GS, TCR Titles to be Decided at Road Atlanta

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Championships in both the GS and TCR classes will be decided in Friday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season-ending Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

A total of 39 cars are entered for the two-hour race, which will be held on the afternoon prior to the 22nd annual Motul Petit Le Mans that will close out the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The 25-car GS field sees CarBahn with Peregrine Racing on the brink of the title, with the No. 39 Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Jeff Westphal and Tyler McQuarrie needing only to start the race in order to lock up the championship.

The duo currently hold a 34-point lead over Motorsports In Action’s Jesse Lazare and Corey Fergus. 

“Going into the last round in Atlanta knowing that we simply need to take the green flag and the championship will be ours is a great feeling,” McQuarrie said. “But I’m not going to celebrate until that happens!

“Our goal all year has been the championship, so once we have taken the green flag and the championship is locked up it will be interesting racing with our goal achieved.”

Park Place Motorsports’ Trent Hindman and Alan Brynjolfsson are tied for third in the GS title race with BimmerWorld’s Devin Jones and James Clay, with both driver pairings ten points behind the MIA McLaren duo.

The GS class sees an influx of entries this weekend, with both Multimatic Ford Mustang GT4s back in action for the first time since Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, while Automatic Racing is fielding its third Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Both of the Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4s are also entered, although the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Mustang GT4 is not listed, which was due to complete the season.

BHA’s Wilkins, Lewis in Catbird’s Seat in TCR

Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mark Wilkins and Michael Lewis lead the way in TCR, with the Hyundai pairing holding a 11-point lead over the LA Honda World Racing duo of Tom O’Gorman and Shelby Blackstock.

The No. 98 Hyundai Veloster N TCR of Wilkins and Lewis will need to finish seventh or better on Friday to claim the title, no matter where O’Gorman and Blackstock end up in their Honda Civic Type R TCR.

A season-high 14 cars are entered for the race, including a second Atlanta Speedwerks Honda TCR as well as several driver changes since the last race at Laguna Seca.

Mikey Taylor and Britt Casey Jr. are back in the No. 17 JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi RS 3 LMS TCR, while Trenton Estep is set for his TCR debut in the No. 3 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR.

Track action gets underway on Wednesday with a Promoter Test Day for Michelin Pilot Challenge competitors.

John Dagys

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