Having started the season way back in late January at the opening four-hour round at Daytona with a P3 podium for drivers Plumb and (then) Owen Trinkler, the #46 pairing would end the season today with another (P2) podium finish to clinch the drivers title for Plumb as well as the Manufacturers title for AMR and the Teams title for TGM. Birthday boy Holton had to make do with a third placed finish within the GS class by virtue of having only stepped into the #46 car after Trinkler had to step away from racing after Daytona due to injuries sustained during an earlier testing accident.

Going into what was still always going to be a tense finale, the #46 car of Holton held the upper hand having secured another class pole position yesterday but had the #28 car of Steven McAleer close by on the third row although that would quickly become right alongside soon after the race started.

Early positional exchanges saw the race lead come and go for the #46 as the combined thirty-three strong grid of GS and TCR based cars completed the opening laps just as the first caution period hit just seven minutes into this two-hour race. Back to green and unfortunately back to another FCY as two other GS cars made contact at the restart leaving one buried into the outer tyre wall. Fraught for the #28 crew who needed to make up a points deficit but all the time, the race clock counted down for the #46.

Almost fifteen minutes lost, and it was finally back to green but the #28 made the best restart, taking the race lead from the #46 but with the #19 Van Der Steur car playing shotgun close behind although they were obviously racing a race of their own having finally lost any championship aspirations last time out at Indianapolis.

As the race finally settled, the new #50 Toyota to the grid had already moved up to take the lead but had already pit entrance as another GS car off track brought out the third FCY just as the minimum drive time had elapsed. Luckily for some, both the #28 and #46 had just made it into pit lane before that offering was closed by Race Control allowing both to refuel, tyre and driver change before getting back out without having lost too much time on track.

The #19 car would suffer front end damage as Van Der Steur misjudged the car in front slowing for its pit box, breaking off dive planes that would have affected the cars handling just as AMR factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot was about to get in from P7 whilst the #88 Archangel car of Todd Coleman was next in P9, the #82 Ruckus Racing car of Brady Behrman P11 and the #64 Team TGM car of Ted Giovanis P14 at that point.

Getting ack to green with little over an hour to go, another brief FCY for debris on track again counted that race clock down just a little bit further for the #46 and that would eventually give all a final fifty-four-minute sprint to the flag. Fastest on track at the time was the #88 Archangel car of Aaron Telitz but he was struggling to move up higher than fifth at the time as the second half of the leading GS cars split strategies with the rest and pitted early within their stint for that final top up of fuel that would see them to the end (of which both the #88 and #19 Aston Martins were two of them).

Forty minutes, thirty minutes – the race was counting down but still the #46 car of Plumb held the upper hand as brother Hugh was leading the race within his #64 Team TGM AMR but there was no way he was ever going to make the chequered flag without stopping again or another long caution.

Having finally broken through the front TCR runners, it soon became a Team TGM 1-2 in the race as the #46 car followed the #64 until that had to pit for fuel with just ten minutes remaining. Getting pushed by the #91 Porsche behind, prospects of a final race win of the season where dashed when it was proved that the #91 was just too fast for the #46 car to risk everything with as a P2 finish in front of the #28 Porsche behind was always going to be enough anyway.

And that is how the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series finished for the Team TGM crew – P2 in the race with enough points to win not just the GS Drivers Championship for Plumb but also the Teams and Manufacturers titles to add to their Bronze Cup Championship won by Hugh Plumb and Ted Giovanis earlier in the season.

The #19 Van Der Steur crew ended what might be their final GT4 race (before moving up to GT3 (GTD) next season within the Weathertech Sportscar Championship Endurance Cup next season with a P4 finish, P5 for the dogged #88 Archangel crew, the #71 Rebel Rock AMR P9, P16 and another Bronze Cup win for the #64 crew P16 overall with the #82 Ruckus Racing with Van Der Steur finishing a busy weekend for them in P23.

And that was IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge 2024 before it starts again at Daytona early next year!!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

And here's wishing Owen Trinkler a speedy recovery and return to a racetrack very soon!

Photo credits – AMR / Teams / Social media