Kellymoss With Riley Victorious in Daytona Thriller

Kellymoss with Riley took a last-lap victory in the BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona, coming out on top in a race that saw all of the front-running cars pit for fuel in the closing minutes.

The No. 91 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Michael McCarthy, Riley Dickinson and Brady Golan crossed the finish line 1.936 seconds ahead of the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad to win the opening round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Morad was one of a number of drivers that made late fuel stops after an intense lead battle that also involved the No. 92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Kenton Koch and Paul Sparta as well as both Turner Motorsport entries.

The pair of blue and yellow-liveried Turner BMWs dominated the opening exchanges of the race but lost ground when radio problems caused them to mistime a pitstop under the race’s third of four Full Course Yellows.

Robert Megennis and Robby Foley fought their way back up the order, making good use of the M4 GT4’s strong straight line speed to move into the lead of the race with just over half an hour remaining.

Foley led, with Koch, Megennis and Morad engaged in a lengthy battle that saw frequent position changes throughout.

Megennis and Foley pitted for fuel with eleven and nine minutes remaining respectively, while Morad fought his way past a fuel-saving Koch before pitting himself not much later.

The No. 92 BMW appeared to be able to make it to the end before Koch was forced to pit at the start of the final lap.

With the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Matt Plumb and Luca Mars’ No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 also coming down pit road for fuel in the closing minutes, this promoted the No. 91 Porsche piloted by Dickinson to the lead of the race for the first time in the four-hour contest.

The reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion was then able to stay in front of a charging Morad to win from 12th on the grid.

Plumb came home third in the No. 46 Aston Martin he shared with Owen Trinkler, while the pair of Turner BMWs completed the top five ahead of the No. 69 Motorsports in Action McLaren Artura GT4 of Michael de Quesada and Jesse Lazare.

JDC-Miller Takes Unlikely Back-of-Grid Victory in TCR

Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor secured TCR class victory for Unitronic JDC-Miller Motorsports, having charged up from the back of the grid with a car that had a new ECU installed shortly before the start of the race.

The No. 17 Audi RS 3 LMS TCR started the race from the back of the grid after a troublesome weekend, with the team addressing an ECU problem shortly before the race by flying in a new unit from Mexico that was placed into the car with little time to spare.

Once it ran, however, the car was able to display strong pace and the team took the lead by passing the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR after the halfway point.

When the leading Hyundai, piloted by Robert Wickens, then suffered an engine failure with just over 90 minutes remaining, it put JDC-Miller on course for victory.

Taylor withstood lengthy pressure from the No. 76 BHA Hyundai of Denis Dupont for the closing hour of the race to win.

Dupont ultimately barely scraped by to take second in the car he shared with Preston Brown and Nick Looijmans, almost running out of fuel on the final lap and finishing ahead of the sister car of Mark Wilkins by just 0.613 seconds.

Wilkins and Mason Filippi completed the class podium, ahead of the No. 15 Rockwell Autosport Development Audi driven by Alex Rockwell, Douglas Oakley and Tom O’Gorman.

RESULTS: BMW M Endurance Challenge