Wickens’ Storybook Triumph, GS Championship Controversy In Road Atlanta
Over five years after a life-changing IndyCar crash at Pocono Raceway, Robert Wickens’ return to racing has culminated with an IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR class championship, won with Bryan Herta Autosport and co-driver Harry Gottsacker.
A fourth-place finish in class was enough for the #33 Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Wickens and Gottsacker to win the championship without a race victory, rather, eight podiums in 11 rounds.
The Fox Factory 120 at Road Atlanta finished under Safety Car with the #69 Motorsports in Action McLaren Artura GT4 of Jesse Lazare and Alex Filgueiras taking the overall and GS class victory, after only one top-ten finish all season.
They won ahead of the #47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 (Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer) in second, and the #28 RS1 Porsche (Eric Filgueiras/Stevan McAleer) in third. The #59 Kohr Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 (Bob Michaelian/Luca Mars) finished fourth with the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 (Bryce Ward/Daniel Morad) in fifth.
But the story at and after the chequered flag was the championship battle in the GS class – which was decided by the smallest of margins, and by post-race time penalties for unrelated cars.
Sixth place for the #71 Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R would have been enough to give Frank DePew and Robin Liddell the championship, with the rival #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (Vincent Barletta/Robby Foley) down in 13th.
But when both the #50 Hattori Motorsports and #14 Ave Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4s received post-race time penalties for unserved drive-through penalties, the #96 Turner BMW of Barletta and Foley was elevated to 11th place, and instead of losing the championship by 10 points, Turner Motorsport won the championship by that same margin!
Bryan Herta Autosport’s #98 Hyundai driven by Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi won the race in the TCR class, in a Hyundai 1-2 finish ahead of the #91 Van der Steur Racing Hyundai (Bryan Ortiz/Tyler Maxson). It was Wilkins and Filippi’s third win of the year.
In third, the #73 LA Honda World Racing Civic Type R (Mike LaMarra/Ryan Eversley) recovered from mechanical issues earlier in the weekend to climb to the podium in Eversley’s final start as a Honda driver.
Images © Michael L. Levitt, Jake Galstad / IMSA
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