BRASELTON, Ga. — GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Oscar Tunjo led flag-to-flag Thursday afternoon (Oct. 9) to win IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race No. 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. It is his second win of the season, the other coming in Race No. 2 at Mid-Ohio in June.
Tunjo won by 5.389 seconds over teammate Valentino Catalano. Toney Driver Development’s Lucas Fecury, in his series debut, finished third, followed by Forte Racing teammates Brian Thienes and Jon Hirshberg.
Tunjo started from the pole and led early over teammate Valentino Catalano. Further back, Fecury, who was making his series debut in a former JrIII Racing Ligier, was able to move up to third.
Thienes, who started third, dropped down the order a little, then got spun out by FASTMD Racing’s Farhan Siddiqi in the chicane. That resulted in a drive-through penalty for Siddiqi.
The first caution flew when AutoTechnic Racing’s Roland Krainz spun his BMW and got stuck in the gravel. Despite being easily pulled out of the gravel, right rear damage ended
On the restart, CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Bill Cain went wide exiting turn 12 and clouted multiple Michelin banners. The topsoil went flying while one of the banners ended up blocking Cain’s nose. While Cain was able to get back to the pits to have the rogue sponsorship removed, a second full course caution was flown to retrieve debris.
A third caution was flown for 89x Motorsports’ Eric Zitza. He went wide exiting turn 1, bounded through the grass and nearly hit the wall. He tried to continue, but his car ended up stopping on the course.
Through this, Tunjo was able to keep himself up front. He was able to pull away from the pack on the final restart to take the victory.
For Catalano, starting the race was enough to earn him the LMP3 championship. The title comes on the strength of seven victories, including a run of four in a row that was broken with Tunjo’s triumph.
In GTDX, Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker started from pole in his BMW, but he had Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson hot on his heels. In the opening laps, Adelson was able to get past Walker to take the lead away.
Despite this, Walker was able to stay right on Adelson’s heels. After the second caution, he was able to take advantage.
With 17 minutes to go, Adelson went wide exiting turn 7 and got in the grass. That killed his momentum for the longest straight on the course. Walker was able to use that lack of momentum to sweep back into the lead.
From there, Walker was able to hold on to take his eighth win of the year. He ended up 3.714 seconds ahead of Adelson, while ST Racing’s Samantha Tan was third.
GSX saw RAFA Racing Team’s Kiko Porto start on pole in his Supra. He clinched the GSX championship just by starting the race.
However, BSI Racing’s Steven Clemons was able to snatch the lead on the first lap. Porto stayed right on Clemons’ tail and was able to get back past a couple of laps into the race.
The two drivers battled for much of the race in a clean fashion. However, Clemons’ Supra began smoking right around the time that the final yellow flew. That dropped him out of contention.
From there, Porto was able to pull away to take his eighth win of the year. The margin of victory was 14.174 seconds over Thunder Bunny Racing’s Allen Patten, a regular in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX that made his IMSA debut. Kingpin Racing’s Jon Brel was third, then Rebel Rock Racing’s Frank DePew. KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Angus Rogers was fifth in his Porsche.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: Road Atlanta Race No. 1 Unofficial Results
Race No. 2, the final race of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season, is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET Friday morning. Coverage will begin at 8:25 a.m. ET 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.