MLT Motorsports’ Steven Aghakhani and KOHR Motorsports’ Luca Mars made it two wins in two VP Racing Challenge Series races this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
Aghakhani took the overall and LMP3 class win in his #6 Ligier JS P320, while Mars maintained the new Ford Mustang GT4’s perfect record in global competition, in Race 2 on Sunday.
In contrast to Race 1, Aghakhani was able to hold his advantage on the opening lap. Behind him, Cody Ware made a banzai move into the West Horseshoe (turn five) to go from fifth to second, but that move sparked contact and sent Brian Thienes’ #77 Forte Racing Ligier spinning out of third.
Ware was given a ten-second time penalty for incident responsibility, so even when he overtook Aghakhani for the lead on the road, the Race 1 winner was still in a position to pick up the win. But with 11 minutes left, Aghakhani took the lead back with a three-wide pass at the Kink (turn five) and began pulling away from his challenger.
Moments later, Alex Kirby spun out of third place at the Le Mans Chicane, and his stranded #7 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier resulted in a Full Course Yellow with eight minutes remaining.
It led to a one-lap sprint to the finish, where Aghakhani held on for the win. Ware finished second on the road but with the penalty applied, he dropped to eighth place.
With that penalty applied, Marco Kacic in the #87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duquiene D08 moved up into second place – and after a late retirement in Race 1, Miguel Villagomez bounced back to finish third in the #23 Escuderia ABRO Ligier, and Thienes recovered from his spin to finish fourth.
Meanwhile, Mars’ fastest lap in Race 1 put him on pole position for Race 2, giving him much less work to do against a 19-car Grand Sport X (GSX) class field (Robbie McWilliams was scratched after his Race 1 accident yesterday).
The 17-year-old beat Michael Cooper into turn one and gradually pulled out a comfortable margin to Cooper and the rest of the GSX field.
Cooper in the #55 Baby Bull Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 would fend off Gregory Liefooghe in the #43 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4. Marc Miller in the #87 Thaze Competition Mercedes-AMG GT4 was also having a strong run until he retired with less than 20 minutes left.
But it was Mars who led, wire-to-wire, for his and the #59 KOHR Mustang GT4’s second win in two races. He will now shift focus towards the Michelin Pilot Challenge opener on Thursday, where Mars, Bob Michaelian, and Dean Martin will fight for GT4 class honours.
Cooper held on to finish second, ahead of Liefooghe in third; Jesse Lazare was fourth in the #21 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4.
The VP Fuels Racing Challenge series will resume on 8-10 March during the IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend.
Images © Jake Galstad / IMSA
