Motorsports In Action’s Jesse Lazare took advantage of slow-moving traffic on Saturday, May 11 to erase a five-second deficit and take the lead with 28 minutes to overtake Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman. From there, Lazare held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot. Challenge WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 with teammate Michael de Quesada. For de Quesada, it’s the first win of his career in the Pilot Challenge, while it’s Lazare’s third career win.
“I knew I was lucky that [Hindman] got stuck in traffic because he was quite far behind,” Lazare told NBC Sports’ Brian Till after the race. “Once I got through it, I knew I had to do it to achieve my goals and I didn’t make any mistakes because I know [Hindman] is an amazing driver and very aggressive, so I knew I’d be there at the end. “
De Quesada and Lazare’s margin of victory was 0. 691 seconds over Hindman and Stevan McAleer. Winward Racing’s Daniel Morad and Bryce Ward finished third, followed by Hattori Motorsports’ Jaden Conwright and Jack Hawksworth. Van der Steur’s Alex Premat and Rory van der Steur were fifth in their Aston Martins.
De Quesada started from pole in his McLaren and controlled to take advantage of the rest of the field. JMF Motorsports’ Jesse Webb, who on the side, ended up spinning on the Andretti Hairpin on the first lap via McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Jenson Altzman. piling up the field.
For Altzman, his career only got worse from there. At the end of the first lap, he was eliminated in Turn 11 by Todd Coleman of Archangel Motorsports. This led to an unscheduled pit stop. Altzman and Chad McCumbee ultimately finished 32nd overall, 21st. in Great Sport.
The race was neutralised early when BGB Motorsports’ Thomas Collingwood dropped a wheel off the track and ended up into the wall coming out of Turn 4. Collingwood escaped the crash unscathed, but finished the day.
Shortly after the restart, Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Chase Jones suffered a primary mechanical failure in his Hyundai. The car got stuck on the exit of Turn 6, forcing Jones to stop. The extinguishment of the fire resulted in a warning.
After the restart, De Quesada was able to slowly pull away from McAleer. The lead first increased to two seconds, then to three, and then to five seconds.
Early precautions allowed everyone to save a significant amount of fuel. Normally, a two-hour race would require two pit stops for Grand Sport teams. However, having a smart 20 minutes of driving helped. Some teams opted to avoid quite close to 40 minutes, such as Rebel Rock Racing. Others stayed away for more than part of the tour.
The man on the move from the start was Jaden Conwright of Hattori Motorsports. At the start, Conwright had qualified second, but the car had too much lean in the post-qualifying inspection. The penalty forced him to start in 25th place, but he temporarily climbed back up to the more sensible 10th.
De Quesada was absent until the middle of the race before stopping and giving way to Lazare. However, prevention was a bit slow. Rennsport One with Trent Hindman at the wheel controlled to close the five-second deficit and pass Lazare before he could gain speed.
With the race in green after the first two yellows, Lazare and Hindman finished more than 20 seconds ahead of Hawksworth in third, allowing them to sort things out on their own.
Hindman had a lead of more than five seconds with 40 minutes to go when he caught TeamTGM’s Hugh Plumb to start the No. 64. No managed to get away with Plumb’s older brother, but he also selected. Lazare will go for Hindman. La five-second lead dropped to less than a second.
With 28 minutes remaining, Hindman spun the tires coming out of Turn 11. That was all Lazarus needed to get through on the front straight. By the time they reached the Andretti hairpin, Lazare had passed and was in the lead.
In TCR, Montreal Motorsports Group’s Bryan Ortiz started from pole in his Honda Civic Type-R TCR. At first, Ortiz’s main competitor, Chris Miller, at Audi JDC-Miller MotorSports. However, Miller crashed at Turn 10 after a while. after the restart moment that set him back.
Ortiz never challenged his time in the car, but things completely changed once Louis-Phillipe Montour got in the car. Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi beat MMG Honda outside the pits to take the lead in elegance.
That’s when the real trouble began. Montour broke away at Rainey’s corner and veered off course in the gravel. He came back and then went off the track at Turn 11. Later, the car continued straight into Turn 4, resulting in a third pass through the gravel in just one minute. Few laps. Eventually, Montour was forced to stop for repairs. Montour and Ortiz would finish 30th overall, 10th in TCR at the end.
In the final 30 minutes of the race, JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Mikey Taylor got moving. He controlled down and passed Robert Wickens for second place. He then stopped Filippi five moments later.
Filippi came out of the Andretti hairpin with 18 minutes to go. That was all Taylor needed to take the lead in TCR. From there, Taylor was able to hold on to take his third straight win and Miller’s win to start the season.
The margin of victory was 1. 254 seconds over Filippi and Mark Wilkins. Wickens and Harry Gottsacker were third, while KMW Motorsports with Tim Lewis Jr. and TMR Engineering’s Dr. William Tally were fourth in their Alfa Romeo. Road Shagger Racing’s Gavin Ernstone and Jon Morley were fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge groups are deactivated for the next few weeks. The next race on his schedule is the Four Hours of O’Reilly of Mid-Ohio on June 9. This race will be streamed on Peacock. Frontstretch will be available in Ohio to bring you all the action.
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