Thomas Merrill, Martin Sarukhanyan Win FOX Factory 120

BRASELTON, Geo. — Circle H Racing’s Thomas Merrill took the overall lead away from the TCR-class Hyundai of Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi with 13 minutes to go Friday (Oct. 2). From there, he was able to hold on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with Martin Sarukhanyan. It is the duo’s first-ever Pilot Challenge victory.

“I didn’t actually realize that we weren’t leading the race until [I passed the TCR cars]. Mike Johnson didn’t tell me that on the radio,” Merrill said during the post-race press conference. “I think this was a classic IMSA race. It was a really hard fought, clean race.”

Merrill and Sarukhanyan won by 2.339 seconds over TeamTGM’s Paul Holton and Matt Plumb. Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris were third, then AutoTechnic Racing’s Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer. Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars were fifth.

In Grand Sport, Merrill and Sarukhanyan defeated Holton and Plumb. Krainz and McAleer were third, then Machavern and Mars. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Cameron Shields and Steven Wetterau were fifth.

The championship was one of the major points of discussion Friday. Krainz and McAleer entered the race with a 30-point lead over Machavern and Mars. Prior to the race, Krainz told Frontstretch that he was most concerned about Ibiza Farm Motorsports’ Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky, who qualified third and have been very fast recently.

Koch-Copeland Motorsports’ Jaxon Bell started from pole in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. In the opening laps, Bell was able to open a small advantage over Holton. Meanwhile, Uretsky slipped from third to sixth on the opening lap.

Bell was able to expand the advantage to four seconds. Meanwhile, the battle for third was an absolute scrum between Uretsky, YRB Racing’s Allen Patten, Czabok Simpson Motorsports’ Zach Veach and The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Greenemeier. After a three-wide move on the backstretch, Greenemeier was able to get up to third.

Points-wise, things were extremely close. 30 minutes into the race, there was a three-way tie for the championship between the Krainz/McAleer BMW, the Machavern/Mars BMW and Robert Noaker in the McCumbee-McAleer Racing Ford.

Veach’s chances to contend ended just after the half-hour mark when his rear diffuser came loose. A pit stop to affect a fix cost him a lap.

Most of the top GS drivers made their first pit stop shortly after the 40-minute minimum drive-time was achieved. A couple of others stayed out a couple of extra laps.

The race’s first full course caution came out 48 minutes in due to debris off of Stephen Cameron Racing’s Sean Quinlan. By that point, nearly everyone in GS had made their first stop. BSI Racing’s Harrison Goodman stopped just as the yellow flew.

Ford Koch had the overall lead with Cooper right on his tail after the restart. The two raced hard for the lead until the final round of stops. From that round of stops, KohR Motorsports’ Mike Skeen was first out of the pits.

However, Skeen had Cooper right on his tail. For multiple laps, thwe two drivers fought until Cooper was able to clear him in the chicane. Once in front of Skeen, Cooper ran off and hid.

The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Grisham was right up in the mix and tried to get Skeen for what would have effectively been second at the time. She was able to make the pass, but suddenly slowed a lap later and dropped out of the top 10. Grisham and Greenemeier would eventually finish eighth.

Skeen’s teammate Billy Johnson ran long and held the overall lead until he stopped with 25 minutes to go. Medusa Motorsports’ Hunter Yeany stopped a lap later to wrap up the pit sequence.

That left Cooper in the lead with an 11-second lead. That advantage was over Merrill, who drove through most of the GS leaders with brute force to move up to second.

Things were looking good for Cooper until disaster struck with 19 minutes to go. With a 14-second lead, Cooper suddenly slowed with steering issues that resulted in Cooper going through the gravel in turn 5.

The culprit was believed to be earlier contact between Cooper and Koch. Cooper was unable to get his McLaren back to the pits and pulled off at turn 7.

That gave the overall lead to Filippi in the TCR Hyundai. In GS, Merrill took over the advantage with a five-second lead over Plumb.

Merrill was fourth overall at the time he took the GS lead. Over the next few minutes, he picked off the TCR contenders, one-by-one before catching Filippi. On the backstretch, he was able to take the lead away.

The race ended under yellow after MMG’s Louis-Philippe Montour was hit by RAFA Racing Team’s Kiko Porto in turn 12 and spun into CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Jeff Westphal.

In TCR, Montreal Motorsport Group’s Karl Wittmer started from pole in his Honda Civic Type-R TCR. Meanwhile, by rolling off of the pit lane, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris clinched the TCR championship.

Morris was able to get past KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Rocco Pasquarella on the opening lap and more or less glued himself to Wittmer’s rear bumper. The two then ran nose-to-tail for the first 40 minutes of the race.

The status quo held until the full course caution came out. Unlike the GS class, effectively no one had stopped at the time of the yellow. As a result, everyone came in for tires, fuel and a driver change.

Filippi was able to win the race off of pit road and spent much of the second half of the event racing with KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Tim Lewis Jr. Given the amount of time remaining when everyone stopped, it would be a stretch for everyone.

In the closing laps, Lewis suddenly slowed with a flat right front tire. That gave Filippi a decent lead over Montour. That allowed FIlippi and Morris to win the TCR championship in style with a big win.

Montour was running second when he was spun out in the closing minutes. That resulted in a shuffle that resulted in Victor Gonzalez Racing’s Caleb Bacon and Dr. William Tally finishing a career-best second. Baker Racing’s Dean Baker and Kenny Riedmann were third, followed by BHA’s Preston Brown and Denis Dupont. Gou Racing’s Eddie and Eduardo Gou were fifth.

IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 Unofficial Results