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Michelin Pilot Challenge

CTSC Title Race Heats Up; 31 Entries for VIR

New GS points leader, ST title fight continues heading to VIR…

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

With new points leaders in GS and a heated title fight in both classes, the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge enters the home stretch of the season, with only three races to go before crowning its 2017 champions.

Saturday’s Biscuitville Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway could play a pivotal part in the championship outcome, particularly on the heels of an abbreviated weather-impacted race at Road America earlier this month.

RS1’s Dillon Machavern and Dylan Murcott took over the GS points lead following Road America, and now hold a four-point lead on the Bodymotion Racing duo of Trent Hindman and Cameron Cassels.

While Hindman and Cassels haven’t won since the season opener at Daytona, Machavern and Murcott are winless on the season altogether, although a string of three runner-up finishes for its No. 28 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR has put them into the points lead.

Marc Miller and Till Bechtolsheimer have also yet to visit victory lane this year, but sit third in the title race in their No. 35 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche, only a further four points back.

While there are three teams within eight points in GS, the same couldn’t be said for the ST class, which sees Murillo Racing’s Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss with a 23-point advantage over their nearest rivals.

The pairing extended their championship lead with a third place class finish at Road America, after being one of the handful of cars not to pit prior to the eventual race-ending red flag for lightning.

The controversial outcome has Mosing and Foss with a comfortable margin over RS1’s Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante, who are on 190 points, with Mat Pombo and Derek Jones now just three points behind in third.

A total of 31 cars are provisionally entered for the eighth round of the season, including a number of notable changes since the last round.

TeamTGM is set to return with its Porsche for Guy Cosmo and Hugh Plumb, following a weekend-ending accident in practice for Cosmo at Road America, and two crashes for the team at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park that resulted in the Ted Giovanis-owned squad skipping the Lime Rock round.

The team has not started a race since Watkins Glen in June, where Cosmo and Giovanis finished fifth.

While neither the TRG Aston Martin Vantage GT4 or Muehlner Motorsports Porsche are currently listed for this weekend, BGB Motorsports is set for its first start since Sebring with its Porsche, for James Cox and John Tecce. 

After returning to a two-car squad at Road America, Motorsport In Action will again field only a single McLaren 570S GT4, for Jesse Lazare and Chris Green.

Eighteen entries are set to do battle in ST, which sees the return of DXDT Racing’s Porsche Cayman and Devin Jones back in the No. 31 Bodymotion Porsche after making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen that weekend.

Official track action for Continental Tire Challenge gets underway on Friday, with the two-hour race set for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, with live coverage on IMSA.tv.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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