last two laps [the team] said we had five liters of fuel left,” said Filippi. “I lost the calculator on my dash, so I was just going off what the team told me to do. A huge thank you to Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai. The car handled so well, we could save fuel and set a good pace.”
Wickens also slowed his pace in the final going, but for different reasons.
“Saving fuel wasn’t a problem,” he explained. “I was trying to manage my tires. I don’t know what I did wrong but for some reason I seemed to have worn out the left front more than anticipated. I banked enough fuel early on which, unfortunately, built up the gap [to the No. 98] and I was never able to bring it back.”
The JDC-Miller Audi battled back from an early penalty, as Miller was hit with a drive-through penalty for jumping the start when the TCR field unexpectedly slowed to avoid a bunched-up GS field.
Relegated to the back of the TCR field, the JDC-Miller Audi stopped for fuel during the lap 22 full-course yellow, which enabled the car to go the rest of the way on just one more stop. They ran much of the remainder of the race in second place before that second stop dropped them to fourth, even as the lead Hyundais and the No. 72 Pegram Racing Audi RS3 LMS SEQ tried to go the distance on a single stop. Lapping two seconds or more faster than the cars ahead of him, Taylor caught and passed the Pegram Audi in the closing laps but was too far behind the Herta Hyundais to threaten the lead.
“The fundamental thing is we have several less liters of fuel than the Hyundais,” said Taylor, “They can run 15m longer than we can on a full fuel run. We weren’t holding back. We did everything we could to beat them.
“We maximized the package we have. The team is throwing everything they can at the car, they’ve been giving us great pit stops and, hey, we’re having fun. Being on the podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is pretty special.”
Although second place enabled Gottsacker, Wickens and the No. 33 Hyundai to edge a little closer in the championship points standings, Taylor, Miller and the No. 17 JDC-Miller Audi head to Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with an unofficial 120-point margin over the defending champion No. 33 team.
Round eight of the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge was a tale of two races for the Grand Sport (GS) class. The opening act of Saturday’s Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix was all about RS1’s No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport, as Motul …
Round eight of the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge was a tale of two races for the Grand Sport (GS) class.
The opening act of Saturday’s Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix was all about RS1’s No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport, as Motul Pole winner Stevan McAleer showed a clean pair of heels – make that a clean rear diffuser – to the field. But when a full-course yellow halfway through the two-hour race interrupted matters amid a round of pit stops and driver exchanges, the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche emerged in the lead, with Spencer Pumpelly having taken over from Thomas Collingwood. Although Trent Hindman matched teammate McAleer’s earlier form in the No. 28, Pumpelly never left a glimmer of an opening over the closing hour and came home 0.373s clear of Hindman to win the race.
In addition to the efforts of the BGB driving tandem, the win owed as much to pit stop strategy that saw the Porsche stretch its fuel mileage and Michelin tires until lap 27, even as the balance of the GS field (including McAleer) stopped several laps earlier. That proved crucial when the full-course caution on lap 29 brought the early stoppers back to top off on fuel and removed any doubt as to whether Pumpelly had enough fuel to go the remaining distance.
“Thanks to good position and good strategy and a little bit of luck, we cycled to the front of the field,” said Pumpelly. “These BGB guys have worked so hard these past couple of weeks to get this car back into competitive form. For the last hour, I had one of the best in the business (Hindman) in one of the best cars pounding on me, and I didn’t want to let our guys down by making a mistake. We were a little close on fuel but after that (second) full-course yellow (with 45 minutes left), we were fine.”
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Not only did that second caution ease Pumpelly’s fuel concerns, it gave Hindman extra incentive to focus on collecting points rather than making any do-or-die efforts for the win. That’s because that second caution knocked both Team TGM’s class-leading No. 46 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and van der Steur Racing’s No. 19 Aston Martin (third in the GS standings at the time) down the order, opening the door for a big points day for Hindman, McAleer and the No. 28 RS1 Porsche.
“I have a ton of respect for Spencer and the BGB team,” Hindman said. “They’ve been quick all year and haven’t had too much luck, so I’m happy for them. Obviously, we wanted the win, but knowing where our two closest championship rivals were, there wasn’t any point in taking further risk. Just stay behind and do what we needed to do. But to be honest, they were super quick and it was going to be hard to get by.”
The No. 59 KohR Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4 of Luca Mars (GSX class winner in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge earlier in the day) and Bob Michaelian came home third, with the No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche of Riley Dickinson and Michael McCarthy in fourth, the top four finishers blanketed by 1.487s.
The results tightened the GS standings considerably, with Matt Plumb and the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin leading Hindman, McAleer and the No. 28 Porsche by just 10 points heading into the final two rounds of the season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Wittmer’s wily pass puts Honda in TCR Victory Lane for first time in ‘24
Jake Galstad/Lumen
For Karl Wittmer, it was a case of the student becoming the teacher. Wittmer completed a brilliant outside-inside pass of Tyler Gonzalez for the lead with 3.5m to go and drove away to claim the Touring Car (TCR) class win in the No. 93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR that he shares with Dai Yoshihara.
It marked the first win of the season for Honda, which became the 17th of the 18 IMSA manufacturers to earn a victory in 2024. It’s also the first win for the Civic FL5 model.
Gonzalez, in the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR, was hounded by Wittmer in the No. 93 Honda over the final 30 minutes of the race. Wittmer made numerous overtake attempts on the VIR backstretch and heading into Turn 1 but was rebuffed by Gonzalez each and every time.
Until, that is, Wittmer moved to the outside as they approached Turn 1 on lap 55. When Gonzalez faded his Hyundai outside to block, Wittmer darted back inside as they entered the turn and exited with the lead. He went on to win by 1.299s.
Afterward, Wittmer credited Matt Campbell – the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) driver for Porsche Penske Motorsport in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – for using the same maneuver to pass Wittmer in the Bathurst 12 Hour race.
“He did that and he taught me a lesson that day,” Wittmer said with a smile. “I was pumped to try it and it worked.
“It was a really good battle with the Hyundai,” he added. “He wasn’t making it easy but he was very clean. I had to sort of pick and choose my strengths versus his weaknesses, and then I just committed to it.”
While disappointed not to win, Gonzalez was pleased with the second-place result for him and co-driver Morgan Burkhard – by far the best for the No. 99 this season.
“I got the lead, had a little breakaway, but every lap I looked in my mirrors I saw that Honda coming,” Gonzalez said. “I knew it was going to get there eventually, and I could tell he was just kind of waiting. They just outpaced us, for sure. I tried to hold him off as long as I could, but at the end of it they just had more than us.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good, hard race like that in TCR. It’s very refreshing and, yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
TCR points leaders Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor finished seventh in the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR after sustaining damage just six laps into the race when Miller slid into the Turn 11 tire barrier. They saw their lead trimmed to 170 points over Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker, who finished third in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge is back in action on Sept. 21 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120.
