LEXINGTON, Oh. — RAFA Racing Team’s Corey Lewis, driving in place of the injured Matthew Dicken, was declared the winner of IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race No. 1 Saturday afternoon (June 7) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He won the race after GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Oscar Tunjo was given a penalty after the race.
“On the start, you have to stay in your column,” Lewis told Frontstretch after the race. “I’ve done many times and I get it. You get anxious and you want to block the inside. It was a close battle all the way through, but penalties are penalties.”
With the penalty applied, Lewis’ official margin of victory was 9.273 seconds over Tunjo. Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes was third, then Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker and AF Corse’s AJ Muss.
GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Valentino Catalano started from pole in his Duqueine-M30-D08-Nissan with Oscar Tunjo giving chase. The two teammates were able to open a gap over Lewis in the opening laps.
However, Tunjo switched lanes on the initial start. That is a no-no. Officials hit Tunjo with a 10-second post-race penalty for the infraction.
Nine minutes into the race, Kingpin Racing’s Rob Walker spun in the Keyhole after contact from Turner Motorsport’s Matt Dalton. That, along with another incident involving Frank DePew, littered the track with debris and brought out a caution. Dalton was forced to serve a drive-through penalty.
Catalano got a big jump on the restart and ultimately drove off to a four-second lead over Tunjo. That lead was erased when AR Motorsports’ David Hampton spun his Porsche into the gravel at turn 9 to bring out a second yellow with 21 minutes to go.
On this restart, Catalano got a big jump once again on the pack. However, he went wide at the Keyhole. That allowed both Tunjo and Lewis to get back to his rear wing.
A lap later, Tunjo made an aggressive move at the Keyhole to take the lead and had contact with his teammate. That pushed Catalano wide, allowing Lewis to get past.
Once in the lead, Tunjo knew that he had to focus on setting quick laps in order to wipe out the aforementioned penalty. Lewis was able to match that pace.
Meanwhile, Catalano’s car continued to slow down. He ultimately finished eighth overall, 59 seconds behind.
Tunjo pulled out to a three-second lead in the closing laps, but came back towards the pack in the final lap or two. As a result, Tunjo won by a couple of car lengths. Lewis took the spoils once the penalty was applied.
In GTDX, Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker started from pole in his BMW M4 GT3. On the start of the race, he was able to get past Thienes’ LMP3 entry and put it between himself and the rest of the class.
For much of the race, Walker was able to easily maintain his gap. The cautions brought Muss up to the back of the BMW, but no one could prevent Walker from taking the win.
Walker’s margin of victory was 3.661 seconds over Muss. Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson was third, then Vin Barletta in the second Turner BMW. Samantha Tan was credited with fifth.
GSX saw RAFA Racing Team’s Kiko Porto win his fifth consecutive class pole Saturday morning. However, Porto’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo flunked the height sticks in inspection. As a result, he lost all his times and had to start at the rear.
As a result, BSI Racing’s Steven Clemons start from pole in his Supra. He immediately came under pressure from Porto’s teammate Ian Porter, but was able to hold off the charge.
Meanwhile, Porto was able to quick scythe his way up the order. He picked up five spots in the first two laps and got up to fourth by the first caution.
Two laps after the first restart, Porto was up to second and beginning to threaten Clemons for the lead. However, the charge stalled here.
Clemons was able to open up a small gap on the final restart over Porto. That ended up being enough for the BSI team to take the victory, Clemons’ first of the year.
The margin of victory was 1.124 seconds over Porto. Porter was third, then TWOth Autosport’s Chris Walsh. Justin Di Benedetto was fifth.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: Mid-Ohio Race No. 1 Results
Race No. 2 for VP Racing SportsCar Challenge is scheduled to go green at 9 a.m. ET Sunday morning. Coverage is scheduled to begin at 8:55 a.m. ET on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.