The Tioga Downs Casino Resort 240 delivered a wide range of rapid weather changes to keep TeamTGM on its toes as it came and went at Watkins Glen International.
After a strong run that saw the No. 4 Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis (JKTG) Foundation / Camp Boggy Creek Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Ted Giovanis and Guy Cosmo lead the race, the duo fought through setbacks and tricky conditions to claim their best finish of the season with an 11th place finish on Saturday.
The sister No. 46 JKTG Foundation / Camp Boggy Creek Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Owen Trinkler and Hugh Plumb unfortunately ran short of luck after a Lap 26 incident which brought the car behind the wall for the remainder of the race.
The TGM squad put the work in ahead of the race and set up two solid Mercedes-AMG GT4 machines. Trinkler and Plumb were eager to move through the field after a confidence inspiring qualifying session that showed the strength of the AMG.
Trinkler started from the third row and made his way up to fourth on Lap 9. That run was cut short on a Lap 26 restart as Trinkler got tangled up in Turn 1 and sustained damage to the suspension that brought the No. 46 Mercedes’ race to a quick end.
“I had a good run on the four car and wanted to get by him cleanly and then the leader slowed a lot more than I thought he would,” said Trinkler. “It’s my fault, the car was on rails so I feel terrible. It just hasn’t been our year.”
The team spirit was not brought down as Plumb, who had yet to get in the car, turned to spotter duty to assist the sister through the Esses for the remainder of the race.
“We had a great car today but unfortunately didn’t get to the finish toay,” said Plumb. “We will keep pushing forward. I was glad to be able to help with the four car once we were out. This is a team effort and that’s what we do here at TeamTGM, everyone was focused on doing what we could for a big result for Guy and Ted today.”
The focus was then shifted on to the No. 4 JKTG Foundation / Camp Boggy Creek Mercedes of Giovanis and Cosmo. Giovanis drove at a stellar pace for the first hour of the race, improving seven positions by Lap 12. Giovanis then handed the car off to Cosmo on a Lap 22 pit stop.
“I thought the beginning of the race went great,” said Giovanis. “I got pretty ‘racey’ out there and had a good battle through the Esses. I held my own and went flatout and ended out ahead. I wanted to make sure I handed a clean car over to Cosmo so that he could take it to the end.”
Pitting two laps later under yellow to top off on fuel, Cosmo returned on track second overall and didn’t take long to bring the JKTG Mercedes to the lead on Lap 38. Cosmo stayed in the top five for the following 49 laps. Unfortunately on a Lap 87 pit stop, Cosmo was handed a drive through penalty for a pit lane speed violation.
The final moments of the race saw rain move through which the team hoped to use to its advantage to move back up through the field. Opting for rain tires on a final Lap 92 pit stop, it was a sprint to the finish. But as the track dried up, the rain tires fell off and Cosmo brought home the No. 4 Mercedes in eleventh.
“The team did such a great job today, it was just disappointing to get that penalty,” said Cosmo. “We are trying to figure out exactly what happened there. I pride myself on precision driving and am a driver that just doesn’t make those kinds of mistakes. It is just frustrating because the team did an outstanding job. Starting with Ted’s drive-he did awesome. They are really trying conditions to be in there with the TCR guys but he managed that really well. He turned his fastest lap times of the weekend and we couldn’t have asked more from him. Everything positive that happened today was because of the team, the strategy and the pit stops. They were flawless. So it was disappointing to have the day end like this but I’m really proud of Ted’s effort and the whole team behind us.”
TeamTGM will return to racing action next weekend as the team heads north of the border for the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 on Saturday, July 6th.
Source. Sunday Group
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