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Michelin Pilot Challenge

Turner Wins Race; VOLT Aston Crew Takes GS Title

Hindman, Brynjolfsson claim GS class title with sixth place finish in Friday’s season finale…

Photo: Phil Abbott/IMSA

Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern claimed victory in Friday’s Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, with a sixth place finish good enough to give VOLT Racing’s Trent Hindman and Alan Brynjolfsson the GS class title.

Auberlen took his No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 to a 2.081-second win over the No. 55 FCP Euro by Ricca Autosport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Mike Skeen and Trevor Andrusko, thanks to a late charge by Skeen.

Having started on pole, Machavern lost the position to the No. 93 CarBahn with Pergrine Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Tom Dyer at the start.

However, the positions swapped on Lap 15 after contact between the two cars entering Turn 10a that led to Machavern to retake the lead.

The Turner BMW held control for the remainder of the race to claim the duo’s second GS class victory of the season.

Hindman and Brynjolfsson, meanwhile, ran a trouble-free race, needing to only finish in the top-ten no matter where title contender Eric Foss ended up.

Foss and co-driver Jeff Mosing finished one position behind the Wright Motorsports-run Aston Martin in seventh.

It marked Brynjolfsson’s long-awaited first IMSA championship and Hindman’s second Pilot Challenge tile, his first coming nearly ten years ago.

The No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 of Billy Johnson and Luca Mars completed the podium in third, ahead of the pair of Riley Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 and Mercedes GT4 entries in fourth and fifth, respectively.

The race featured only a single full course caution for a collision between the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche of Jason Hart, who made contact with Robert Wickens’ No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR in Turn 1.

Wickens’ car slammed into the barriers was was uninjured in the shunt.

Lewis, Hagler Score Back-to-Back TCR Titles

Michael Lewis and Taylor Hagler claimed their second consecutive TCR class championship with a third place finish on Friday.

The BHA duo entered the weekend with a 100-point lead over the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR, which suffered multiple setbacks in the race.

It marked Lewis’ third TCR class title in the last four years, all coming in BHA Hyundais.

The No. 99 VGRT Honda Civic Type-R TCR of Victor Gonzalez and Karl Wittmer claimed the class win, the duo’s second of the season after Wittmer’s closest challenger, the No. 2 BHA Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Ryan Norman, pulled off track while in second position with ten minutes to go.

Stephen Simpson and Michael Johnson came home second in class in the No. 54 BHA entry, meanwhile.

RESULTS: Fox Factory 120

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

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