Garg Takes Race 2 Win to Cap off Championship Season

Bijoy Garg has been dominant on the way to winning the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Championship’s LMP3 title in this inaugural year. But even the 21-year-old Californian admitted he was lucky to win Friday’s last race of the season.

In a race with no championship ramifications once it started, Garg appeared destined to finish in third with two minutes left in the 45-minute battle at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

As races do sometimes, however, things changed quickly when both cars ahead of him encountered issues.

First it was Jagger Jones, who owned the race and was cruising toward the overall and LMP3 victory in just his second outing – until his No. 87 Remstar Racing Duqueine D08 Nissan came to a halt crossing the start/finish line with two laps to go.

That handed the lead to Dan Goldburg in the No. 73 JDC Motorsports Duqueine – but not for long. As Goldburg moved to overtake the lapped No. 47 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine of Jon Brownson on the final lap, the two cars made contact and Goldburg slid into the Turn 6 gravel.

By the time Goldburg returned onto the track, Garg was bearing down in the No. 3 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan, successfully completed the lead pass in Turn 7 and went on to win by 0.862 seconds.

It was Garg’s eighth win in 12 races and sixth straight to close the season. He only needed to start the race to lock up the LMP3 championship over Goldburg, ending the season with a 210-point advantage.

Carazo Completes GSX Sweep but Selldorff Clinches Class Crown

In the GSX class, Sebastian Carazo did everything he could to overtake points leader Francis Selldorff, but two wins this week weren’t enough.

Carazo jumped from third to first in class at the start on Friday and led every lap in the No. 27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport to complete a sweep of GSX wins at Michelin Raceway.

But like Garg in LMP3, all Selldorff needed to do was start Friday’s race to clinch the GSX championship in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.

Carazo won by 3.223 seconds ahead of Gregory Liefooghe (No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW) on Friday, with Selldorff taking third place.

Selldorff, the 22-year-old from Boston, finished with just one win but reached the podium six times. He held off Carazo by 150 points for the championship.

RESULTS: Race 2