Mikey Taylor wins a race full of drama at Daytona
Mikey Taylor and his codrivers Chris Miller and William Tally claimed a glorious TCR class victory in the opening round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona International Speedway.
At the end of a 4-hour race that provided lots of drama, the South African drove his JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi RS 3 LMS to take the chequered flag only seven tenths ahead of Ryan Eversley in one of the Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R cars, while Steven Simpson completed the podium in the Michael Johnson Racing Hyundai Veloster N, as he stole third place from the Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Veloster of Michael Lewis by 33 thousandths.
The key moment of the race was the incident that eliminated Tim Lewis’ KMW Motorsports Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Brian Henderson’s Atlanta Speedwerks Honda and Jonathan Morley’s Road Shagger Racing Audi RS 3 LMS with one hour to go. The three cars were fighting for second position and closing the gap to the leader Eversley, when Henderson and Lewis came together; the Alfa crashed into the tyre-wall while the Honda collided with the Audi. They all retired, and when the race resumed after a full-course-yellow period Eversley was chased by four Hyundai Veloster cars: Michael Lewis’, Mason Filippi’s, Simpson’s and Denis Dupont’s. Behind them Taylor was charging and set the fastest lap of the race.
Another full-course-yellow was declared when Dupont’s car stopped with a technical issue and the green flag was waved with only four minutes to go. At the restart, Taylor pipped Eversley and went to claim an unexpected win.
Following a troubled qualifying session, both the debuting Hyundai Elantra N cars were able to finish the race, with Mark Wilkins driving the #33 to an encouraging sixth position.
The second round of the season will take place at Sebring on March 19th.
IMSA Daytona – Race
1. Taylor/Miller/Tally (JDC-Miller Motorsports, Audi RS 3 LMS), 102 laps
2. Eversley/Lamb/Strelzoff (Atlanta Speedwerks, Honda Civic Type R), 0.736
3. Simpson/Johnson (Michael Johnson Racing, Hyundai Veloster N), 4.010
4. M. Lewis/Hagler (Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai Veloster N), 4.043
5. Filippi/Muss (Copeland Motorsports, Hyundai Veloster N), 8.627
Championship points
1. Taylor/Miller/Tally 35 pts; 2. Eversley/Lamb/Strelzoff 32; 3. Simpson/Johnson 30
Picture: IMSA/LAT Images
