In Saturday’s race, Kyle Marcelli and Nate Stacy, from Oklahoma, finished first in GS class in their Roush Performance KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4. The Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 of Patrick Gallagher and Chad McCumbee finished second and Tyler Cooke and James Clay took the final step on the podium finishing third in their BMW M4 GT4.

Courtesy of IMSA

“It was one of those never give up races,” Said Kyle Marcelli. “I just kept telling myself that anything can happen, to keep pushing, and our Ford Mustang GT4 was just really solid today. Really consistent. The tires held up great, the car just didn’t go off on me. I knew if I just didn’t make a mistake, that we had the pace. Finally, with just a few minutes to go it looked like I could make the pass and I knew when I finally caught him, I had to make it right away. We went door-to-door in Turn 2 and it was just really good racing. It was a lot of fun. Two-for-two for Ford and Roush Performance and KohR. Our strategy was awesome as well. It was a bit risky. We came in early to make our final stop shorter and it paid off with track position.”

Audi and Compass Racing swept the TCR podium with Kuno Wittmer and Rodrigo Sales finishing first in their Compass Racing Pfaff Audi RS3 LMS TCR. The Compass Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Tom Long and Britt Casey, Jr. finished second and the Compass Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Pierre Kleinubing and Roy Block finished third.

First of all, the Compass team and the Audi RS3 LMS were amazing all weekend,” Wittmer said after the race. “We topped the charts in all of the practice sessions. My teammate Rodrigo really held up his end, he was awesome. We pitted with the perfect strategy and we ended up with a 30-second lead, but we ended up having to conserve a lot of fuel. We had to do a lot of fuel conserving thus putting a lot of debris on the front tires so when I had to push I had no grip. (Long) initiated the pass and I was quite surprised, so I’m glad the stewards, the IMSA officials, acted on it because it was a straight up pass under yellow. I feel bad for them, but a regulation is a regulation. We’ll take the points, we’ll take the win. It’s a long season ahead.”

Kuno Wittmer and Rodrigo Sales

Courtesy of IMSA.

Full race results can be found at the IMSA website. The next round of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge takes place at Watkins Glen International from June 28 to July 1.

“This is a huge win,” said Marcelli, who also won overall in yesterday’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Mid-Ohio 120. “It’s always difficult to get the first one. There is always a lot of pressure. I think I put a lot of pressure on myself. This is the first sprint race of the season and I knew we had a strong car and a strong driver line-up and we needed to execute. I knew if we didn’t make a mistake then we should get a good result. It’s a team effort, the 3GT guys have worked so hard for two years. It’s the second year of the program, so it’s an honor to bring them the first win for 3GT and Lexus. (Going to Detroit), I guess you could say it’s a home race for the team, so again we’re probably going to put a lot of extra pressure on ourselves to go ahead and execute.”

#14 3GT Racing Lexus RCF GT3, GTD: Dominik Baumann, Kyle Marcelli

Courtesy of IMSA

“I felt the pressure coming with 15 minutes to the end,” said Dominik Baumann “We struggled a little a bit with the used tires in the second half of the stint. I think one more lap and he would have passed me for sure. I was happy when I saw the white flag – one more lap – he closed in so quick and I just tried to defend with everything I’ve got. (The first win), it’s a great feeling.”

In GTLM (GT Le Mans) Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor won in their Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. The BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE driven by Alexander Sims and Connor De Phillippi finished second and the Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia finished third.

Courtesy of IMSA

The overall win went to Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves in their Acura Team Penske Acura Dpi prototype followed by the other Acura Team Penske Acura Dpi of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron. Tristan Nunez and Oliver Jarvis rounded out the podium in their Mazda Team Joest Mazda Dpi.

Full race results can be found at the IMSA website. The next race for the WeatherTech Championship GTD class will be the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan June 1–2.