CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Jeff Westphal chose to press his luck by running long on his first stint in the car before stopping for fuel. That gamble paid off as a long caution period eliminated his need to stop.
From there, he was able to hold on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 with teammate Sean McAlister. It is the duo’s second win of the year.
“[This] was anything but boring. We had a really tall task to save fuel,” Westphal told NBC Sports’ Brian Till after the race. “It was push, then save, then back to push. One of those stints that had everything. [Sean McAlister’s first stint] put us in position to be able to do what we could do.”
Westphal and McAlister’s margin of victory was 5.603 seconds over AutoTechnic Racing’s Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz. Stephen Cameron Racing’s Greg Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan were third, then Turner Motorsport’s Vin Barletta and Robby Foley. McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Jenson Altzman and Nate Cicero were fifth.
Cicero started from pole in his Ford Mustang GT4, but he immediately ended up battling to keep CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister at bay.
In the early laps, McAlister was right on Cicero’s tail. However, as the race continued on, Cicero began to pull away from the rest of the pack.
Cicero’s lead was as much as three seconds 30 minutes into the race. Over the next 15 laps, the lead eroded a little, but Cicero was able to hold on.
Cicero pitted from the lead 57 minutes into the race to hand over to Jenson Altzman. McAlister was able to stay out for one additional lap before making his stop to switch over to Jeff Westphal.
Fuel saving and a good pit stop allowed the CarBahn squad to jump over Altzman during the pit stop sequence. Team TGM’s Matt Plumb was up to second, then Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern, who used an alternate strategy to get up to third. Altzman ended up all the way down in seventh.
None of the GS teams could make it to the end from where they stopped, so a split strategy developed. One group began to make their stops as soon as the window opened to make it to the end, led by Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen. Another group chose to stay out.
With 40 minutes to go, everyone in GS had stopped for fuel except Westphal and a couple of others. The BMW was more than 25 seconds ahead of Liefooghe when trouble broke out on the Mario Andretti Straightaway.
Baker Racing’s James Vance was hit by Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mark Wilkins while fighting for second in TCR. That spun Vance into Turner Motorsport’s Francis Selldorff and put all three cars hard in the wall. Westphal and Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell were right behind the crash and had to pick a lane.
Westphal went to the left and managed to avoid the mess. Liddell went to the right and hit Selldorff, ripping the left front corner off of his Aston Martin.
The Armco barriers were damaged on both sides of the track and the majority of the available tow trucks were dispatched to remove the cars. All four cars were out on the spot.
On the restart, Westphal had lapped cars between himself and the rest of the top-five, allowing him to get a big lead. Further back, Plumb spun out at Moss Corner after contact from KohR Motorsports’ Billy Johnson. Johnson was given a drive-through penalty for the contact.
In turn 8, RAFA Racing Team’s Rafael Martinez spun off as well. He was able to limp his car back to the pits, allowing for the race to stay green.
Westphal and Liefooghe had only made one pit stop in the race while everyone else in GS had made two. The drivers that two-stopped were charging hard.
Morad was on the move late and drove himself up to second with 10 minutes to go. However, he was then penalized for contact that forced Morgan Burkhard off the track in turn 10.
With his primary competition eliminated from competition, Westphal was able to easily hold on for the win.
In TCR, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Bryson Morris started from pole in his Hyundai Elantra N TCR. He had Montreal Motorsports Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour on his tail in the opening laps. The top-six cars in class were nose-to-tail, held up by the AR Motorsports Grand Sport Porsche driven by David Hampton.
Eventually, Montour was able to get past Morris (and Hampton) to take the class lead. Sam Baker was able to follow him into second.
Further back, KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Dr. William Tally spun in Moss Corner after contact with Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Eric Powell.
With a high number of sweeping turns at CTMP, the TCR cars were able to make their way forward through a number of the Grand Sport cars. While driving through that traffic, Baker was able to make the move on Montour to take the class lead.
40 minutes into the race, Baker was up to 10th overall with Montour not too far behind. Towards the end of the run, Baker opened up his lead over Montour.
Baker ended up being the only driver in the entire field to make it past the halfway point before making his pit stop for tires, fuel, and to switch over to James Vance. Unfortunately, the No. 52 was caught speeding in the pit lane, resulting in Vance having to serve a drive-through penalty.
The penalty wiped out what could have been a 15-second lead for Vance. Instead, MMG’s Karl Wittmer ended up in the class lead with a five-second advantage over BHA’s Mark Wilkins.
Despite the penalty, Vance still ended up only three seconds behind Wittmer and had the most fuel onboard. He ran down Wilkins for second and was going for the spot when the aforementioned contact was made.
Both Vance and Wilkins were out of the race on the spot. Wilkins’ teammate Mason Filippi moved up to second, while Tyler Gonzalez was third.
On the restart, Filippi had contact and ended up cutting a tire. The resulting pit stop dropped him to eighth. That moved Gonzalez up to second, but he was unable to run down Wittmer, who held on to take his second straight victory with Montour.
The margin of victory was 2.149 seconds over Gonzalez and Powell. Precision Racing LA’s Ryan Eversley and Celso Neto were third in their Audi, then the second Baker Racing Audi of Dean Baker and Bruno Junqueira. BHA’s Preston Brown and Denis Dupont were fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Unofficial Results
Next up for Pilot Challenge teams will be the Road America 120 on Aug. 2 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Coverage of the two-hour race will begin at 3 p.m. ET on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock. Frontstretch will be at Road America to bring you all the action.
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.