Mason Filippi was fastest when it counted, dominating the late stages of the Lime Rock Park 100 at the picturesque Connecticut road course of the same name.
Filippi took over the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR from Mark Wilkins exactly halfway through Saturday’s 100-minute race that was a unique standalone event for the Touring Car (TCR) class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. He exited the pits with an 8.4s deficit to Ryan Eversley, whose teammate Mat Pombo claimed the Motul Pole Award and led the first 45 minutes.
But Pombo pitted the No. 37 Honda Civic FL5 TCR three laps earlier than his LA Honda World Racing team had planned, due to excessive tire wear. Compounding the challenge for finishing driver Eversley, a miscommunication during the pit stop forced him into extreme fuel-saving mode and he ultimately fell to third place behind the No. 33 BHA Hyundai shared by Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker.
Filippi eased past Eversley’s Honda through “Big Bend” Turn 1 with 12 minutes remaining. By the time he took the checkered flag, the No. 98 Hyundai was 20.587s ahead of the No. 33 in one of the most convincing wins in recent Michelin Pilot Challenge memory.
“Mark (Wilkins) was on the radio giving me information about what kind of (lap time) target to hit and I knew the deficit I had to make up,” Filippi said. “I could see (Eversley) at the end of the straightaway, then I was getting closer and closer. It was awesome. With about 15 minutes left, my engineer Chris Finch said it was ‘go time,’ and that’s what we did.
“It felt great – just incredible, and I can’t thank my team enough.”
Wilkins said that he placed great importance on qualifying well at Lime Rock, a short 1.478-mile road course where traffic is often an issue. He started the race from the outside of the front row and actually passed Pombo on the track for the lead prior to the round of pit stops.
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“You really have to lay it on the line to get to the front,” Wilkins said. “I pushed really hard, and we just drove a smart race. We’ve got a really great synergy on the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport team. We’re having fun, and when you’re having fun, these kind of things happen. Second win of the year feels great.”
The latest win for the No. 98 team (the other in 2023 came at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May) lifted Wilkins and Filippi into the lead of the TCR standings, unofficially 10 points ahead of Wickens and Gottsacker.
Eversley was disappointed to not convert Pombo’s fifth TCR pole position this year for the No. 37 Honda into a win, but he was encouraged by the podium finish.
“We had a very fast car, but after about 40 minutes, the tire fall-off was dramatic. Then, because I was trying to save so much fuel, the last 10 laps of the race, I think I was 5-7s off the pace,” Eversley said. “You’re not even driving at that point.
“I was just trying to get us to the podium, and glad it worked out. We needed this podium pretty bad.”
The next round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is the Road America 120, part of the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 4-6.