Kohr, Stacey, Marcelli and AMR secure IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge top prizes

Congratulations tonight go to the Kohr Motorsport team and drivers Nate Stacey and Kyle Marcelli for earlier sealing the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series at their season finale at the Sebring International Raceway with their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4.

Having gone into the final two hours of racing today fifteen points ahead of their only Championship rivals – the #39 CarBahn Audi of Tyler McQuarrie and Jeff Westpall, the #60 crew only needed to finish within the top 10 GS Class in order to claim that ultimate prize.

With the #39 claiming pole and none of the four Aston Martin from either Kohr, Archangel or the Automatic Racing teams Qualifying higher than fifth amongst another grid of 36 GS and TCR cars, that was always going to make for another exciting race.

From the start, the #39 car soon established a commanding lead within the opening thirty minutes before a heavy collision involving two Mercedes AMT GT4’s brought out the Safety Car whilst the resulting debris was cleared and barrier damage repaired. Splitting strategies from the leading bunch, the #60 car would pit for tyres and fuel but Stacey would stay behind the wheel.

By the end of the first hour, Alan Brynjolfsson had finally found his natural pace around the 3.75 mile circuit as he had recovered from a poor Qualifying and poor start to run up as high as P3 before he had to pit so that co-driver Trent Hindman could meet his own minimum driver time.

Hindman eventually followed Kyle Marcelli out of pit lane after both cars emerged with a tolerance of just ninety seconds before an immediate disqualification would have applied. Fifteen minutes later, it all proved to be irrelevant as the #39 car unexpectedly slowed and entered pit lane before driving straight behind the wall and into retirement.

That effectively meant that the #60 crew had secured the Michelin Pilot Challenge crown with over half an hour still left on the clock – not the way they would have wanted to take that title from the then reigning Champions – but a win is a win!!

With the race (and season) coming to a natural end as the clock counted down, it did appear that the Chevrolet Camero would steal the thunder from Kohr Motorsport as it first passed Marcelli and then Hindman to dump the #60 car off the overall podium but a late stop for that car then allowed both the #7 Archangel car of Brynjolfsson/Hindman and the #60 car of Stacey/Marcelli to see out their 2020 season from the podium in P2 and P3 respectively.

Subject to official ratification – the #60 Kohr Motorsport team with both Nate Stacey and Kyle Marcelli are the 2020 Michelin Pilot Challenge Champions with Aston Martin Racing securing the 2020 Manufacturers Championship title as well – a great achievement for the team and drivers and a massive achievement for AMR in the USA.

Well done to them and well done to CSJ Motorsport as well for facilitating yet another US Championship winning AMR Vantage GT4 team in 2020.