Aghakhani Awarded CTMP Race 1 Win
Steven Aghakhani broke back into the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge win column in an unusual way, but he’ll gladly take it.
Aghakhani, the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) points leader, crossed the finish line second Saturday in the #6 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 to Jagger Jones, driver of the #87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08. In postrace technical inspection, however, Jones’ car was found to have camber in excess of the permitted maximum and moved to the rear of the eight-car P3 class in the provisional race results.
The revision handed Aghakhani his third win of the season and first since he swept the season-opening doubleheader at Daytona International Speedway in January. Jones saw his bid for a fifth straight victory negated by the infraction.
“It wasn’t exactly how we wanted to get a win, but nonetheless a win is still a win in the end,” Aghakhani said. “We’ll absolutely take it and we’ve extended our points lead by a comfortable margin. Our race pace was there (Saturday); we were keeping it safe, looking forward to the entire season.”
Aghakhani takes a provisional 440-point championship lead into Sunday’s 45-minute race. With such a sizable advantage, he hinted that he may let the reins loosen on the #6 Ligier.
“We might show off a little bit more aggression,” he said. “We definitely did show it in qualifying, putting the car out on pole. But again, the biggest thing is bringing the car back home safe. The last thing we want is a DNF for the points gap to close.”
Jonathan Woolridge, a Canadian who won at CTMP last year, finished second in the revised order in the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier, with Performance Tech teammate Alex Kirby third in the #7 Ligier.
In GSX Jack Polito turned his VP Racing Challenge debut into an even more memorable day at his home track. The Lindsay, Ontario, resident drove the No. 98 Polito Racing Ford Mustang GT4 to the Grand Sport X (GSX) class victory by holding off GSX points leader Luca Mars.
Polito started second in class and was still running there when GSX polesitter Jesse Lazare (#21 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4) stopped on track with 20 minutes left in the 45-minute sprint. With Mars (#59 KohR Motorsports Ford) breathing down his neck on the ensuing restart, Polito held firm and was still in first place when the second caution flag waved for a single-car crash involving Eddie Killeen (#37 Thaze Competition Mercedes-AMG GT GT4). Polito and Mars gave Ford a 1-2 finish under yellow.
Jones Finds Redemption in Wet VP Racing Challenge Nightcap
Neither sickness nor rain could prevent a determined Jagger Jones from getting back to victory lane in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
A day after a win in the #87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08 was negated by a postrace technical infraction, Jones rebounded to win Sunday’s 45-minute race at the 10-turn, 2.459-mile high-speed road course. Jones was hampered throughout by a stomach illness and endured a treacherous final few laps racing in wet conditions after a light rain fell around the circuit and the entire field was brought into the pits for a mandatory change to wet-condition Michelin tires. Still, he persevered to pick up his fifth overall and Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) win in the last six VP Racing Challenge races.
“We really dominated on track both days this weekend, which is awesome,” Jones said. “It looked smooth from the outside but I was super nauseous for some reason; I’ve been really sick all weekend. We brought it home nice and clean, thank you to the Remstar FastMD guys. A little mistake yesterday but today everything’s all cleaned up and another win for us.”
The race began in the dry, with Jones bumping his way past polesitter Steven Aghakhani (#6 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320) as they battled through Turn 2 on the opening lap. Rain began on parts of the track less than 10 minutes later, with a full-course caution ordered shortly after. Race officials declared it a wet race at the halfway point, bringing all cars in for the grooved Michelin tires and returning them to the track in the same running order.
Racing resumed with just under six minutes to go and Jones was off and running away. He took the checkered flag 8.365 seconds ahead of Aghakhani, with Alex Kirby (#7 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier) finishing third for the second straight day.
“Once we went on the rain tires, they were super solid,” Jones said. “I’ve only done like six laps on these rain tires before, so I was a little hesitant at first. But once I built that gap, I just kind of managed it.”
With two rounds and four races remaining this season, Aghakhani holds a comfortable 500-point lead over Brian Thienes (No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier) atop the standings. Jones is third, 100 points behind Thienes.
Josh Green was hoping it would rain in Sunday’s race, sensing he could make his way to the front in the Grand Sport X (GSX) class. Green’s wish came true and so did he, making a strategic pass in traffic on the penultimate lap and rolling on to his first VP Racing Challenge victory in the #78 Thaze Competition Mercedes-AMG GT GT4.
Green sat in third place when the race restarted late in the wet conditions, trailing Race 1 winner Jack Polito (No. 98 Polito Racing Ford Mustang GT4) and Jesse Lazare (No. 21 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4). Three laps later, a slower P3 car balked the trio and Green made his move to maneuver past both Polito and Lazare.
From there, the Mount Kisco, New York, resident edged away to win by 1.208 seconds over Lazare.
Lazare trails GSX championship leader Luca Mars (No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4) by 190 points with four races remaining.
Both classes race next at VIRginia International Raceway as part of the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR weekend from Aug. 23-25.
Image courtesy of IMSA
