The Michelin Pilot Challenge also makes its place again within the IMSA schedule this weekend for another two-hour race at Watkins Glen for their forty-four GS and TCR based entry and its four full season Aston Martin Racing powered runners.

Last time out at Mid-Ohio back in early June unfortunately proved itself to be something of a disaster for these four AMR crews as both the #4 Medusa Motorsport and #14 Circle H Racing Vantage GT4’s were lost to a first lap incident whilst the #26 Heart of Racing and #66 Van Der Steur AMR entries were knocked back during an intensive four-hour race with the #26 car losing further ground to a late on technical issue.

 

 

Hopefully, all has now been rectified with all four Aston Martin Racing platforms as the entry list suggests no changes to the driver line ups. Hunter Yeany and Athan Sterling again appear within their #4 car whilst David Hampton/Thomas Merrill, Hannah Grisham/Hannah Greenemeir and Allan Patten/Trenton Estep all figure within their #14, #26 and #66 cars respectively.

Track action begins for this series on Thursday with Practice One from the upstate New York circuit with Practice Two and Qualifying on Saturday ahead of a 13:03Hrs (local) start to this two-hour – fifth round of the season.

 

Within the GS Drivers Championship standings, it is the #26 Heart of Racing crew that leads the way for the AMR powered crews in eighth with the #66 VDS crew just behind in tenth just prior to this midway point to the season.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

Those looking for some GT4 powered action this weekend should look no further than the next round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series who will be undertaking a four-hour marathon around the small but perfectly formed Mid-Ohio circuit.

Five weeks since the last round of the series at the Weathertech Laguna Seca circuit in California, its back towards the eastern seaboard of the country as thirty GS (GT4) and sixteen TCR based cars and crews prepare for this weekends fourth round of the season with its second endurance round.

 

The provisional entry list sees four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews amongst the GS class with returning entries from the Medusa, Circle H, Heart of Racing and Van Der Steur Motorsport teams.

Being twice the usual two-hour race, all bar one of these four AMR teams have elected (so far) to run with a three-driver squad with most of the extras being familiar names from the four-hour season opening at Daytona way back in late January.

 

The two young guns within the #4 Medusa Motorsport AMR sees Jacob Loomis join that of AMR Drivers Academy participants Hunter Yeaney and Athan Sterling whilst Martin Sarukhanyan rejoins Thomas Merrill and David Hampton aboard their #14 Circle H Racing AMR entry.

Mike David Ortmann gets his next run out with both Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir within their #26 Heart of Racing entry with Allen Patten and Trenton Estep presently run as just a pairing within their #66 Van Der Steur Racing car.

 

Track action starts this Friday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Saturday before a near midday wave off to the four-hour race on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

The long haul for most to the west side of the United States proved itself to be an unproductive one for the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered runners within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series.

After the usual two opening rounds to their 2026 had kept them within Florida, a visit to the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca circuit beckoned the five AMR powered runners for the next two-hour race around the infamous corkscrew circuit in California.

 

This time around, we welcomed back the #10 Van Der Steur prepared AMR of husband and wide racer Ben and Christine Sloss as they became just one of two bronze cup entries against the reigning and now Ford Mustang Team TGM #64 crew.

It was also the first round with their new #4 AMR Vantage GT4 car for the Medusa Motorsport crew of Hunter Yeany and Athan Sterling alongside the now more regular line up of the #26 Heart of Racing AMR of Hannah’s Grisham and Greenemeir, the #66 Van Der Steur prepared entry of Trenton Estep and Allen Patten as well as the #14 Circle H Racing car of David Hampton and Thomas Merrill.

A lowly performance from probable BoP reasons from any of the five Astons and Friday saw the best placed (#66) starting from P6 with the rest somewhere between P13 and P27 out of a GS class size of thirty-one entries.

Saturaday’s race started up at best hazy skies although (being California) the warmth was at least still there so Mother Nature wouldn’t be making her mark upon things this time around. An early Full Course Yellow for an upturned GS car in the tyre wall soon mellowed the racing again after another usual ‘busy’ start.

 

 

Losing over twenty minutes to that clean-up operation (with that driver being seen to be otherwise OK), the race quickly became one of fuel conservation as the GS class quickly found themselves within the parameters of a one stop race.

However, incident and accident soon got the better of some as the #10 car became the meat into several racing sandwiches which saw the bashed about the circuit by the faster powered crews around as well as picking up (like most of the AMR powered crews did at one point or another) a drive through penalty for one infraction or another.

 

The race eventually ended with the best placed crews finishing P7 overall (the #26 Heart of Racing entry) and P12 (#66 Van Der Steur). The #14 Circle H Arcing would finish a very uncharacteristically low position in P23 with the #10 just ahead in P21 – picking up second within the bronze cup class as a perk. It looked like the #4 crews debut AMR powered race would finish with a DNF - ?? having run out of fuel in the final laps of the race like several other cars did as well.

These results leave the Heart of Racing the best placed AMR crew within the GS Drivers Championship table in eight as the series looks ahead to its next round from Mid-Ohio in early June.

Photo credits – Teams / social media

 

Mid-Ohio proved itself to be a very tough day at the office for the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered runners of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series as only one crew came away with something to shout about.

Within the earlier two VP Racing Sportscar Challenge races, there was only the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew within that twenty strong LPM3/GT3 and GT4 based cars but perhaps the less said about that the better as DePew had earlier contact within Race 1 and was forced to retire after only three laps before lasting only slightly longer in the second forty-five-minute race to retire after twelve laps.

 

After the two top-flight classes of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship enjoyed a brief bash around downtown Detroit last weekend, this weekend’s visit to Mid-Ohio is a GT4 only affair for the Aston Martin Racing powered crews as both the Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series get back to business.

This will be the third round of the season so far for the LMP3/GT3 and GT4 powered crews as just twenty of them will compete within the two available races this time around. After visit to both Daytona at the Roar before the twenty-four test and most recently from the Circuit of the America back in early March, it will again be just the #72 Rebell Rock Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Frank DePew presenting the brand within the GSX class entry of ten GT4 cars.

 

If there’s an increased number of Aston Martin Racing powered entries within the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship – then there’s a bigger increase in AMR numbers within the supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge Series as nine such beasts will take to the track of Watkins Glen this weekend.

Having seen a healthy seven strong AMR take the last round of the IMSA series from Mid-Ohio – a race that also saw the #88 Archangel crew of Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz take their first Michelin Pilot Challenge overall race win together, a fresh two car entry from the Florida Automatic Racing team sees that numbers swell to nine for this weekend’s two-hour encounter.

 

It’s just the smaller GT’s and LMP3’s only at this weekend’s IMSA visit to Mid-Ohio as both the Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge converge upon the Lexington circuit, just to the south of Detroit from where the Weathertech Sportscar Challenge had their last round last weekend.

This time, the headlining GTD and GTP based cars get a weekend off as the GS (GT4) and TCR car of the Michelin Pilot Challenge have their fourth round of the 2024 season whilst the GT4 and LMP3 cars of the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge enjoy their fourth round of the Season alongside that of the MX-5 Cup and the new for 2024 Mustang Challenge.

The body language of Maxime Martin exiting the cockpit of the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD at the end of yesterdays latest round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship confirms our own fear of a continuing frustration within the team.

With the sister #23 GTD Pro car of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas having finally claimed a class win at the Long Beach round of the Championship back in April, we had hoped that the team had finally turned a corner in terms of car performance that would allow the #27 crew to race for a good finish at yesterday’s 160-minute Sprint Cup race from Mid-Ohio.

With Roman de Angelis again having qualified the car onto the second row of the thirteen strong GTD grid on Saturday, it was the Canadian who started yesterday’s race only to lose two quick places at the start thanks to one, from a jump-starting Lexus!

Mixed amongst a combined grid of DPi, LMP2, LMP3 and GTD cars around the beautiful 2.4-mile circuit near Lexington, the race ran surprisingly ‘green’ until the forty-five-minute mark when De Angelis had run his minimum drive time for Martin to then take over.

Just after the hour mark and with all the GTD runners having made their first stop, the #27 car was still stuck behind faster cars being driven by ‘slower’ drivers as the AMR factory driver could simply not get past silver ranked Michael Dinan aboard his new version BMW M4 GTD amongst others leading the GTD train.

At the halfway stage, Dinan finally pitted for Martin to assume the race lead as two quick fire FCY’s interrupted the flow of the race to recover stranded cars for around the circuit which at least allowed the #27 to pit for service under caution.

Back to green within seventy minutes remaining, that was always going to be too far for the V8 Vantage to travel on one tank and, by the time the remaining GTD cars had pitted for the final time, Martin would have no choice but to sacrifice their then P4 position for just two seconds of fuel in order to finish the race.

Finish the race they did but unfortunately way down in P8 in class despite their best of efforts again as the Championship moves onto Detroit in early June where we hope their previous fortune and street circuit characteristic will again help the team.

Photo credits - Jamie Price Photography

The Stoner Car Care Racing fielded by Automatic Racing team continued to make forward progress during Saturday’s Mid-Ohio 120, returning to the famed Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the first time since 2019 to contest race four of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season.

Drivers Rob Ecklin, Jr. and Ramin Abdolvahabi worked with the team to make steady progress through two practice sessions on Friday with the No. 09 Stoner Car Care Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Qualifying late Friday afternoon, Abdolvahabi found a nearly clear lap of traffic to book a time good for the 12th row of the grid.

At the start of the two-hour race, Abdolvahabi found himself in the middle of an accordion effect after two cars got together at the top of Turn Four. Abdolvahabi was nearly hit from behind but held his ground and pressed forward, settling into P18. The incident caused a lengthy yellow, with the field returning to green with an hour and 45 minutes remaining. 

Abdolvahabi’s good fortune continued, as an incident happened just behind him with just over 90 minutes remaining. He stayed out on track, gaining valuable positions and taking the restart in 14th position. As the race progressed, the name of the game became managing traffic – and with Mid-Ohio’s notoriously slippery track surface becoming even more so, Abdolvahabi struggled to hold his position, bringing the car to pit lane from P21 for fuel, tires and a change to Ecklin with just under an hour remaining. Ecklin returned to the fray in the car’s original starting position. Having pitted late, the team hoped for a late yellow.

Ecklin’s adventures began immediately, tagged from behind early in his stint. The car fortunately sustained no damage, as Ecklin paced the Aston Martin to its quickest time of the race several laps later, with a lap 1:30.365 with just under 30 minutes remaining. Despite his best efforts, Ecklin was not able to improve his position, coming home in 22nd position.

“We haven’t raced here in three years, so it’s nice to be back,” said Ecklin. “It was a good stint but unusual in that it was green the whole way! I was fine physically, and the car was good, but in the end, I think we need to get more out of the car and out of the drivers. We just didn’t have the pace out there. It was interesting to watch some of the other drivers out there – their brake points, their lines through the corners and apexes. Not having been here in so long, I was looking for some of those nuances. 

“We nip away at it every weekend – the team is really responding,” Ecklin continued. “But we need to get this car to another notch. It’s really close, it’s really coming in. We give the team feedback, the Automatic Racing guys make improvements, so we’re getting there. 

“That first lap was just mayhem,” said Abdolvahabi. “There were cars all over the place. Luckily, we got through it, but a bit unlucky as well because we were inside of the incident, while the cars that were outside got away cleanly. It wasn’t a great stint for me, I wasn’t on top of the car and started to have issues with the car slipping. But it was mostly me – the car did what it was supposed to do, I just wasn’t on top of my game. We have some catching up to do on cornering speed, but we had more potential than we showed.”

The Stoner Car Care team continues to support End Alzheimer’s Racing, carrying decals on the car to help their efforts to raise funds and awareness.

Next up for the Stoner Car Care Racing Team will be the Tioga Downs Casino Resort 120 on Saturday, June 25 from Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Source material – Stoner Car Care

 

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series reaches its fourth round of the season at the Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course this weekend after a commanding display and opportunist work by some at the last round at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca just two weeks ago.

Featuring another thirty-nine-car combined grid of GT4 and TCR based race cars, three Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s will again compete amongst their grid of twenty-four cars at Saturday’s two-hour race.

The Stoner Car Care Racing fielded by Automatic Racing team heads to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Mid-Ohio 120, race four of the 2022 Michelin Pilot Challenge season.

Rob Ecklin, Jr. (Lancaster, Pa.) and Ramin Abdolvahabi (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) are back behind the wheel of the No. 09 Stoner Car Care Aston Martin Vantage GT4. The pair looks to rebound from a difficult weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca two weeks ago.

It has been an intense schedule of events for the team through the last three weekends, with races in California, Wisconsin, and now Ohio. Abdolvahabi joined Automatic Racing’s World Racing League team last weekend to capture a win in the eight-hour race at Road America.

Both drivers hope to secure their first Bronze Cup victory this weekend. The series added the Bronze Cup this season in the Grand Sport class, recognizing the top FIA Bronze-rated drivers in the series. Neither driver has been to Mid-Ohio since the 2019 season, and both recognize the particular challenges that the tricky track presents.

“Weather is often an issue at Mid-Ohio and when it rains, it’s a completely different racetrack,” said Ecklin. “I have been re-familiarizing myself with the layout on iRacing (note: iRacing recently added both Stoner Car Care liveries to their GT4 lineup – the No. 09 Stoner colors and the iconic No. 99 Invisible Glass version). I know the corners I need to work on, I remember that much from 2019 – and now that I can run the No. 09 Stoner Car Care car on iRacing, that’s the next best thing to being there.”

Ecklin was not able to race with the team in the World Racing League event at Road America last weekend but acknowledges that while two events in three weekends can be difficult from a business perspective, it can be very helpful to a race car driver.

“It’s great to have events this close together,” said Ecklin. “It keeps you in rhythm. For me, the more I can be in a car, the better. I don’t have time outside of race weekends to do anything but sim racing, and even that is time challenged. So getting into this kind of rhythm is very helpful, to be able to just hit the ground running at a track as tricky as Mid-Ohio. When you’re at work, you’re at work, but when you hit the front gates at the racetrack, you’re back in racer mode. It’s all about focus and compartmentalization.”

For Automatic Racing team manager David Russell, the past four weeks have been quite the logistical challenge.

“We brought a small trailer to Road America straight from Florida, with the regular transporter going straight there from WeatherTech Raceway – it’s basically on the way,” said Russell. “We had the wheel issue but no other problems so prep for the 09 Aston Martin has been pretty straightforward. We’re hoping for good weather next weekend, though I feel that you can always bank on a storm at some point during a race weekend at Mid-Ohio. I love Mid-Ohio - the track has great flow and we’ve had some good runs there. We’re into a good run of natural road courses here, tracks that suit the Aston Martin, so we’re looking for a good result.”

Source material – Stoner Car Care

 

The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championships second visit to the west coast of America this weekend didn’t prove to be so successful for the Heart of Racing team as early pace petered out into something of a procession by the end of the fourth round of the season from the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Having taken their maiden GTD Pro class win with their #23 car last time out at Long Beach as well as being on track for a GTD podium finish (until a Safety Car restart claimed the #27 car), their early pace around the dusty, undulating circuit of Laguna Seca looked promising for the team as both the Ross Gunn/Alex Riberas and Roman de Angelis/Maxime Martin cars took early top spot positions in class during the Qualifying session for yesterday’s one hundred and sixty minute race.