Yahoo Autos RS1’s strategy brings CTMP MPC win, Wickens ends drought in TCR
Trent Hindman isn’t usually one to get emotional after winning races. That changed Saturday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
As Hindman emerged victorious from the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport, he shouted and showered his teammates with water.
“IMSA wins are so special,” Hindman said after teaming with Stevan McAleer to win the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120, the sixth race of the 10-race IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season.
“Unfortunately, you learn the hard way how hard it is to win in this championship – how hard it is to win in any level of IMSA competition,” he continued.
The timely victory ended a run of bad luck for RS1 – with one second-place finish this season but all others seventh place or worse. The team’s strategy play Saturday put the Porsche into the overall and Grand Sport (GS) class lead after McAleer’s opening stint.
“Track position was important,” McAleer said. “I feel that we’re the best driver pair in the series and it’s kind of shown at most of the events. We just haven’t been able to execute. I’m hoping this is a turnaround for us in the season with four events left. Trent was incredible. He was flying all weekend.”
Hindman credited the call that got the Porsche the lead after a full-course caution just past the midpoint of the two-hour race. The RS1 Porsche was among eight cars opting not to pit for a splash of fuel and moved to the front of the field, where Hindman remained for the final 43m of green-flag racing.
“Fortunately, it worked out,” Hindman said. “I had to do a lot of fuel saving in the end, for sure, but I knew our car was super quick, and I knew we could keep our momentum up and still save fuel. If we were in traffic, it would’ve been a different story.”
Scott Andrews brought the No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 he co-drove with Rory van der Steur home in second place, 2.537 seconds behind the winning Porsche. The No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4 driven by Matt Plumb and Paul Holton finished third. All three podium finishers opted for the one-stop strategy and went into fuel-saving mode to the finish.
RS1’s victory – the 11th for both Hindman and McAleer in the Michelin Pilot Challenge – also marked the sixth different GS team to win in as many races this season.
With the third-place finish, Plumb and the No. 46 Aston Martin unofficially extended their GS lead to 430 points over van der Steur and the No. 19 Aston and to 450 over Hindman, McAleer and the No. 28 Porsche.
Michael Levitt/Lumen
Wickens, Gottsacker End Drought with TCR Win in No. 33 Hyundai
There’s something about his home track that brings out the racing best in Robert Wickens and the results again bear that out. Wickens and co-driver Harry Gottsacker drove the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR to victory in the Touring Car (TCR) portion of Saturday’s race.
In three Michelin Pilot Challenge races at CTMP, Wickens has now finished first, second and first. He won with co-driver Mark Wilkins in 2022 and was runner-up with Gottsacker last year on their way to the TCR championship without recording a win. Saturday’s triumph was Wickens’ first since the July 2022 CTMP victory and Gottsacker’s first since Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in May of the same year.
“I don’t know what it is about this place, but I just seem to get on really well with it in the TCR car,” Wickens said. “It’s not just me. Harry’s opening stint was so strong, he extended one lap longer than the (No.) 17 Audi to basically put us in prime position. … He put us in a position where I could push and attack instead of just saving fuel and trying to make it to the end.
“That’s exactly what we did, and once we capitalized on the misfortune of the [No.] 17, it was just managing the gap behind at that point.”
Gottsacker and Wickens ran second for most of the race to the championship-leading No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor. The race took a dramatic turn when Taylor suddenly pulled off course with a mechanical failure with 27m to go. It opened the door for the No. 33 drivers and engineer Mark Weida – a racing veteran making his debut with the team – to snatch the much-desired victory.
“I’m retiring now,” Weida joked. “I’m one-for-one so that’s it. I’m done.”
“It’s unfortunate what happened to [the Audi] but I’ll take it,” Gottsacker said. “It’s racing, things happen. It’s a huge relief [to win again]. I know that we could’ve done it last year, it just never worked out. But yeah, it feels really, really good.”
Wickens never surrendered the lead after the Audi’s exit, though was constantly harried by Karl Wittmer in the No. 93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR. Wittmer was handicapped by a loss of the anti-lock braking system for the final 20m and unable to mount an overtake attempt. He and co-driver Dai Yoshihara held onto second place, 0.723s behind the winners.
“To have a well-deserved podium finish at our home track with this crew that’s been putting in sweat and tears since the start of the year is so rewarding to them,” Wittmer said. “I’m so happy, I can’t wait to party with these guys!”
The No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai, with co-drivers Denis Dupont and Preston Brown, took third place, meaning Canada was represented by a driver on each step of the TCR podium (Wickens, Wittmer and Dupont).
“Pretty stacked podium, if you ask me,” Wittmer quipped.
The No. 17 Audi wound up eighth in class and saw its championship lead trimmed to 150 points over the No. 76 BHA Hyundai and 190 over the winning No. 33 Hyundai.
The next Michelin Pilot Challenge race is the Road America 120 from the Wisconsin road course of the same name on Saturday, Aug. 3.
