FastMD Racing with Remstar’s Jagger Jones, in his second race weekend in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, won both races on Saturday, March 9 on the streets of St. Petersburg. These are the first IMSA wins for Fast® Racing.
Jones started from pole in his Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan. Woolridge next to him, but got off to a terrible start and dropped to sixth at the first corner. It wasn’t long before Jones took a three-second lead over Escuderia. Miguel Villagómez de ABRO.
Further back, a duel between Woolridge and Brian Thienes for fifth turned physical at the final corner nine minutes later. There was contact that cut Thienes’ right rear tyre. The mess led to a build-up and allowed Cody Ware to move up to fifth. Thienes returned to the pits and made repairs. He would finally finish 3 laps back, seventh in his elegance and twentieth overall.
Performance Tech Motorsports’ Alex Kirby managed to move up to second place in traffic but missed Turn 1 while trying to pass some BMWs. This allowed Aghakhani to reach second place.
Jones’ lead ranged from 3 to 8 seconds over Aghakhani, in traffic. Meanwhile, Kirby found himself in a three-way war between himself, Villagomez, and Ware.
Villagomez managed to take third position on lap 1. Ware tried to stay on top and knocked. Ware spun and sank into his tires as he exited the pits. A curve later, Kirby understeered into the concrete wall as he exited. of Turn 3 to highlight the yellow of the entire route.
Ware was able to restart and return to the pits. His car then refused to turn and slid into the tires at turn four under yellow. Ware and Kirby pulled away from their crashed cars, but were out of the race. And I can’t start Race 2.
The mandatory clean-up meant there were three rounds left to go when the green came out. Jones managed to escape, but Aghakhani held off Thienes’ car. That allowed Villapassmez to jump for second place, but he was too quick into the corner. four and bounced off the tires.
Meanwhile, Jones was able to take advantage of the presence of Thienes to pull away once again. It did not threaten the path to victory.
Jones won by 4. 637 seconds over US RaceTronics’ Steven Aghakhani. Jonathan Woolridge of Performance Tech Motorsports was third, followed by Ryan Phinny of Ave Motorsports. Mirco Schultis of Mishumotors fifth.
In the GSX ranks, Motorsports In Action’s Jesse Lazare started from pole in his McLaren Artura GT4. At the start, KohR Motorsports’ Luca Mars managed to overtake Jackson Lee, who makes a unique appearance with van der Steur Racing, for second place. A few laps later, Lee was able to retrieve Mars.
As Lee and Mars battled for position, Lazarus was able to escape in his McLaren. Lee found himself four seconds behind the McLaren and had put himself in a clever position until the yellow flag came out for Kirby-Ware’s crash.
The accident caused Lee to hit Lazarus’ rear bumper. In the closing laps, Lee put a lot of pressure on Lazare, but he couldn’t prevent the regular IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge from taking the win with his elegance in sixth place overall.
Lazare’s margin of victory was 0. 735 seconds over Lee’s Aston Martin. Mars finished third, followed by Swish Motorsports’ Michael Dayton. Stephen Cameron’s Quinlan Racing fifth.
Thanks to his second lap in qualifying on Friday, Jones held pole for race number 2 on Saturday afternoon. Woolridge was by his side and this time he got off to a better start. Aghakhani had a bit of patience and ended up hitting the rear of Woolridge braking at Turn 1.
The touch broke the front left corner of Aghakhani’s Ligier JS P320-Nissan, forcing him to make an unscheduled pit stop for repairs. Aghakhani would continue two laps behind.
Jones temporarily built up a four-second lead over Woolridge, but lost it when the first yellow flag of the race came just six minutes later. Turner Motorsport’s Vin Barletta was too quick at Turn Four in his BMW Mfour GTfour and crashed into the tyre barrier. .
Barletta was fine and even tried to take his BMW off the track to prevent the yellow flag from passing, but too much time has passed to prevent that. The black M4 was badly broken and abandoned.
When he returned to the green, Jones set sail and tried to get away from the group. He would have had a six-second lead, but Woolridge managed to cut it off when Jones found traffic.
Further back, Schultis had a career he’d like to forget. After 15 minutes of racing, his car stopped coming out of Turn 10 and slid. After a restart, he was able to continue, but not before losing a lap.
Later, Schultis spun at Turn 10 while attempting to do a lap in the Dayton BMW. He was able to continue, but missed a second corner trying to get out of the second loop.
As Schultis tried to catch him, Thaze Competition’s Eddie Killeen showed up on the second lap of Turn 1 as he tried to hold off Scott Blind. On the second lap, Killeen’s Mercedes stalled and failed to restart, prompting the second yellow flag with 16 minutes to go. remaining.
The green came out for the last time with just over 8 minutes remaining. Jones was able to escape and hide. Meanwhile, the rest of the LMP3 leaders fought tooth and nail to get into position, which Jones needed to take the win.
The margin of victory is 3. 815 points over Villagomez, who advanced so far after Woolridge failed in the closing laps. Thienes recovered from his injury in Race 1 to finish third, followed by Phinny. Woolridge had to settle for fifth.
In GSX, Lazare started from pole, but Lee controlled to take the lead on the first lap. Lee, son of NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee, got decent credit before the yellow flag issued for Barletta’s crash.
At the restart, Lazare moved to the inside at Turn 1 in an attempt to regain the lead. The two drivers raced side-by-side into Turn 2 before Lee was able to take the lead.
Both riders broke away from the rest of the GSX to patch things up between them. Greg Liefooghe third, but 8 seconds behind.
The moment caution set everyone back and Lazare took a hit on Lee at the final corner before the start and finish line in the reget began to take the lead. The stewards thought that this was perhaps too early a resolution. Lazarus, however, decided that the resolution was legal.
Undeterred, Lee managed to get Lazarus back to fight for the lead. The duo struggled for a while before Lazarus was finally able to let Lee through. From there, Lazarus held on for the weekend’s sweep.
Lazarus’ margin of victory was 3. 211 seconds over Lee. Liefooghe was third, followed by Patrick Wilmot of Mars and Split Decision Motorsports.
The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will be absent for almost 3 months. The third race weekend of the series will take place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course June 7-9. Frontstretch will be available in Mid-Ohio to bring you todos. la action.
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