Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell took the lead away from Baby Bull Racing’s Michael Cooper with 35 minutes remaining Friday (March 15). From there, he was able to make his fuel hold out to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 with teammate Frank DePew. The win is the very first victory worldwide for the brand-new 2024-spec Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
DePew and Liddell’s margin of victory was 1.817 seconds over van der Steur Racing’s Valentin Hasse-Clot and Rory van der Steur. McCumbee-McAleer Racing with AEROSPORT’s Jenson Altzman and Chad McCumbee were third. TeamTGM’s Paul Holton and Matt Plumb were fourth, while Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch and Paul Sparta recovered from an early penalty to finish fifth.
Motorsports In Action’s Jesse Lazare started from pole in his McLaren Artura GT4 and led early. Rennsport One’s Stevan McAleer was right behind in his Porsche.
Josh Green, making his debut for Thaze Motorsport, fell back sharply at the start, but was able to recover to third. Together, the three drivers pulled away from the rest of the pack.
Grand Sport cars cannot go a full hour under green on fuel, so everyone was desperate for a yellow. That caution came 29 minutes into the race when Archangel Motorsports’ Todd Coleman had fluids coming out of his Aston Martin that eventually caught fire. Coleman was ok, but was out of the race.
The yellow resulted in a split strategy as Lazare came in from the lead for tires and fuel along with nearly all of the GS cars. McAleer chose to stay out and took the lead with JMF Motorsports’ Michai Stephens behind. Of those who pitted, a chunk of them made a second stop to top off and change drivers (since minimum drive-time had been satisfied by this point) before the race went back to green.
Almost immediately once the green came back out, CDR Valkyrie’s Amir Haleem and Baby Bull Racing’s Michael Cooper had contact exiting turn 1. That resulted in debris from Haleem’s Supra coming off and bringing out another caution. This allowed McAleer and Stephens to save more fuel. Cooper was eventually given a drive-through penalty for the contact.
The race restarted right at the halfway point with Lazare breathing down McAleer’s neck. A few laps later, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Taylor Hagler had contact with Montreal Motorsport Group’s Louis-Philippe Montour in turn 1. Montour spun and hit the tire barrier. He would continue with…
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