PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Wins Prototype Challenge At Road Atlanta

PRI/Mathiasen Motorsports took its third Prototype Challenge (PC) victory of the season in the No. 52 Prisma/Professional Security Consultants/Westfield ORECA FLM09, with Robert Alon, Tom Kimber-Smith and Jose Gutierrez combining to lead all but 65 of the 404 circuits.

“It’s great to end the season with a win,” Kimber-Smith said. “We’ve been consistently strong this season, we just had some bad luck at a couple of circuits. My teammate’s stints (Alon) were really impressive, he set the fastest lap of the race in our car. It’s amazing at how much he’s progressed in the last nine months.”

James French, Kyle Marcelli and Kenton Koch finished second in the No. 38 Ric-Man Construction/ Children’s Miracle Network/NeuroSpine Institute ORECA. French needed a late pit stop for a splash of fuel with six minutes remaining, putting him 51 seconds behind the winners.

Rolex 24 At Daytona PC winners Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Chris Miller rounded out the podium, taking third in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports LaModerna/Hi-Tide Boat Lifts/Red Line Oil entry.

While Starworks Motorsport parked its No. 8 ORECA with less than two hours remaining due to brake problems, a sixth-place finish was good enough for Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande to tie the race winners in the final standings with 355 points each. For the tiebreaker, the Starworks drivers took the championship due to winning four races.

“It’s a sweet and sour feeling, because we wanted to win the race,” Popow said. “But a championship is a championship. It’s amazing for what we’ve done all year. We’ve fought a lot up until now. We won it this way, but racing is what it is.”

For consolation, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and drivers Alon, Kimber-Smith and Jose Gutierrez took the championship in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, winning the team title while edging Kenton Koch for the driver’s title by one point.

View full results via Al Kamel Systems at Results.IMSA.com.

NOTEBOOK

• The 2016 champions will be honored at the annual WeatherTech Night of Champions at the Chateau Elan Resort and Winery on Monday evening in Braselton.
• There will be a three-hour Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort highlight program on FS1 on Monday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. ET.