| Heylen/Mars (GS) and Gottsacker (TCR) Secure Season Titles October 10, 2025By John OreoviczIMSA Wire Service |
| Race ResultsChampionship Points BRASELTON, Ga. – While the focus was on the championship battles for both IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge classes, both race winners followed up their triumphs from Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a second straight win at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky drove the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 to their third win of 2025 in Grand Sport (GS) in the season-ending Fox Factory 120. Meanwhile Eric Powell and Tyler Gonzalez scored their second straight victory in Touring Car (TCR) in their No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Cupra Leon VZ TCR. Jan Heylen and Luca Mars (No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS in GS) and Harry Gottsacker (No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR) secured the respective class championships, albeit after slight roller coaster races in both classes. In GS, Cooper passed Jaxon Bell in the No. 23 Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 he shared with Ford Koch in the short chute between Michelin Raceway’s Turns 6 and 7 and pulled away to win by 4.323 seconds. Robby Foley and Beltre Curtis took third place in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO. Meanwhile, Mars and Heylen drove a calculated race to claim sixth place in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche. That was enough to clinch the GS crown by 70 points (2,720-2,650) over CarBahn with Peregrine racing’s No. 39 BMW M4 GT4 EVO and the driver duo of Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister, who finished fourth Friday. By adding to their prior victories at Daytona International Speedway and in the most recent Michelin Pilot Challenge round at IMS, Uretsky and Cooper matched season champions Heylen and Mars with a class-high three triumphs. The Ibiza Farm McLaren pair finished fifth in the standings. “It’s unbelievable – it’s been an incredible season,” said Uretsky, who earned the Motul Pole Award on Thursday – his first career pole. “We’ve got a great group of people who have been working their butts off. It’s just fantastic to get this result, especially at the last race of the season at our home race – our team is based 10 minutes away, just outside Road Atlanta. We’ll be back next year with the McLaren to do it all over again.” The majority of the GS field pitted during the only full-course caution of the race, which resumed with 45 minutes of the two hours remaining. Cooper made the winning pass just a few minutes later. “From there, it was just about getting the car home and not running out of fuel,” Cooper said. “We were the only ones that took two tires during the pit stop, so I think we had a little bit of an advantage there.” Heylen added another GS championship to the crown he won in 2021 (also with Porsche), while 19-year-old Mars became one of the youngest champions in season history. Heylen and Mars built a 340-point advantage over Jenson Altzman (No. 13 McCumber McAlee Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4) after their victory at Watkins Glen International in June. The margin remained at +240 over Westphal and McAlister in late August following another win for the No. 28 Porsche at VIRginia International Raceway, but the cushion was cut to just 100 markers heading into the season finale. But Mars and Heylen kept themselves in the top seven all day at Road Atlanta to reward RS1 with its third Michelin Pilot Challenge championship (2016 ST, 2017 GS). “The RS1 team and the Porsche were incredible all year – a big shout-out to them, huge thanks,” said Mars. “The last race came down to the wire and I was a little nervous on the pit box, but as usual, Jan got it done.” Heylen, 45, clearly enjoyed his latest accomplishment. “The challenge for us this year is that we led the championship from the second round,” Heylen observed. “You’re always a bit of a target. You’re racing out there with guys with different level of experience and maybe a different mindset. For us, it was important to not make mistakes, to drive by the rules, and not get penalties. Sometimes that can get a little bit frustrating, and it Feels like you’re the only ones out there doing exactly that while everybody else is racing for the win, regardless of the outcome. I feel like we did a good job dealing with that. They never come easy, and I’m super proud of the team and Luca. It takes a whole year of hard work and consistency to be here. “This is as much as you can have racing,” he added. “I love being in the IMSA paddock, especially in the Michelin Pilot Challenge. It’s super fun.” TCR: Gottsacker Nabs Another Title for BHA as Cupra Wins Again |
| It was business as usual at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai for the season, while the newest car on the Touring Car (TCR) grid added a second straight triumph. For BHA and Hyundai, it was another year, another IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Touring Car (TCR) class championship. And for Cupra, it was another race, and another TCR win. Tyler Gonzalez and Eric Powell won in the No. 99 VGRT Cupra Leon VZ TCR. They ended the season with two consecutive triumphs in the Cupra after switching from Hyundai mid-season. Meanwhile Harry Gottsacker co-drove the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR to a fourth-place finish in the Fox Factory 120, which was enough to clinch the TCR championship by 20 points over BHA’s No. 76 Hyundai driven by Denis Dupont and Preston Brown. It was the sixth TCR championship for BHA and Hyundai during the nine-year history of IMSA sanction. All have come in the last seven years, including the 2023 crown he shared with Robert Wickens. This year, Gottsacker shared the No. 98 Hyundai with Mason Filippi at every venue except Watkins Glen International, when Filippi was competing in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Parker Chase co-drove with Gottsacker to a third-place finish in that race. Gottsacker, 26, is set to get married in just one week. He cited the win he scored with Filippi at Mid-Ohio in one of the year’s two four-hour endurance races as a highlight and called his drive to fourth place on Friday “a tough day.” “We worked really hard to get here and the Hyundai Elantra N TCRs have been just great all season,” Gottsacker remarked. “I feel like our strong suit is we were really consistent, and consistently fast. I can’t thank Bryan Herta Autosport enough – every weekend we show up, and the car is absolutely ready to go. Everybody works so hard, and we execute at the end of the day. I’m super thankful to Bryan Herta, Sean Jones, Ross Rosenberg, and Hyundai.” VGRT’s season turned around with the mid-season switch to Cupra, which was particularly effective for Powell. “I didn’t get the best of starts and lost a position, and I knew my job after that was to kind of conserve the tires and little bit of fuel and let the race come to me, and that’s what happened,” Powell said. “I struggled a bit in the Hyundai, and when we switched to the Cupra, it just drove the way I wanted it to drive. We just destroy people on corner entry, and it takes care of its tires really well.” Karl Wittmer and LP Montour in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR led Gottsacker by 10 points heading into the finale, but they had a troubled day that ended on the sidelines with a mechanical issue. They dropped to third in the standings behind Dupont and Brown. |
