PF Racing’s Harrison Burton took the lead with 22 minutes to go Friday (Jan. 27) when NOLAsport’s Elliott Skeer suddenly pulled off-course with a mechanical failure. From there, Burton held to earn himself and Zane Smith the overall win in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona.
Burton and Zane Smith’s margin of victory was .688 seconds over BGB Motorsports’ Spencer Pumpelly, Thomas Collingwood and Jeroen Bleekemolen. PF Racing’s second Mustang for Hailie Deegan and Ben Rhodes was third, then Murillo Racing’s Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak. Automatic Racing’s Jim Jonsin, Tom Long and Brett Sandberg were fifth.
Crucial Motorsports’ Michael de Quesada, Henry O’Hara and Aurora Straus were sixth in the debut race for the McLaren Artura GT4. JTR Motorsports Engineering’s Anthony McIntosh and Jared Thomas were seventh in their Mercedes, followed by Murillo Racing’s Eric Foss and Jeff Mosing. TeamTGM’s Hugh and Matt Plumb were ninth, while Accelerating Performance’s Michael Cooper, Justin Piscitell and Moisey Uretsky rounded out the top 10.
Rennsport One’s Stevan McAleer started from the pole in his Porsche and opened up a small gap on the field. Meanwhile, PF Racing’s Zane Smith passed Luca Mars for second in the opening laps. These three drivers proceeded to drive away from the rest of the pack.
The first yellow flew a little more than 15 minutes into the race when Deily Motorsports’ Cabot Bigham stalled his Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Shortly afterwards, Rebel Rock Racing’s Frank DePew crashed his Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R exiting turn 2 to bring out another yellow.
The second caution brought some of the leaders into the pits for the first of four or five pit stops. AutoTechnic Racing’s John Capestro-Dubets chose to stay out in his new BMW M4 GT4 to take the overall lead.
A swarm of drivers assembled behind Capestro-Dubets. This group included Chad McCumbee, Eric McAlister, Hailie Deegan and Jon Branam.
Deegan took the lead 52 minutes in with a swooping move to the outside of turn 4 of the tri-oval. That led was short-lived as McAlister took his turn up front. Deegan then helped McCumbee (driving without a rear bumper due to contact) get up the lead.
Eventually, Smith was able to get himself into the overall lead and pull a couple of seconds over the field. Eric Filguerias was eventually able to work his way up to second after the pit stop.
However, any…
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