RS1’s Heylen, Mars Take Watkins Glen Win

RS1’s Jan Heylen and Luca Mars claimed victory in Saturday’s LP Building Solutions 120 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge round at Watkins Glen International.

Heylen, in the No. 28 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport took charge shortly after halfway through the two-hour race.

He held off challenges from Jeff Westphal (No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO) and Chad McCumbee (No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4) down the stretch before a late caution for a stalled car caused the contest to end behind the Safety Car.

Heylen was ahead of McCumbee when the checkered flag flew to secure the second victory of the season for himself and Mars and their fifth podium finish in five starts this year.

The duo now holds a comfortable 340-point advantage over Jenson Altzman, who won his first Motul Pole Award Friday, in the GS championship.

Mid-Ohio winners Francis Selldorff and Dillon Machavern drop to third after a 13th place finish at Watkins Glen.

Mars qualified the RS1 Porsche fourth fastest, then immediately gained a place at the start. He still held third when he handed the car off to Heylen after 50 minutes.

Just ten minutes later, a caution at the halfway point prompted most of the field to make their final pit stop and put the three lead contenders on the same strategy.

Heylen passed Westphal to assume what became the lead of the race when teams on alternate strategies pitted. The CarBahn BMW harried the RS1 Porsche for many laps until McCumbee slipped past for second with 25 minutes to go.

This was Mars’ second career Pilot Challenge race win, to accompany the trophy he and Heylen claimed in May at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Heylen boasts five career wins, all in GS, with two this year and three in that 2021 title-winning season.

MMG Honda Breaks Hyundai Win Streak in TCR

Honda snapped the streak of Hyundai capturing the first four races in the TCR class this season and last two of 2024, as LP Montour and Karl Wittmer broke through in their No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR.

With Honda and Audi locking out the top three positions on the grid, the best of the seven Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars spread across Bryan Herta Autosport, Victor Gonzalez Racing Team and Pegram Racing started only fourth.

And indeed, the pendulum swung fully to Honda with its first win of the season.

From the Motul Pole Award, Montour took an early and authoritative lead in his No. 93 MMG Honda while behind him, a trio of Audi RS 3 LMS TCR cars followed with the No. 7 Precision Racing LA Audi (Celso Neto), No. 31 RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate Audi (Luke Rumberg) and No. 52 Baker Racing Audi (Sam Baker) were next before the first Hyundai of series returnee Parker Chase in the No. 98 Herta Hyundai.

The TCR leaders pitted with one hour remaining for their first and only scheduled stop and were positioned well to bring it home on that one stop during a full-course caution.

The No. 7 car took the lead on the pit stop sequence, now with Ryan Eversley behind the wheel ahead of the No. 99 VGRT Hyundai of Tyler Gonzalez and Wittmer in the No. 93 MMG Honda.

Alas, the quick pit work by the Precision Racing LA team went for naught as they did not get enough fuel in the car, which necessitated another stop.

Their misfortunate played to the No. 93 MMG Honda’s benefit with Wittmer advancing back to the lead, ahead of the No. 31 Audi now wheeled by Jaden Conwright and the returning No. 55 Gou Racing Cupra Leon VZ TCR of, the father-and-son duo of Eduardo and Eddie Gou.

It appeared TCR was shaping up for a unique day of four different manufacturers finishing in the top four positions – Honda, Audi, Cupra and Hyundai – but the top Audi (No. 31) fell from contention inside the final 20 minutes.

The third full-course caution of the race also negated quite a large lead Wittmer had accumulated, leaving him a mere fraction ahead of Eddie Gou on the restart with Tyler Gonzalez third, Harry Gottsacker fourth and Tim Lewis Jr. fifth.

No changes followed as the race ended under a fourth full-course caution, so Wittmer held on for the win. It’s the first win for a Honda since the third-to-last race of 2024 at Virginia International Raceway and ends a run of six straight Hyundai wins in TCR since.

While the Gou family appeared to have secured a special result of both theirs and Cupra’s first IMSA podium in second, the car was found to have an infraction discovered in post-race technical inspection and sent to the rear of the class finish. Per TCR Technical Regulation 12.3, the upper part of the complete wheel, while in straight ahead position, must be above the wheel’s center and vertically covered by the bodywork.

That promoted the Tyler Gonzalez and Eric Powell-driven No. 99 VGRT Hyundai to second, 0.918 of a second behind.

The top two TCR entries in the championship, the Nos. 98 and 76 Herta Hyundais, moved up to third and fifth, sandwiching the No. 89 HART Honda in fourth.

RESULTS: LP Building Solutions 120 at The Glen