With just under 20 minutes to go, Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley was able to get past Murillo Racing’s Christian Szymczak for the lead. From there, Foley and Vin Barletta held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway Thursday (March 16).
“We found a good [setup] compromise for this weather,” Foley told NBC Sports’ Hannah Newhouse in victory lane. “Awesome to get the first win for [the new car BMW M4 GT4] in [Grand Sport] and can’t thank the guys at Turner enough.”
Foley and Barletta’s margin of victory was .601 seconds over teammates Cameron Lawrence and Robert Megennis. Rebel Rock Racing’s Frank DePew and Robin Liddell were third, then Lone Star Racing’s Scott Andrews and Anton Dias Perera were fourth. Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer were fifth.
By virtue of a very unusual qualifying session on Wednesday, BGB Motorsports’ Thomas Collingwood earned the pole by virtue of finishing second in Daytona. On the start, he held onto the advantage for half of the first lap before Murillo Racing’s Kenny Murillo was able to sweep past entering turn 10.
Murillo was able to pull out a small lead before a big crash involving Road Shagger Racing’s Gavin Ernstone, Deily Motorsports’ Jacob Deily and Rockwell Autosport Development’s Nick Looijmans brought out the caution. Ernstone appeared to get loose exiting turn 1 and spun into Looijmans. All three drivers were ok, but out on the spot.
On the restart, Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward got into both Motorsports In Action’s Alex Filsinger and Wilsports’ Gary Ferrara in turn 7, spinning both drivers out. The contact damaged Ward’s Mercedes and sent him into the tires shortly afterwards to bring out another yellow.
The man on the move early on was Rennsport One’s Eric Filguerias. After a crash in Daytona, he started 22nd and quickly made his way forward. After the yellows, he was able to move into the top five, then methodically pick drivers off until he got to second.
When the third yellow flew, nearly everyone rushed into the pits for tires, fuel and a driver change. Turner Motorsport’s Cameron Lawrence won the race off pit road as his No. 95 BMW was the best running team that had pitted during the second yellow. As a result, they could short-fill their tank.
On the restart, Szymczak was able to sweep past Lawrence and take the lead, while Lawrence’s teammate Foley followed past….
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