
Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA
Andres Gutierrez has broken through to claim his first victory in IMSA Prototype Challenge presented by Mazda competition, following a hard-fought and incident-filled Race 2 Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park.
The Performance Tech Motorsports driver took his No. 12 Ligier JS P3 to a 0.625-second win, under yellow, over Race 1 winner Kenton Koch in the No. 8 P1 Motorsports Ligier.
A late-race accident resulted in the second full-course caution of the 45-minute race.
Gutierrez got around the pole-sitting No. 12 Kelly Moss Road and Race Norma M30 of Colin Thompson on Lap 20, after Thompson’s car appeared to have had handling issues.
Koch, meanwhile, put pressure on Gutierrez until the race-ending yellow, with Thompson scoring his second podium finish of the season in third.
Kyle Masson, meanwhile, claimed another flag-to-flag victory in the MPC class, giving the Brent O’Neill-led Performance Tech squad its first-ever double victory.
Masson finished fourth overall in his No. 18 Elan DP02, ahead of Robert La Rocca’s HP-Tech Motorsport Ligier in fifth.
Lonnie Pechnik took home LMP3 Masters class honors with a seventh place result in his P1 Motorsports Ligier.
RESULTS: Race 2
