WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — TeamTGM’s Paul Holton and Matt Plumb stayed out for a couple of extra laps Saturday (June 22). That ended up being the difference as Plumb took the lead with six minutes to go and held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge The Esses 120 at Watkins Glen International.
For Plumb, it is his 24th career victory in Pilot Challenge. That ties him with Billy Johnson for most all-time.
Holton and Plumb’s margin of victory was 5.549 seconds over Turner Motorsport’s Robert Megennis and Dillon Machavern. Archangel Motorsports’ Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz were third in their Aston Martin, then the similar Aston Martin of Van der Steur Racing’s Valentin Hasse-Clot and Rory van der Steur. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal were second at the start of the final lap, but dropped to fifth.
Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman led the field to green in a race that really had trouble getting going. Following an extra lap behind the safety car, an early yellow flew for Automatic Racing’s John Potter stopping on course with a mechanical issue that ended his day.
Later on, Potter’s teammate Brandon Kidd also had stalling issues. He tried with all his might to get his Invisible Glass Aston Martin back to the pits, but after the third time the car stalled, IMSA threw the caution.
This caution resulted in a split pit strategy as a number of teams short-pitted in an attempt to limit their time in the pits under green.
Later on, Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Chase Jones spun and hit the tires in turn 6 to bring out the fourth caution 48 minutes into the race. Jones was ok, but his Hyundai was trashed.
On the restart, Hindman came in for his first pit stop along with a number of other teams. That briefly gave the lead to Holton, but he was immediately overhauled by Baby Bull Racing’s Moisey Uretsky. Half a lap later, Van der Steur Racing’s Rory van der Steur took the lead from Uretsky.
The order shuffled around as the teams went through their varying pit strategies. Once that was complete, Skip Barber Racing’s Will Lambros ended up in the overall lead, but off-sequence from the rest of the field. Best of those on sequence was Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch.
However, the leaders made made their pit stop with about 62 minutes remaining. At the best of times, that would be a stretch to make it that long.
The need for fuel conservation, along with a…
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