Michimi Leads Prestige Performance 1-2 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America Finish at Watkins Glen

The Prestige Performance domination continued with Shinya Michimi taking the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America Round 3 victory to lead a 1-2 finish for the team at Watkins Glen International.

The 14.720-second victory over teammates Trent Hindman and Craig Duerson was Michimi's second win of the season in the No. 1 Prestige Performance Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 representing Lamborghini Paramus.

Watkins Glen is the home race for the dealership based in New Jersey.

"I just really have to thank all the guys who did a good job preparing the car for the weekend," Michimi said. "It's been super-fast since we rolled it off the trailer. It was great to get this car onto the podium this weekend. It's kind of a home race for Prestige. This is the closest thing we'll get to a home race this year and there's a lot of their guys here so I want to thank them for coming out and supporting us."

After leading practice on Thursday and a solid qualifying session Michimi started the 50-minute race in second place behind his teammate Hindman. Michimi got a jump at the green flag but Hindman had the inside advantage going through Turn 1.

At that point he settled into second staying within two seconds of Hindman in the No. 10 Prestige Performance Lamborghini representing Lamborghini Paramus.

The mandatory pit window opened and Michimi executed a perfect pit strategy to put himself in first place and never looked back. Over the next 20 minutes Michimi slowly extended his lead, leaving no doubt.

"It was pretty straight forward," Michimi said. "We had the team car in front of us at the start so I knew there would be no silly business there. I was able to keep the pace and jump in at the pit stops. From there it was just holding on."

The win was extra special for the team, which is running a special livery this weekend. Michimi's car is donned with a livery honoring Wish For Our Heroes, a charity that provides assistance to soldiers coming home.

"The charity is helping the heroes that come from overseas in the wars and it helps them get back on their feet after they've come back," Michimi said. "Sometimes they have financial issues and such so that's to help them out. What they do is incredible and without that we wouldn't be here racing so just a big thank you to everybody out there for that as well."

Hindman and Duerson finished second overall and were the first Pro-Am finishers. Damon Ockey was the third overall finisher and the top Amateur division competitor in the No. 09 US RaceTronics Lamborghini representing Lamborghini Calgary. It was Ockey's third podium finish and second class win in a row.

Brandon Gdovic made a spirited drive to finish sixth overall and second in the Pro-Am division after starting at the back of the grid in the No. 46 DAC Motorsports Lamborghini entry representing Lamborghini Palm Beach. 2015 Super Trofeo Europe Pro Champion Patrick Kujala and his co-driver Brian Thienes rounded out the Pro-Am division, finishing third in the No. 17 US RaceTronics Huracán representing Lamborghini Beverly Hills.

In the Amateur division James Burke and David Askew finished second and fourth overall in the No. 98 DXDT Racing Lamborghini Huracán entry. It was the duo's first podium finish of their rookie Super Trofeo season.

Another series rookie Luis Rodriguez Jr. took the final step on the Amateur podium with a third-place finish in the No. 29 Change Racing Huracán representing Lamborghini Carolinas. It was his second class podium finish of the season after winning Round 1 in Laguna Seca in May.

This is the inaugural season for the Lamborghini Cup class, for competitors starting their racing careers. Ross Chouest earned the class victory and finished 10th overall in the No. 3 DXDT Racing entry representing Lamborghini Miami.

Will James was second in Lamborghini Cup in the No. 11 eXclaim Racing/Migliore Motorsports entry representing Lamborghini Paramus, and Shawn Lawless rounded out the podium with a third-place finish in the No. 27 Dream Racing Motorsports entry representing Lamborghini Las Vegas.

The second and final race of the weekend will start at 5:55 p.m. (ET) Saturday, July 2. It will be live streamed in North America at motortrendondemand.com and on squadracorse.lamborghini.com/en/live-usa for international viewers.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

SHINYA MICHIMI (No. 1 Lamborghini Paramus, winner): "I just really have to thank all the guys who did a good job preparing the car for the weekend. It's been super-fast since we rolled it off the trailer. It was great to get this car onto the podium this weekend. It's kind of a home race for Prestige. This is the closest thing we'll get to a home race this year and there's a lot of their guys here so I want to thank them for coming out and supporting us. It was pretty straight forward. We had the team car in front of us at the start so I knew there would be no silly business there. I was able to keep the pace and jump in at the pit stops. From there it was just holding on. The car itself, it's got a special livery this weekend. We're running the Wish For Our Heroes livery and that's a great a thing that they're doing. The charity is helping the heroes that come from overseas in the wars and it helps them get back on their feet after they've come back. Sometimes they have financial issues and such so that's to help them out. What they do is incredible and without that we wouldn't be here racing so just a big thank you to everybody out there for that as well."

TRENT HINDMAN (No. 10 Lamborghini Paramus, second, first Pro-Am): "It was the whole Prestige Performance, Wayne Taylor Racing team that put together one hell of a performance. We got off to a great start, so I was pretty bummed when I got the call to pit lane to hand the car off to Craig. I wanted to keep going! It was great. Craig put together a great race and he really drove well. It's really a pleasure sharing a car with him. We didn't change our plan at all. We had a good plan coming into the weekend on what we wanted to do and just wanted to improve as drivers, as a team, with the cars. Ultimately, we executed it pretty well. But at the end of the day, that just means we've got to keep looking for more, keep searching for more as drivers, as a team, and with the cars. Overall, I'm just really proud, really thankful to be a part of this Prestige Performance, Wayne Taylor Racing team. It's an unbelievable group and a lot of fun to be with them. We're fortunate to be bringing home some good results. Big thank you to those guys and to Wish for Our Heroes for coming on board with us and we're glad to be raising some awareness for the cause.

CRAIG DUERSON (No. 10 Lamborghini Paramus, second, first Pro-Am): "The race was really good and I did what I needed to do, not overdrive the car and just try to pace myself. I knew Shinya is faster and I'm not going to try to battle with him. I'm just going to run my own pace and try to not make mistakes. The new pavement is great. It's taking rubber, the grip's good. I'm glad it didn't rain. It would be a totally different track for me. The track is awesome. I like everything - the Bus Stop, the curbing. A lot of people say the Bus Stop is too much, but it makes you pay if you make a mistake and you take too much curbing. They did a great job."

DAMON OCKEY (No. 09 Lamborghini Calgary, third, first Amateur): "Started P4 in class and eighth overall. It was a good, clean start. Rodriguez got behind me and I was able to keep him back. He's pretty conscientious about driving safe and he was right on me but we drove good together. After the pitstop I was able to reel in some of the slower drivers. I had my driver coach telling me what I was doing wrong and where to focus and I was just able to get a gap, concentrate on my line and get the win."

ROSS CHOUEST (No. 3 Lamborghini Dallas, first Lamborghini Cup): "The race went great. The guys did a great job setting up the car. It was a good thing we got to avoid the rain and it was a nice clean race with no cautions and no rain. It was a great afternoon and a beautiful afternoon at The Glen with some great racing. The new pavement is great. Obviously the curbs have a higher profile through the Bus Stop, so it's a little slower through there, but it's great. It's billiard table smooth and it's a lot of fun."

Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America - 2016 Calendar

April 29-May 1 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
June 29-July 1 Watkins Glen International
Aug. 5-7 Road America
Aug. 26-28 Virginia International Raceway
Sept. 14-16 Circuit of the Americas
Dec. 1-2 Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo

World Final

Dec. 3-4
Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo

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