BRASELTON, Ga. — GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Oscar Tunjo dominated the entire weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. He was a lap away from the weekend sweep Friday morning (Oct. 10) when he lost a wheel on the frontstretch.
The wheel coming off allowed teammate Valentino Catalano to sweep by to take his eighth victory of the year. He had already locked up the championship by starting Race No. 1 on Thursday.
Catalano’s margin of victory was 38.9 seconds over Toney Driver Development’s Lucas Fecury. Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes was third, then Alexzander Kristiansson in a third GEBHARDT entry. Tunjo was ultimately credited with fifth, one lap down.
Tunjo started from the pole in his purple Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan. Much like on Thursday, he was able to open a decent gap over Catalano.
Unlike Thursday, Catalano was able to stay closer to his teammate. For much of the day, Catalano was a second and change behind. As the race got into the closing stages, Tunjo opened up the gap.
In GTDX, Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker started from pole in his BMW, but he had Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson right on his tail from the start. Effectively, a repeat of Thursday.
The slower LMP3 cars of Matthew Dicken and Jon Hirshberg ended up holding Walker up in the opening corners. This allowed Adelson to take the lead away.
Despite losing the lead, Walker stayed right on Adelson’s rear wing. He tried multiple times to get back past, but Adelson used defensive lines to keep the BMW at bay.
After a number of laps where Walker would pull alongside of Adelson entering the chicane, a bad run exiting the complex with 30 minutes to go allowed Walker to stay alongside underneath the FOX Factory bridge. Exiting turn 12, Walker was finally able to make the pass stick.
Once out in front, Walker was able to pull away from Adelson. Ultimately, Walker was able to pull off the weekend to take his ninth victory of the year.
Adelson earned the GTDX championship by starting the race, but Walker would have been right there if he didn’t have issues at Daytona. Back during the ROAR Before the 24 weekend, Walker was unable to start the first race of the season due to mechanical issues. That was enough to cost him the title.
Walker’s margin of victory was 8.703 seconds over Adelson, although he did pull back in the final laps. His advantage was over 12 seconds prior to that. ST Racing’s Samantha Tan was third.
In GSX, champion-elect Kiko Porto started from pole in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. BSI Racing’s Steven Clemons was Porto’s primary competition once again.
Clemons was able to hang with Porto for the opening 10 minutes before smoke began billowing out of the back of his Supra from a flat left rear tire. He was able to get back to the pits, but the car was ultimately retired.
Clemons’ plight elevated Porto’s teammate Ian Porter to second. The cautions in Thursday’s race and a post-race 10-second penalty hurt his effort, but Porter had been strong most of the weekend prior to that.
Problem is, he wasn’t in the same league as Porto. The champion-elect slowly but surely pulled away from Porter and the rest of the pack to take the win.
Porto’s margin of victory was 20.237 seconds over Porter. Justin Di Benedetto in his own Porsche was third, then Thunder Bunny Racing’s Allen Patten. Kingpin Racing’s Jon Brel recovered from an early spin to finish fifth.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: Road Atlanta Race No. 2 Results
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.