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
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.”