WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Forces outside of anyone’s control ultimately decided the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge LP Building Solutions 120 at Watkins Glen International Saturday (June 27). With 20 minutes to go, a piece of the curb on entry to the Inner Loop broke.
The first driver to be affected was overall leader Jeff Westphal in the CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing No. 39 BMW. He ran over the broken piece and cut his left rear tire. That elevated Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis to the lead. From there, he held on to win the race with Bryce Ward.
“[Today’s race] came down to three things. Teamwork, teamwork and teamwork,” Ward said after the race. “My co-driver Philip [Ellis] helped me so much…and that put us in position to be competitive right at the start. The [CarBahn BMW] had a fuel advantage on us. It was really sad to see them [have the tire failure] and the Turner car…hit something. So unfortunate.”
McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero and Robert Noaker finished second in their Mustang, followed by KohR Motorsports’ Mike Skeen and Evan Slater. Ibiza Farm Motorsports’ Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky were fourth, while YRB Racing’s Trenton Estep and Allen Patten were fifth.
The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Grisham started from the overall pole in her Aston Martin. She was able to open a small gap over KohR Motorsports’ Evan Slater.
Grisham was able to maintain a one-second advantage for the majority of the first stint over Slater. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister moved up to third early on and gave chase.
Grisham was one of the first drivers to pit once the 40-minute minimum drive-time was achieved. Here, Grisham exited her Aston Martin in favor of teammate Hannah Greenemeier.
Slater chose to run much longer than Grisham and took over the lead when the Aston Martin stopped. He still had McAlister right on his tail.
Further back, both RAFA Racing Team’s Varun Choksey and JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Chris Miller suffered left rear tire failures. Ibiza Farm Motorsports’ Moisey Uretsky, who won last time out at Mid-Ohio, spun in the Inner Loop after contact from CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Steve Wetterau. Uretsky dropped back to 20th in class, while Wetterau was hit with a drive-through penalty for the contact.
Prior to the race, McAlister told Frontstretch that the conditions Saturday favored them since they “don’t suffer.” What that means is that the turbocharged BMW M4 GT4 doesn’t drop off in pace as much in warm weather as the naturally aspirated cars.
What they also had in their corner was pit strategy. McAlister stayed out an extra 10 minutes as compared to Grisham, then the team put less fuel in at the stop. As a result, when Jeff Westphal exited the pits, he was able to get out in front of Greenemier. Once the sequence completed, he ended up with the overall lead.
While Westphal maintained the lead, Greenemeier slowly dropped off, unable to hold onto the BMW. Meanwhile, Ellis, driving in place of the Spa-bound Daan Arrow, was running Westphal down by tenths of a second per lap.
The good run for Westphal and McAlister came all to naught when Westphal cut his left rear tire on the curb. Short-cutting the course exiting the Carousel meant that that particular lap did not count, so he was completely out of the hunt. The No. 39 BMW ultimately finished 18th.
Westpahl’s tire failure left Ellis with a 23-second lead over Noaker. However, Victor Gonzalez Racing’s Caleb Bacon stalled exiting the Boot with 12 minutes to go to bring out the caution.
Around the same time, TeamTGM’s Matt Plumb went a little too aggressively into the Inner Loop and clipped the new curbing that was installed a couple of years ago. One of the pieces came up and broke the splitter on his Mustang. Part of that splitter pierced the radiator, resulting in fluid spilling out of the car. Plumb was able to drive the Mustang back to the pits, but it resulted in an immediate retirement.
The caution brought everyone back into the mix. The restart brought more curb issues as Turner Motorsport’s Luca Mars broke off another part of the curb and broke the left front corner of his BMW.
In TCR, Montreal Motorsports Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour started from pole in his Honda Civic Type-R TCR. Raphael Reis inherited second on the grid when KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Honda failed post-qualifying inspection.
All that good came to an end at the start of the race. Reis switched lanes prior to the start-finish line. This is a no-no and resulted in Reis having to serve a drive-through penalty.
Montour’s qualifying time was less than a second off the overall pole in ninth overall. Despite the class split at the start, it didn’t take long before he started running down the slower GS cars.
However, Montour ran into early trouble and slowed dramatically. The crew attempted to diagnose the issues in the pits, but the car would eventually be pushed behind the wall. That would be the end of their afternoon.
Montour’s issues gave the TCR lead to HART’s Tyler Chambers. Behind him, the man on the move was Rocco Pasquarella in the KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda. In the first 20 minutes, Pasquarella drove up from the back of the grid to fourth in class.
Chambers led until he stopped 55 minutes into the race to hand over to Chad Gilsinger. However, the HART Honda started to lose pace in the second half of the race.
Meanwhile, the KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda with Tim Lewis Jr. at the wheel was still charging forward. He was able to move up to second, then ran down Gilsinger for the lead.
Lewis made short work of Gilsinger with 30 minutes to go to take the lead. Once out front, Lewis maintained a small advantage while Gilsinger quickly dropped back to fourth.
The race ultimately came down to a three-way duel between Lewis, Stallion Motorsports’ Celso Neto and Gou Racing’s Eddie Gou. Neto was able to run down Lewis and take the lead briefly. However, Lewis was able to get the lead back and bring Gou with him.
Fuel was extremely tight in the TCR class and everyone was forced to run to a number. However, the caution for Bacon’s issues took that out of the equation.
Once the green came back out, Lewis was able to hold on until the second curb break brought an end to the festivities. Lewis and Pasquarella took the win from the back of the grid. For Pasquarella, it’s his first career victory.
Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris were second in their Hyundai, followed by Eddie and Eduardo Gou. Chambers and Gilsinger were fourth, while BHA’s Preston Brown and Denis Dupont were fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge LP Building Solutions 120 Unofficial Results
Next up for Pilot Challenge teams will be a two-hour race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 is scheduled to go green at 1:25 p.m. ET on July 11. Coverage will stream live at 1:20 p.m. ET on both the IMSA Official YouTube channel and Peacock.
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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