Historic Parity on the Line in GS at Road America

Road America has emerged as a bit of a wild card round for IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competitors the last several years.

A total of 42 cars are entered for the Road America 120, split 28 GS and 14 TCRs, for the seventh round of the season.

Six different manufacturers have won overall and in GS since 2020: McLaren, BMW, Mercedes-AMG, Chevrolet, Porsche and Ford. Of those six, all but Chevrolet are still active.

Aston Martin or Toyota could continue the parity streak if either manufacturer wins their first Road America race, and both are coming off highs at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Aston Martin won its second straight pole, with Heart of Racing Team’s Hannah Greenemeier following Hannah Grisham as the fastest GS qualifier two weeks earlier at Watkins Glen.

Then Toyota won the race in Canada with RAFA Racing’s Kiko Porto and Varun Choksey parlaying their pace into a first victory.

The CTMP round shifted the GS title battle to where only 40 points covers the top three.

McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero and Robert Noaker now lead by 30 points over Ibiza Farm Motorsport’s Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky, with AutoTechnic Racing’s Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz just ten points further back in third.

Tough recent weekends have dropped Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars and Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward slightly down the order, but still with enough time to claw back the deficit as they’re both within 190 points.

TCR saw a new Road America winner last year with Hyundai back on top at the track for the first time since 2020; Bryson Morris and Mark Wilkins delivered the Elantra N TCR’s first win at the venerable 4.048-mile circuit.

Morris and Mason Filippi have been the model of consistency in TCR this year, with two wins including last time out at CTMP and five podiums achieved in six races.

That sees them 200 points clear of teammates Denis Dupont and Preston Brown. Although that 200-point gap is strong, a tough result for the No. 33 car could bring any of the next five cars into title contention, as they’re only covered by 80 points.

Among the handful of changes throughout the grid, Celso Neto is listed alongside Eddie Gou in the No. 55 Gou Racing with Stallion Audi RS 3 LMS TCR. Both Medusa Motorsports and RVA Graphics by Speed Syndicate Motorsports return after at least one-race absences, while LAP Motorsports has entered the No. 6 rather than No. 30 Ford Mustang GT4.

This has come after Ford Racing and Multimatic built up a new chassis, which was delivered to the team’s shop in Brownsburg, Ind. on Saturday. Scott Thomson and Clayton Williams will pilot the entry this weekend.

Pilot Challenge teams have one practice Thursday, a second Friday morning before qualifying Friday afternoon, and race Saturday at 12:50 p.m. CST. Live race coverage streams flag-to-flag on Peacock and ad-free, courtesy of Michelin, on the IMSA YouTube channel.