Paul Holton, Matt Plumb Win The Esses 120

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — TeamTGM’s Paul Holton and Matt Plumb stayed out for a couple of extra laps Saturday (June 22). That ended up being the difference as Plumb took the lead with six minutes to go and held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge The Esses 120 at Watkins Glen International.

For Plumb, it is his 24th career victory in Pilot Challenge. That ties him with Billy Johnson for most all-time.

Holton and Plumb’s margin of victory was 5.549 seconds over Turner Motorsport’s Robert Megennis and Dillon Machavern. Archangel Motorsports’ Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz were third in their Aston Martin, then the similar Aston Martin of Van der Steur Racing’s Valentin Hasse-Clot and Rory van der Steur. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal were second at the start of the final lap, but dropped to fifth.

Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman led the field to green in a race that really had trouble getting going. Following an extra lap behind the safety car, an early yellow flew for Automatic Racing’s John Potter stopping on course with a mechanical issue that ended his day.

Later on, Potter’s teammate Brandon Kidd also had stalling issues. He tried with all his might to get his Invisible Glass Aston Martin back to the pits, but after the third time the car stalled, IMSA threw the caution.

This caution resulted in a split pit strategy as a number of teams short-pitted in an attempt to limit their time in the pits under green.

Later on, Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Chase Jones spun and hit the tires in turn 6 to bring out the fourth caution 48 minutes into the race. Jones was ok, but his Hyundai was trashed.

On the restart, Hindman came in for his first pit stop along with a number of other teams. That briefly gave the lead to Holton, but he was immediately overhauled by Baby Bull Racing’s Moisey Uretsky. Half a lap later, Van der Steur Racing’s Rory van der Steur took the lead from Uretsky.

The order shuffled around as the teams went through their varying pit strategies. Once that was complete, Skip Barber Racing’s Will Lambros ended up in the overall lead, but off-sequence from the rest of the field. Best of those on sequence was Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch.

However, the leaders made made their pit stop with about 62 minutes remaining. At the best of times, that would be a stretch to make it that long.

The need for fuel conservation, along with a relatively slow stop, took away Rennsport One’s pace advantage over the field. A drive-through penalty due to multiple track limit violations for Stevan McAleer dropped the dominant duo of Hindman and McAleer to a 13th-place finish.

Koch was forced to conserve fuel for nearly the entire final run. Once he got the lead, he was able to maintain the advantage over Winward Racing’s Daniel Morad.

However, the distance was just too far to go. With six minutes to go, Koch was forced to pit for fuel along with Morad. Plumb took the lead as a result. Any chance of a good finish for Koch ended when he cut his left front tire with two minutes to go. Koch and Paul Sparta ended up finishing 25th overall, 20th in Grand Sport.

Plumb had an extra couple of laps of fuel as compared to Koch and Morad. That ended up being more than enough for Plumb to bring home the win.

In TCR, things got a little strange before the race even started. During the pace lap, HART’s Tyler Chambers made contact with the left rear of KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Dr. William Tally on the backstretch. Tally spun and ended up stranded with a broken left rear suspension. Both cars ended up behind the wall, but eventually returned to the race.

Montreal Motorsports Group’s LP Montour won his first career pole on Friday. His time at the front was over before the field was through turn 1.

At turn 1, Montour went straight due to a flat left front tire and dropped to the rear of the field. When he stopped for a tire change, there were too many men over the wall, resulting in a drive-through penalty. When all was said and done, Montour should have been a lap down, but he got bailed out by the yellow.

Montour’s teammate Daijiro Yoshihara inherited the class lead, but had JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Chris Miller right on his tail. It didn’t take long for Miller to snatch the lead away.

The third yellow pit strategy pit was more substantial in TCR than in Grand Sport. Half the class, including Miller, decided to stop.

Miller’s stop put Bryan Herta Autosport’s Harry Gottsacker in the lead. Gottsacker told Frontstretch before the race that he had supreme confidence in himself and his car after his qualifying time was thrown out due to a height violation.

During the caution for Jones’ crash, Gottsacker and the rest of the leaders stopped. That gave the lead back to Miller.

Miller stopped with 54 minutes remaining for his final stop to put Mikey Taylor in the car and take fuel. That move ended up being critical as a number of teams ended up tight on fuel.

Not having to conserve fuel allowed Taylor to run down Robert Wickens. The pass for the lead was made with 22 minutes to go. From there, Taylor held on to take his and Miller’s fourth win of the year in 10th overall.

Miller and Taylor’s margin of victory was 2.054 seconds over Gottsacker and Wickens. BHA’s No. 76 for Preston Brown and Denis Dupont were third, followed by Mason Filippi and Mark Wilkins. Taylor Hagler and Bryson Morris were fifth.

IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge The Esses 120 Unofficial Results

Michelin Pilot Challenge teams will take a couple of weeks off before making their only visit to Canada. The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 is scheduled to go green at 1:25 p.m. ET on July 13 with live coverage on Peacock.