GS/Overall Winners Luca Mars and Jan Heylen in Victory Lane with their #28 Porsche Photo Courtesy: IMSA

 

After a near two month hiatus, the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge returned to action Saturday, May 10 at Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca. 

GS Class: McAllister Dominates Early, Heylen Survives Chaos for Victory

The first half of the race saw the Sebring race winning Carbahn BMW on a Sunday drive. Sean McAllister pulled away from the rest of the field with a gap as big as 8 seconds. While McAllister was in control up front, Scott Thomson in the LAP Motorsport Mustang was having trouble keeping his car on the road with two spins in the early stages. 

A full course yellow at halfway mixed up the running order. Team RS1 got in the pits before the safety car was deployed and got the main service completed. As the rest of the field came in for tires and driver changes, a quick top off meant the 28 Porsche with Jan Heylen at the wheel found themselves out front for the race’s second half. 

Contact and Controversy: Cooper Taken Out in Late-Race Incident

As they say in racing, cautions breed cautions and the second half was littered with them. Most dramatic was with 27 minutes to go when Daytona winner Michael Cooper in his McLaren went side-by-side with the Winward Mercedes of Daniel Morad battling for second. As the two made contact exiting turn 5, Morad didn’t take it kindly and retaliated sending Cooper into the dirt into a spin and colliding with the Kohr Motorsport Mustang of Billy Johnson ending the McLaren’s race. IMSA didn’t take kindly to Morad’s antics, handing him a 60-second stop and go penalty effectively taking him out of contention.

Meanwhile, Haylen held his nerve through all 4 restarts and went on to take victory by six tenths of a second over Robin Liddell in the Red Rock Racing Aston Martin. Heylen and co-driver Luca Mars make RS1 and Porsche the third different team and manufacturer to win in GS this season.

TCR Mayhem: Penalties Shake Up the Order as Dupont Seizes the Moment

The Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai lead early only for things to get a little weird. Wilkins went from 1st to 3rd being passed by teammate Harry Gottsacker and the MMG Honda of LP Montour. As it turns out, both men passed Wilkins under a local yellow. They were duly awarded drive-thru penalties for their shenanigans. Just shy of halfway, the Victor Gonzalez Racing Hyundai that caused the first yellow of the race. Eric Powell suffered a flat left front tire with the carcas only making it to the Corkscrew before falling off on the racing line.

The MMR Honda that was once in the top-5 saw their race come to an end with 40 minutes to go as Kuno Wittmer suffered suspension damage to the right front of the #93 Honda Civic bringing out a full course yellow. 

TCR’s final moment of drama came on the race’s final restart with 15 minutes to go as Ryan Eversley in the #7 Precision Racing LA Audi was deemed to jump Bryson Morris in the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai who was leading at the time. Eversley was handed a drive-thru penalty removing him from the equation. 

Taking complete advantage of the chaos was Denis Dupont in the #76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai who went from 5th to 1st on the restart and then proceeded to hold off teammates Mason Filippi and Morris to lead home a Bryan Herta Autosport 1-2-3 in TCR. For Dupont and co-driver Preston Brown it’s their second win of the young season already to compliment their victory in the season-opening Daytona 4 Hour race.

Looking Ahead: Mid-Ohio Set to Host Second 4-Hour Challenge

Speaking of 4 Hour races, up next for Michelin Pilot Challenge will be their second (and last) 4 Hour race of the season as they headline the IMSA weekend at Mid-Ohio June 6-8.