BGB Motorsports’ Spencer Pumpelly took the lead during a caution by staying out when the leaders pitted for fuel. From there, he was able to hold off the pack to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix Saturday (Aug. 24) with teammate Thomas Collingwood. It is the team’s first victory in the series since 2013, when the series was known as the Grand-Am Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.
Pumpelly and Collingwood’s margin of victory was .373 seconds over Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman and Stevan McAleer. KohR Motorsports’ Luca Mars and Bob Michaelian were third, then Kellymoss with Riley’s Dakota Dickerson and Michael McCarthy. Stephen Cameron Racing’s Greg Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan were fifth.
McAleer started from pole after topping every on-track session to this point. He got a big jump over Jesse Lazare and seemed to settle in.
Meanwhile, Lazare had McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Jenson Altzman right behind him. The two fought for position until Lazare dropped wheels and hurt Altzman’s concentration. That resulted in an off-course excursion that cost Altzman third to Michael McCarthy.
McAleer was able to extend his advantage out to three seconds prior to the mid-race pit stops. McAleer pitted relatively early to hand over to Hindman, while drivers like Paul Holton stayed out an extra few laps.
Baby Bull Racing’s Moisey Uretsky stayed out even longer. Too long, to be exact. His car died in the Climbing Esses 56 minutes into the race to bring out a full course caution.
Here, a number of the Grand Sport teams pitted to take a splash of fuel to help them make it to the end of the race. BGB Motorsports’ Spencer Pumpelly took the lead by staying out and chancing his fuel.
The restart saw trouble in NASCAR bend. Skip Barber Racing’s Will Lambros ran into points leader Matt Plumb, spinning him out. Plumb collected the van der Steur Racing Aston Martin of Scott Andrews, then both cars went into the barrier.
While Plumb was able to drive back to the pits, he ended up with a tie rod issue that forced him behind the wall. Andrews tried to continue, but his car stalled to bring out another yellow.
Plumb was eventually able to return to the race, but he lost five laps in the process. Plumb and Holton would eventually finish 16th in Grand Sport. That cut Plumb’s points lead from 200 to 60 points.
After the restart, Hindman was right on Pumpelly’s tail and began to…
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