Wilkins-Lewis win Road Atlanta race and the title

Mike Wilkins and Michael Lewis finished the IMSA Michelin Challenge season in style as they won the last race at Road Atlanta, their third victory in the season, and clinched the title of the TCR class.
Their Bryan Herta Autosport teammates, Harry Gottsacker and Mason Filippi finished the race in fourth position and moved into second in the standings, securing a 1-2 for Hyundai.
The race started with the Audi RS 3 LMS of Britt Casey taking the lead from the pole position, while Lewis made a cautious start from P2 and dropped to six. Casey was chased by Shelby Blackstock’s Honda Civic and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Alexandre Papadopoulos who had leapt from tenth on the grid to third, but was soon given a drive-through for jump-start.
Lewis recovered and passed Blackstock for second on lap 7, just before the first safety car intervention for towing the Honda Civic of Tyler Stone off the gravel. After the first two rounds of pit stops and another safety car period, Colin Mullan and Brian Henderson were first and second in their Honda cars, followed by Nick Galante’s Audi and Lewis’ Hyundai. A third full course yellow period ended halfway through the two-hour race and ten minutes later Lewis and Casey overtook Mullan moving into first and second. Position were reshuffled again following the third and final pit stop and a further safety car intervention for recovering Mullan’s Honda that had stopped in the middle of the track with a broken suspension.
With thirty minutes left on the clock, Filippi was in the lead, closely chased by Lewis and Casey who moved together into first and second once again. In the final stages, Lewis managed to keep Casey at bay and crossed the finishing line with a 1.3 seconds margin, while Galante stole third from Filippi. Despite losing one position, fourth was enough for Filippi-Gottsacker to finish runner up in the championship as they benefitted from the troubles of their competitors. The Roadshagger Racing Audi of Jonathan Morley-Gavin Ernstone was given a drive through and dropped to third in the standings. The LA Honda World Racing Civic of Blackstock and Tom O’Gorman, that had led the championship in the first part of the season, retired with overheating problems, and so they dropped from second to fourth in the final classification.

Race
1. Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai Veloster N (M. Wilkins/M. Lewis), 67 laps
2. JDC-Miller Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS (B. Casey/M. Taylor), 1.313
3. Fast MD Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS (N. Galante/J. Vance), 19.020
4. Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai Veloster N (M. Filippi/H. Gottsacker), 19.570
5. Atlanta Speedwerk, Honda Civic FK7 (B. Henderson/T. Lamb), 31.391

Championship points
1. Lewis-Wilkins 291 pts; 2. Filippi-Gottsacker 268; 3. Ernstone-Morley 267