ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Jenson Altzman and Nate Cicero dominated the day Saturday (Aug. 2). The duo led 36 of 42 laps en route to victory in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120. It is the first-ever Pilot Challenge wins for both drivers.
“I’ve never won a race at this level in cars,” Altzman said after the race. “As much as I wanted to get it done for me, I needed to deliver it for the team and Ford Performance. You have to be so perfect to win…in Pilot Challenge with how good the BoP is, how good of a job they do with fuel timing and the race distance. It makes it really tricky to call the perfect strategy. Today, we did that.”
The margin of victory was .467 seconds over CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Cameron Shields and Steven Wetterau. AutoTechnic Racing’s Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz were third, followed by the second CarBahn BMW of Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal. Turner Motorsport’s Matt Dalton and Patrick Gallagher were fifth.
McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero started from the overall pole, but the race truly struggled to get going. On the first lap, AR Motorsports’ David Hampton spun in turn 3, collecting Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward and Rebel Rock Racing’s Frank DePew. DePew was unable to get back to the pits, which brought out the full course caution.
As the incident was happening, Team TGM’s Paul Holton went wide in turn 3 and dropped from fourth on the grid to outside of the top 10. To make matters worse, he changed lanes on the start, resulting in a drive-through penalty.
On the restart, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi had contact with Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Eric Powell entering turn 14. While Filippi continued on, Powell slid through a gravel trap and hit the tire barrier to bring out another yellow.
Powell was out on the spot with damage. Filippi was judged responsible for the crash and was given a stop and 60-second hold penalty. That dropped the No. 98 Hyundai down to the rear of the field.
The second caution in the race’s first 15 minutes resulted in a split pit strategy. While Cicero chose to stay out, drivers such as Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern pitted for fuel.
The drivers only made it a couple of laps under green before more trouble broke out. This time, LAP Motorsports’ Scott Thomson spun at Canada Corner after hitting Ibiza Farm Motorsports’ Moisey Uretsky. The contact broke the suspension on Uretsky’s McLaren, putting him out.
By this point, the 40-minute minimum drive-time had been achieved. However, since the yellow came out before 15 minutes had elapsed from the previous restart, the pits did not open.
When the race restarted with 68 minutes to go, a number of teams decided to press their luck and pit for full service. These teams include Krainz and JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Chris Miller.
For Cicero, the goal was to go long in his stint and pit as soon as the team thought that Altzman would be able to go the distance. Of course, on-course circumstances could change that.
Just before the halfway point of the race, Czabok Simpson Motorsports’ Gordon Scully hit the wall exiting the Kink. The McCumbee McAleer squad was able to anticipate the yellow and called Cicero into the pits before the caution flew.
Given the distance between where drivers branch off to go to the pits and the pit in line, IMSA officials determined that he had committed to the pits in time. That effectively allowed him a free pit stop to swap over to Altzman. Altzman pitted a second time to top off his fuel during the caution as well. Because of that, he was able to get out first.
Shields ended up with the overall lead for the restart, but Altzman made quick work of his BMW to get back out front.
KohR Motorsports’ Billy Johnson had the next best car to Altzman, but he was down the order after the restart. He attempted to make a pass on the right side on McAleer at the Sargento Bridge.
Johnson’s right-side tires were in the grass when he decided to course correct to get back on the asphalt. That bumped McAleer into Stephen Cameron Racing’s Greg Liefooghe, who crashed hard into the wall to bring out the fifth yellow. Liefooghe was ok, but his Mustang was not.
While Johnson was able to get all the way up to Altzman, he was then given a stop-and-60-second hold penalty. As a result, what could have been a win for Johnson and Bob Michaelian ended up being 14th in Grand Sport, 24th overall.
In the final 20 minutes of the race, there were championship implications. Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen pulled off at turn 5 with a fluid leak. He was unable to continue, dropping the Porsche to a 17th-place finish in class.
In the closing laps, Altzman began to struggle as the track temperature increased. However, he was able to hold off Shields for the win.
In TCR, Montreal Motorsports Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour started from the pole in his Honda Civic Type-R TCR. With the general start-and-stop flavor of the race, he was easily able to stay in front of the rest of the class.
His closest competitors, such as Precision Racing LA’s Celso Neto, chose to switch up their pit strategies. However, issues in the pits cost them time and positions.
Montour led without any real challenge until the fourth caution. At that time, Montour and the rest of the leaders pitted for full service. However, the MMG crew was a little slow as compared to their competitors due to having to take more fuel.
As a result, Harry Gottsacker was able to win the race out of the pits. He ended up third on the restart behind Precision Racing LA’s Ron Tomlinson and HART’s Chad Gilsinger. Neither driver had leading pace. Then, trouble struck on the restart.
Gottsacker ended up coming together with Tomlinson and Gilsinger in turn 3. Both Tomlinson and Gilsinger ended up off-course. Gilsinger ended up with left front suspension damage that put him out.
Bryson Morris was fourth on the restart and ended up in the class lead as a result. He described the mess thusly.
“In front of me, the three leaders all got three-wide and I thought, ‘ok, something’s going to happen’,” Morris told Frontstretch after the race. “So, I held back a little bit, let it play out, and was able to come out of it with the lead.
Gottsacker was originally given a penalty for avoidable contact and would have had to serve a drive-through. However, BHA argued the call with officials. Eventually, the penalty was rescinded.
Jaden Conwright inherited second in the Speed Syndicate Audi and battled hard on the final lap to keep that position away from MMG’s Karl Wittmer. However, they were unable to prevent Morris and Mark Wilkins from taking the win.
Morris and Wilkins’ margin of victory was 3.252 seconds over Conwright and Luke Rumburg, both of whom claimed their best career finishes. Wittmer and Montour ended up third, followed by Filippi and Gottsacker. Despite a number of mechanical issues, Preston Brown and Denis Dupont managed to bring their Hyundai home in fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 Unofficial Results
Next up for Pilot Challenge teams is the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at VIRginia International Raceway. That race is scheduled for Aug. 23 at 2:15 p.m. ET on both 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.