The Auto Technic Racing BMW team came into the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (IMPC) finale at Road Atlanta leading the GS class championship with the #27 M4 GT4 EVO and drivers Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz. They capped off a great season by finishing on the podium in third to clinch the championship, which was their first in IMSA competition.
There were four different teams that had a good shot at the IMPC championship in the final race. The Auto Technic Racing team was 30 points ahead of Turner Motorsport drivers Luca Mars and Dillon Machavern, and Ford Mustang driver Robert Noaker was just 10 points behind Mars and Machavern. The #44 McLaren team also had more of an outside chance to win the championship.
Led by Auto Technic Racing, consistent top five results all year helped bring BMW the manufacturers championship.
In typical fashion, the BMWs didn’t perform all that well in qualifying, with the fastest BMW (Machavern in the #95 Turner car) in ninth, around a second off the pole of the #23 Toyota. We’ve also seen the pattern all year where the BMWs perform better in the races than in qualifying, and this was no exception at Road Atlanta, as the BMW teams gradually moved up into the top five during the race. Austin Krainz held the 11th position that he started the #27 BMW in before handing off to McAleer, who had passed the #13 Ford Mustang that was in contention for the championship with 35 minutes left in the race, with Luca Mars also getting by a Mustang to slot in behind McAleer.
Turner Motorsport finished second in the championship with Luca Mars and Dillon Machavern.
With 20 minutes left in the two-hour race, the #44 McLaren was leading the race with McAleer in fourth in the #27 BMW and Mars behind him in fifth in the #95 BMW. With 19 minutes left, the McLaren pulled off with a broken suspension, which moved the #27 into third and the #95 into fourth. They held those positions until the end, which gave Auto Technic Racing and drivers McAleer and Krainz the championship. “The last 25 minutes was a long time there,” said McAleer. “We expected the McLaren to be up front and it was, but we knew we had to be in the top six or seven (to win the championship). “I hit a lot of traffic after the first pit stop and it let a lot of the good cars by, which put us on the back foot, but the guys gave us a great car and I was able to cut my way through them.” The race win went to the #14 Aston Martin.
Stevan McAleer (left) and Austin Krainz celebrate their podium finish and championship.
Auto Technic Racing proved that you don’t need to win a race to win a championship if you’re consistent. McAleer and Krainz didn’t win a race all year and they only had two podium finishes (at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road Atlanta), but they finished in the top five in four other races and only finished out of the top ten in two races. “What a way to end the year,” said Krainz. “I’m at a loss for words. I can’t believe we can call ourselves GS champions. Shout out to Auto Technic – they gave us a great car all year and were super consistent.” For the season, BMW teams had only one win (#95 at Laguna Seca), but had seven other podium finishes and an additional seven top five finishes, which all helped to bring the GS class manufacturers championship to BMW as well.
—David Haueter
[Photos by LAT Images]