Turner Motorsport’s Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern proved nearly from the start of the race Friday (Sept. 30) that they had the car to beat. A short pit strategy and strong pace gave them a 20-second lead at one point. Auberlen was able to hold on to give himself and Machavern their second win of the year.
Machavern started on pole in his BMW M4 GT4, but he quickly lost his advantage on the first lap to CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Tom Dyer. Dyer opened up a small lead over the first few laps before Machavern was able to reel him back in and get the lead back.
The real star of the early portion of the race was KohR Motorsport’s Luca Mars. After failing to set a time in qualifying Thursday due to failing to return to his pit box during a red flag, then not serving the penalty quick enough, Mars went on a charge early. After starting 24th, Mars was able to drive up into the top five in the first 35 minutes.
Machavern ended up pitting right at the 40-minute to put Auberlen in the car. From there, Auberlen began to set a series of quick lap times that allowed him to put significant distance on his rivals. Once the round of stops was complete, Auberlen had a legitimate 20-second lead over Billy Johnson in the KohR Motorsports Mustang.
The leaders all made their final stops with about 50 minutes to go. Auberlen was able to get past Accelerating Performance’s Justin Piscitell to take the lead a couple of laps afterwards.
The race’s sole full course yellow came with 40 minutes to go when NOLAsport’s Jason Hart collided with Bryan Herta Autosport’s Robert Wickens entering turn 1. While Hart spun to the inside of the turn, Wickens went off through the gravel and backed into the tire wall. Wickens was ok, but done for the day.
At the time, Piscitell hadn’t made his final stop, so he pitted here along with a few others and dropped back to the rear of the lead lap. That put Johnson on Auberlen’s rear bumper with FCP Euro with Ricca Autosport’s Mike Skeen right there as well.
On the restart, Auberlen had to deal with significant pressure from Johnson at first, but eventually was able to pull away. From there, Auberlen was able to hold on to take the win.
Auberlen and Machavern’s margin of victory was 2.081 seconds over Skeen and Trevor Andrusko. Skeen was able to get past Johnson for the position with eight laps to go. Johnson and Mars had to settle for third, then the two Riley Motorsports…
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