LEXINGTON, Oh. — GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Oscar Tunjo was able to pass Toney Driver Development’s Gian Buffomante 15 minutes into the race in the Keyhole to take the lead. From there, he was able to hold on to win IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race No. 2 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for his fourth win of the year.
Tunjo won by 11.337 seconds over teammate Danny Soufi was third, followed by Lincoln Day in the second Toney Ligier JS P325-Toyota. Riley Motorsports’ Slade Stewart was fourth, while Buffomante had to settle for fifth.
By virtue of having the fastest lap in mixed conditions on Saturday, Buffomante started from the overall pole. Shopify Racing’s Travis Hill was supposed to start alongside, but he was late to the false grid and was sent to the rear of the class.
While it was sunny outside when the race started, there was still some fog around. In addition, the track had some wet patches on it from overnight rain. That made things a little tricky early on.
On the initial start, Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes had contact in turn 4 with Riley Motorsports’ Slade Stewart and spun into the grass. The combination of Saturday’s heavy rains, morning drew and slick tires made it very difficult to resume. He was eventually able to continue, but lost 40 seconds.
Buffomante quickly pulled a three-second lead over the rest of the LMP3 pack, but Tunjo quickly moved forward from fifth. Once there, he slowly reeled Buffomante in, lap by lap.
With just under 30 minutes to go, Tunjo made his move on Buffomante entering the Keyhole. With a substantial pace advantage at the time, there was nothing Buffomante could do to prevent Tunjo from taking the lead.
Once out front, Tunjo was able to pull out a three-second lead. That lead went away when the race’s one and only caution flew with 20 minutes to go. Panam Motorsport’s Cecilia Rubelo suffered a brake failure and flew off course at the end of the backstretch into China Beach. Rubelo was ok, but she was done for the day.
In the past couple of years, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has made significant improvements to the runoff in China Beach. The days of cars launching into barrel rolls at China Beach, like what happened to Simon Pagenaud are over.
The green came back out with 12 minutes to go. Tunjo was able to open up the gap at the front while Buffomante ended up in a battle for second with Soufi.
On the final lap, Soufi made a move for the position in turn 1 and contact was made. Buffomante spun while Soufi continued. FASTMD Racing’s Farhan Siddiqi also spun and got stuck in the gravel as a result.
Ahead of the incident, Tunjo pulled away and took an easy victory. The incident was reviewed by the stewards, but they chose to take no action.
In GSX, RAFA Racing Team’s Westin Workman started from pole, having set a lap more than a second faster Saturday than anyone else in class. Once the race started, Workman quickly opened up a decent gap.
Further back, a couple of teams ran into trouble. KohR Motorsports’ Ray Mason was forced to pit with a mechanical issue early on. VRC Motorsports’ Dan Ammann spun in turn 6 after contact from CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Courtney Crone.
Both drivers suffered mechanically from the contact and had to make pit stops for repairs. Crone was also hit with an avoidable contact pass-through penalty.
Workman pulled out to a 17-second lead over Kingpin Racing’s Rob Walker and coasting to a third weekend sweep. Then, Rubelo went into the gravel and erased the entire gap.
Despite losing a big lead, it didn’t take long once the race resumed for Workman to get a decent lead back. From there, he was able to hold on to take his sixth straight win.
Due to the positioning of the leaders, Workman ended up a lap ahead of Walker. Justin Di Benedetto was third in his Porsche, followed by Czabok Simpson Motorsports’ Ismaeel Ellahi. Jon Brel in the second Kingpin Supra was fifth.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: Mid-Ohio Race No. 2 Results
Next up for VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 teams is the third round of the Airbnb Endurance Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway on June 21. For GSX teams, they will race next at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 11.
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.
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