IMSA
Mars & Heylen Are Pilot Challenge Stars
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge can often be unpredictable over the course of a single race, much less the entirety of a season.But there’s been a constant throughout 2025: The excellence of Luca Mars, Jan Heylen and the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS in the Grand Sport class.
On Saturday, Heylen took charge of the LP Building Solutions 120 shortly after halfway through the two-hour race at Watkins Glen International. He held off challenges from Jeff Westphal (No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO) and Chad McCumbee (No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4) down the stretch before a late caution for a stalled car caused the contest to end behind the Safety Car.
Heylen was ahead of McCumbee when the checkered flag flew to secure the second victory of the season for himself and Mars and their fifth podium finish in five starts this year. The duo now holds a comfortable 340-point advantage over Jenson Altzman, who won his first Motul Pole Award Friday, in the GS championship. Mid-Ohio winners Francis Selldorff and Dillon Machavern drop to third after a 13th-place finish at Watkins Glen.
Mars qualified the RS1 Porsche fourth fastest, then immediately gained a place at the start. He still held third when he handed the car off to Heylen after 50 minutes. Just 10 minutes later, a caution at the halfway point prompted most of the field to make their final pit stop and put the three lead contenders on the same strategy.
Heylen passed Westphal to assume what became the lead of the race when teams on alternate strategies pitted. The CarBahn BMW harried the RS1 Porsche for many laps until McCumbee slipped past for second with 25 minutes to go.
Heylen’s stress was magnified by the fact that he was keeping an eye on his Porsche’s fuel consumption. But a pair of late cautions in the last 14 minutes not only eased Heylen’s worries; they also prevented a late shootout for the win.
“It was a really, really tough race, but super-fun,” said Heylen, who won the 2021 Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class championship, also in a Porsche. “Until the yellow, we had to save so much fuel, which obviously made it even harder, but that’s also what made it fun. It took a lot of concentration and a lot of hard work. I was hoping for a bit more pace, but this is a really big win for us.
“I felt really good before the race,” he added. “I thought we had a pretty good shot, but I thought we were doing to do it on pace. I was able to make a couple passes at the crucial time, and then I was just holding on. Today got just that little bit warmer, and we didn’t have the pace at all. Just credit to Luca and the team for making good calls again.”
Mars, a 19-year-old from Pittsburgh, continues to establish himself as one of sports car racing’s brightest young stars. This was Mars’ second career Michelin Pilot Challenge race win, to accompany the trophy he and Heylen claimed in May at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Heylen boasts five career wins, all in GS, with two this year and three in that 2021 title-winning season.
“We knew it was going to be close on fuel, and that caution was what we needed to get to the end,” Mars said. “I have confidence in Jan’s ability to hold anybody off, and that last caution is what sealed it for us. Extending the points championship lead, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Honda broke the streak of Hyundai capturing the first four races in the Touring Car (TCR) class of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season and last two of 2024, as LP Montour and Karl Wittmer broke through in their No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR.
With Honda and Audi locking out the top three positions on the grid, the best of the seven Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars spread across Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian, Victor Gonzalez Racing Team and Pegram Racing started only fourth. And indeed, the pendulum swung fully to Honda with their first win of the season.
From the Motul Pole Award, Montour took an early and authoritative lead in his No. 93 MMG Honda while behind him, a trio of Audi RS3 LMS TCR cars followed with the No. 7 Precision Racing LA Audi (Celso Neto), No. 31 RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate Audi (Luke Rumberg) and No. 52 Baker Racing Audi (Sam Baker) were next before the first Hyundai of series returnee Parker Chase in the No. 98 Herta Hyundai.
The TCR leaders pitted with one hour remaining for their first and only scheduled stop and were positioned well to bring it home on that one stop during a full-course caution. The No. 7 car took the lead on the pit stop sequence, now with Ryan Eversley behind the wheel ahead of the No. 99 VGRT Hyundai of Tyler Gonzalez and Wittmer in the No. 93 MMG Honda.
Alas, the quick pit work by the Precision Racing LA team went for naught as they did not get enough fuel in the car, which necessitated another stop. Their misfortunate played to the No. 93 MMG Honda’s benefit with Wittmer advancing back to the lead, ahead of the No. 31 Audi now wheeled by Jaden Conwright and the returning No. 55 Gou Racing Cupra Leon VZ TCR of, the father-and-son duo of Eduardo and Eddie Gou.
It appeared TCR was shaping up for a unique day of four different manufacturers finishing in the top four positions – Honda, Audi, Cupra and Hyundai – but the top Audi (No. 31) fell from contention inside the final 20 minutes. The third full-course caution of the race also negated quite a large lead Wittmer had accumulated, leaving him a mere fraction ahead of Eddie Gou on the restart with Tyler Gonzalez third, Harry Gottsacker fourth and Tim Lewis Jr. fifth.
No changes followed as the race ended under a fourth full-course caution, so Wittmer held on for the win. It’s the first win for a Honda since the third-to-last race of 2024 at VIRginia International Raceway and ends a run of six straight Hyundai wins in TCR since.
“It’s a perfect one to win,” said LP Montour, who coincidentally won at a race venue that is five miles from the Village of Montour Falls, N.Y. and in the LP Building Solutions 120. “We led both practices, led 90 percent of race, got the win. We had a great pit stop and then the two others came in front. But when they faltered, we were in the right time at right place. Let’s keep the momentum going.”
While the Gou family appeared to have secured a special result of both theirs and Cupra’s first IMSA podium in second, the car was found to have an infraction discovered in post-race technical inspection and sent to the rear of the class finish. Per TCR Technical Regulation 12.3, the upper part of the complete wheel, while in straight ahead position, must be above the wheel’s center and vertically covered by the bodywork.
That promoted the Tyler Gonzalez and Eric Powell-driven No. 99 VGRT Hyundai to second, 0.918 of a second behind. The top two TCR entries in the championship, the Nos. 98 and 76 Herta Hyundais, moved up to third and fifth, sandwiching the No. 89 HART Honda in fourth.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge can often be unpredictable over the course of a single race, much less the entirety of a season.
But there’s been a constant throughout 2025: The excellence of Luca Mars, Jan Heylen and the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS in the Grand Sport class.
On Saturday, Heylen took charge of the LP Building Solutions 120 shortly after halfway through the two-hour race at Watkins Glen International. He held off challenges from Jeff Westphal (No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO) and Chad McCumbee (No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4) down the stretch before a late caution for a stalled car caused the contest to end behind the Safety Car.
Heylen was ahead of McCumbee when the checkered flag flew to secure the second victory of the season for himself and Mars and their fifth podium finish in five starts this year. The duo now holds a comfortable 340-point advantage over Jenson Altzman, who won his first Motul Pole Award Friday, in the GS championship. Mid-Ohio winners Francis Selldorff and Dillon Machavern drop to third after a 13th-place finish at Watkins Glen.
Mars qualified the RS1 Porsche fourth fastest, then immediately gained a place at the start. He still held third when he handed the car off to Heylen after 50 minutes. Just 10 minutes later, a caution at the halfway point prompted most of the field to make their final pit stop and put the three lead contenders on the same strategy.
Heylen passed Westphal to assume what became the lead of the race when teams on alternate strategies pitted. The CarBahn BMW harried the RS1 Porsche for many laps until McCumbee slipped past for second with 25 minutes to go.
Heylen’s stress was magnified by the fact that he was keeping an eye on his Porsche’s fuel consumption. But a pair of late cautions in the last 14 minutes not only eased Heylen’s worries; they also prevented a late shootout for the win.
“It was a really, really tough race, but super-fun,” said Heylen, who won the 2021 Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class championship, also in a Porsche. “Until the yellow, we had to save so much fuel, which obviously made it even harder, but that’s also what made it fun. It took a lot of concentration and a lot of hard work. I was hoping for a bit more pace, but this is a really big win for us.
“I felt really good before the race,” he added. “I thought we had a pretty good shot, but I thought we were doing to do it on pace. I was able to make a couple passes at the crucial time, and then I was just holding on. Today got just that little bit warmer, and we didn’t have the pace at all. Just credit to Luca and the team for making good calls again.”
Mars, a 19-year-old from Pittsburgh, continues to establish himself as one of sports car racing’s brightest young stars. This was Mars’ second career Michelin Pilot Challenge race win, to accompany the trophy he and Heylen claimed in May at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Heylen boasts five career wins, all in GS, with two this year and three in that 2021 title-winning season.
“We knew it was going to be close on fuel, and that caution was what we needed to get to the end,” Mars said. “I have confidence in Jan’s ability to hold anybody off, and that last caution is what sealed it for us. Extending the points championship lead, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Honda broke the streak of Hyundai capturing the first four races in the Touring Car (TCR) class of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season and last two of 2024, as LP Montour and Karl Wittmer broke through in their No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR.
With Honda and Audi locking out the top three positions on the grid, the best of the seven Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars spread across Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian, Victor Gonzalez Racing Team and Pegram Racing started only fourth. And indeed, the pendulum swung fully to Honda with their first win of the season.
From the Motul Pole Award, Montour took an early and authoritative lead in his No. 93 MMG Honda while behind him, a trio of Audi RS3 LMS TCR cars followed with the No. 7 Precision Racing LA Audi (Celso Neto), No. 31 RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate Audi (Luke Rumberg) and No. 52 Baker Racing Audi (Sam Baker) were next before the first Hyundai of series returnee Parker Chase in the No. 98 Herta Hyundai.
The TCR leaders pitted with one hour remaining for their first and only scheduled stop and were positioned well to bring it home on that one stop during a full-course caution. The No. 7 car took the lead on the pit stop sequence, now with Ryan Eversley behind the wheel ahead of the No. 99 VGRT Hyundai of Tyler Gonzalez and Wittmer in the No. 93 MMG Honda.
Alas, the quick pit work by the Precision Racing LA team went for naught as they did not get enough fuel in the car, which necessitated another stop. Their misfortunate played to the No. 93 MMG Honda’s benefit with Wittmer advancing back to the lead, ahead of the No. 31 Audi now wheeled by Jaden Conwright and the returning No. 55 Gou Racing Cupra Leon VZ TCR of, the father-and-son duo of Eduardo and Eddie Gou.
It appeared TCR was shaping up for a unique day of four different manufacturers finishing in the top four positions – Honda, Audi, Cupra and Hyundai – but the top Audi (No. 31) fell from contention inside the final 20 minutes. The third full-course caution of the race also negated quite a large lead Wittmer had accumulated, leaving him a mere fraction ahead of Eddie Gou on the restart with Tyler Gonzalez third, Harry Gottsacker fourth and Tim Lewis Jr. fifth.
No changes followed as the race ended under a fourth full-course caution, so Wittmer held on for the win. It’s the first win for a Honda since the third-to-last race of 2024 at VIRginia International Raceway and ends a run of six straight Hyundai wins in TCR since.
“It’s a perfect one to win,” said LP Montour, who coincidentally won at a race venue that is five miles from the Village of Montour Falls, N.Y. and in the LP Building Solutions 120. “We led both practices, led 90 percent of race, got the win. We had a great pit stop and then the two others came in front. But when they faltered, we were in the right time at right place. Let’s keep the momentum going.”
While the Gou family appeared to have secured a special result of both theirs and Cupra’s first IMSA podium in second, the car was found to have an infraction discovered in post-race technical inspection and sent to the rear of the class finish. Per TCR Technical Regulation 12.3, the upper part of the complete wheel, while in straight ahead position, must be above the wheel’s center and vertically covered by the bodywork.
That promoted the Tyler Gonzalez and Eric Powell-driven No. 99 VGRT Hyundai to second, 0.918 of a second behind. The top two TCR entries in the championship, the Nos. 98 and 76 Herta Hyundais, moved up to third and fifth, sandwiching the No. 89 HART Honda in fourth.
Source: Speed Sport
