Aghakhani, Mars Clinch Titles in Race 1 at Road Atlanta

All that Steven Aghakhani and Luca Mars needed to do to clinch their respective class championships Thursday in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge was be in their cars on the starting grid for the 45-minute race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Neither was satisfied with just “showing up,” so both proceeded to win and lock up their titles in style.

Aghakhani was the overall and LMP3 winner in the No. 6 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan. He crossed the finish line second to Jagger Jones in the No. 87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08 Nissan, but Jones was assessed a ten-second post-race penalty for a false start at the beginning of the race and scored in fourth place in the finishing order.

Mars, meanwhile, cruised to the GSX class victory by 8.749 seconds in the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4.

Typically mild-mannered and reserved, Aghakhani was emotional and joyful as he exited the car to celebrate the victory with his father, Armik, and the MLT crew.

Aghakhani finished 4.936 seconds ahead of Markus Pommer in the No. 31 Gebhardt Interlogistics Motorsports Duqueine.

Pommer and teammate Valentino Catalano (No. 30 Duqueine) put on an impressive display to finish second and third in the VP Racing Challenge debut for both drivers.

Mars started from the GSX pole and was never threatened, even following a full-course caution that forced a late restart. There was plenty of battling behind him, with Patrick Wilmot (No. 88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW M4 GT4) holding off Tyler Hoffman (No. 9 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO) for second place following a spirited back-and-forth.

The only VP Racing Challenge season championship yet to be decided with a race go to is the P3 team title.

With Thursday’s results, the No. 6 MLT Motorsports Ligier snatched a 10-point lead over the No. 87 FastMD Duqueine, meaning the results of Friday’s season finale will determine the outcome.

The race streams live at 8:40 am. ET on Peacock in the U.S., as well as IMSA.tv and YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial outside the U.S.

RESULTS: Race 1