This weekend, the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams will serve as the headliners for a full weekend of racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Even without the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on hand (the GTP and GTD Pro teams raced last weekend in Detroit, plus the mandatory test day for drivers competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans is Sunday), there will be plenty of teams on hand.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio
The third running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio will have 46 teams entered. This is up one entry from Laguna Seca and up eight from last year’s race.
The Grand Sport class has 30 entries, down one from Laguna Seca. Teams that aren’t entered are Czabok Simpson Motorsports’ No. 3 Porsche, van der Steur Racing’s No. 10 Aston Martin and the Andretti Performance McLaren.
Additions include the return of BGB Motorsports with Spencer Pumpelly leading the driver lineup. Kingpin Racing is back as well.
There are some driver changes as well. Sebastian Saavedra was originally entered with Medusa Motorsports, but he has since been replaced by Jacob Loomis.
Koch-Copeland Motorsports has added Jeremy Fletcher to their lineup. He is the defending Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup champion and will be making his Pilot Challenge debut.
LAP Motorsports is putting Casey Moyer in their Ford Mustang GT4 this weekend in place of Scott Thomson. KohR Motorsports’ Ray Mason is sitting out this weekend in favor of Mike Skeen.
In TCR, there are 16 teams entered, up two from Laguna Seca. The additions this week are HART since this is their home track (the team is based at the Honda factory in Marysville, Oh.) and Speed Syndicate Motorsports, which is back with their Audi.
At Victor Gonzalez Racing, Caleb Bacon will drive the car alongside Steven Clemons, replacing Dr. William Tally. Tally rolled the car in an incident at Laguna Seca.
Bacon is the son of Al Bacon, who raced GTU-class Mazda RX-7s in IMSA competition back in the 1980s. This will mark his first start in the series since 2022.
Of note, since this is a four-hour race instead of the regular two-hour affairs, a number of teams (13 of 46) will be fielding three-driver lineups.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio Entry List
In GS, Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars lead the points by 30 points over Winward Racing’s Daan Arrow and Bryce Ward. McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero and Robert Noaker are another 120 points back. Machavern is also the defending champion of the race.
In TCR, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris are leading by 110 points over teammates Preston Brown and Denis Dupont on the strength of three straight podiums, including a win at Laguna Seca. Maddie Aust and Mark Wilkins are third.
Coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio will begin at Noon ET Sunday on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock. The green flag is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Mid-Ohio
For IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, there are 17 teams entered. This is equal to the last race for the series at Circuit of the Americas, which was held on the undercard of the NASCAR Cup Series DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix weekend.
In the LMP3 class, there are eight teams entered, down from 10 at COTA. The teams not entered are GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ No. 31, Mirco Schultis‘ Mishumotors entry and Forte Racing’s second car for Jon Hirshberg.
A new entry is Riley Motorsports with a Ligier JS P320-Nissan for Slade Stewart. Stewart is full-time in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS this year in a BMW M4 GT3 Evo alongside Andy Lee.
At Toney Driver Development, Gian Buffomante will make his series debut in the No. 30 entry driven by Wyatt Brichacek at COTA. Buffomante is best known for racing in the Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. He also has one career start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. That came in last year’s Mission 176 at the Glen, where he finished 25th for Team Reaume.
Buffomante’s teammate this weekend will be Lincoln Day, who returns to the car after driving in Daytona. Titus Sherlock drove the car at COTA.
The GSX class has 10 entries, up from seven at COTA. Added entries include the returning Justin Di Benedetto in his own Porsche, the aforementioned Mason, who will race a Mustang GT4. Czabok Simpson Racing is back with their car for Ismaeel Ellahi, while Kingpin Racing’s Rob Walker will do double-duty with both VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Pilot Challenge.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Mid-Ohio Entry List
Race No. 1 for VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will stream live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and Peacock at 12:40 p.m. ET Saturday. Coverage of Race No. 2 will be bright and early at 7:55 a.m. ET Sunday.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.
Thanks for choosing to comment on this article. A name and email address are required to post a comment. The email address is not publicly visible or shared. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated according to our comment policy.