MONTEREY, Calif. – Danny Sullivan became famous for his spin and win victory over Mario Andretti in the 1985 Indianapolis 500.
Sullivan now makes his home on the Monterey Peninsula, just a few miles away from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where John Edwards did his best Sullivan impression in Sunday’s America’s Tire 250, spinning on the opening lap and then going on to win the two-hour and 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans race in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM alongside co-driver Martin Tomczyk.
Edwards dropped all the way to last in the 33-car field after spinning in – appropriately – the Andretti Hairpin (turn two) just seconds after the green flag dropped on the race. It took him only eight laps to work his way back through the entire GT Daytona field.
He turned the car over to Tomczyk for the middle driving stint in the race and the former DTM champion worked his way into sixth in class for the majority of his stint. Edwards took over again just past the halfway point in the race under a full-course caution period and restarted the race in third place.
He got a good jump to get around Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette and took the lead from Joey Hand in the No. 66 Ford GT three laps later. From there, Edwards went into fuel conservation mode with polesitter Toni Vilander right on his heels in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
“The hardest part is when you see a car like the Ferrari going flat out and catching you,” said Edwards. “I was hitting my number and I asked, ‘Do I need to fight him or do I need to hit the number.’ They said, ‘Hit the number. The Ferrari will need to make another pit stop.’”
Vilander took the lead with 53 minutes remaining and stayed there for nearly 20 minutes before making his final stop, surrendering the lead to Edwards once again. Still in fuel-conservation mode, Edwards played his fuel strategy to perfection and held of one final surge from Vilander coming off the 11th and final turn, winning a drag race to the checkered flag by .152 of a second.
“In order to hit our number, we were giving away so much lap time that the Ferrari was able to catch back up and it was pretty close at the end,” Edwards said. “Ultimately, it’s a good thing it’s a two-hour and 40-minute race and not a two-hour and 45-minute race, because he was running flat out and I think he could have had a shot.”
It was Edwards’ second career WeatherTech Championship victory and his first since winning at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2015. For Tomczyk, who is competing in his first season of WeatherTech Competition, it was his first win.
“Finally, we are on the top step,” Tomczyk said. “I have to say thank you to John, because he did an outstanding job today with the fuel saving in the last stint and getting through the GTD field in the first stint when he got spun around in the first corner. At the end, it really worked out well.”
After starting from the pole position and hovering at or near the top of the GTLM speed charts throughout the weekend, Vilander and co-driver Giancarlo Fisichella scored their second consecutive podium result with a second-place run. The duo finished third last month in the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia Int’l Raceway.
Third in GTLM went to Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner in the No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. Jan Magnussen and Garcia retained their points lead with a fourth-place run in the No. 3 Corvette, and Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook made it five different manufacturers in the top five with their fifth-place performance in the No. 67 Ford GT for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing.
Heading into the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 7 at Road Atlanta, Garcia and Magnussen lead Briscoe and Westbrook by 19 points, 302-283. With a nine-car GTLM field expected, the No. 3 teammates simply need to score points in the race to clinch the title.
Source : speedsport.com
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