Circle H Wins; AutoTechnic Takes GS Title at Road Atlanta

Thomas Merrill and Martin Sarukhanyan claimed Circle H Racing’s first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge victory in Friday’s Fox Factory 120, while AutoTechnic Racing’s Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer secured the GS class championship at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

The No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi secured the TCR class title by starting the race.

Pole-sitter Jaxon Bell stretched his overall to over seven seconds before their first pit stop handed the No. 23 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to Ford Koch. The race ran green to the end of the first stint. 

The No. 66 YRB Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo received a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with the title-contending No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4.

YRB had another drive-through for contact with the No. 61 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Jenson Altzman in the Esses.

Debris in Turn 7 brought out the first full course yellow near the end of the pit sequence. Koch cycled to the front with championship contenders Michael Cooper and Robert Noaker rounding out the top three in GS at the restart. 

Filippi led TCR once the action resumed. The pole-sitting No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR, now piloted by LP Montour, restarted in fourth after the pit stops.

The No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Cooper kept Koch honest after the restart. The McLaren pitted with 48 minutes to go chasing the Toyota by less than half a second.

With 44 minutes left, Cooper muscled Koch out of Turn 10b to take the effective lead during the second pit cycle. The No. 26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Hannah Grisham passed Noaker out of the pits to take third. 

Koch had to retire from second place. Grisham then maneuvered around Mike Skeen in the No. 60 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang with 37 minutes left to jump up to the second spot.

But both Grisham and Noaker separately ran wide to allow the No. 27 BMW M4 GT4 EVO of McAleer to jump back into the championship lead. 

Cooper and Ibiza Farm’s title hopes were dashed when the McLaren suffered a steering issue from the lead with 18 minutes to go. Merrill inherited the lead for the team’s first win.

The full course yellow came out with under three minutes remaining to end the race.

The CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW of Jeff Westphal and the No. 93 Honda of Montour collided on the frontstretch after contact by the No. 12 RAFA Racing Toyota of Kiko Porto.

The No. 46 Team TGM Mustang GT4 of Matt Plumb and Paul Holton took second in GS. McAleer and Krainz came home in third to clinch the title without winning a race in the season.

Filippi held on for the TCR victory on top of the class championship.

The No. 21 Victor Gonzalez Racing CUPRA Leon VZ TCR of William Tally and Caleb Bacon finished second with the No. 56 Baker Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR of Dean Baker and Kenny Riedmann completed the podium.

RESULTS: Fox Factory 120