| The Turner Motorsport and Watkins Glen love fest continues as the Taco Warriors scored a Michelin Pilot Challenge win on Saturday and a third place finish in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hour of The Glen to keep the 2022 IMSA season moving forward in both championships.
They will not have to wait long as both series move to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this week for the next rounds, the first in two IMSA seasons due to Canada’s Covid restrictions.
On Saturday, Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern raced the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 back to the top of the Michelin Pilot Challenge podium with a dominant win in the Tiago Downs 120. Machavern started the race from his seventh place qualifying position and moved forward to ultimately finish his time in the car on lap 30, pitting from fifth. The race was slowed by a yellow flag one lap after Auberlen took over, but when the green flag waved on lap 36 IMSA’s all-time win leader began a Bill Power master class. Here is the Cliff Notes version. Lap 37 – fourth. Another caution period laps 37 to 39. Lap 40 – P3. One more caution period laps 41 to 44. Lap 44 – P2. Lap 45 – P1 after a monster pass through the inner loop. Eleven minutes later, Bill had his 19th IMPC win, Machavern his third. “We had nothing to lose because we’ve had some bad luck this season and are down in the points. We had to go.” said Auberlen. “Dillon ran a great race and continues to show what a good teammate he is.”
Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen podium finish came after the No. 96 LIQUI-MOLY BMW M4 GT3, of Bill Auberlen, Michael Dinan, and Robby Foley, finished fourth on track, but were promoted to third after the on track winner was moved to the rear of the class following a post-race audit of minimum drive times.
The team’s results to-date; Rolex 24 – dnf, Sebring – 4th; Long Beach – 4th; Laguna Seca – 3rd; Mid-Ohio – 1st; Detroit – 8th; Watkins Glen – 3rd.
“A double-podium weekend – one of those a big win - is something to be super excited about,” said Will Turner. “We are always strong at The Glen. It does not matter whether the track suits Turner or Turner suits the track. We are good here year after year. Bill and Dillon were especially good in Saturday’s Michelin win. I will admit that we did not see Sunday’s Six Hour podium coming. We had some issues that did not allow us to get a firm grip on a winning strategy, but the M4 ran great and we kept the car clean. That’s important because Mosport (CTMP) and that new pavement is coming fast. I’m looking forward to another good weekend.”
The next races are only days away as the Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend will be held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The two-hour-and-forty-minute race takes the green flag at 3:05 p.m. Sunday, July 3rd and will be broadcast on NBC, and streamed live on Peacock. On Saturday, the two-hour CTMP 120 will start at 4:10 p.m. and be broadcast live on Peacock. IMSA Radio also provides a flag-to-flag broadcast.
#Taco #Taco #Taco
|
