13 / 30
13
dropped down the order and the lead
was then taken by Todd Lamb’s Honda
that was closely chased by Michael
Lewis’ Hyundai, Pombo and Popow. On
lap 55, Lewis was hit by Chad
Gilsinger’s Honda as they were fighting
for fourth place. Again there was a
close fight for the lead between
Pombo, Lamb and Popow.
The last hour began with the top four
drivers covered by the same second:
Lamb, Pombo, Vance and Popow. At
the restart after another full-course-
yellow, Lamb pitted for fuel, Pombo
took the lead and Popow overtook
Vance for second. The fight for the
win was now between the LA Honda
World cars of Lamb and O’Gorman and
Popow’s Alfa. With 35 minutes left the
Alfa went back into first place, but
then retired in a cloud of smoke.
Back into the lead with 25 minutes to
go, Lamb pitted with a flat front tyre
and handed the first place to Vance,
but O’Gorman was closing the gap by
one second per lap. After a final full-
course-yellow, with ten minutes left
on the clock, the Honda cars of
O’Gorman and Pombo overtook Vance’s
Audi to score a 1-2 finish.
“The hardest part was to stay out of
trouble, because these guys were
racing so hard,” said O’Gorman. “If
you’d have told me yesterday that we
would be standing here, I wouldn’t
have believed you. We worked really
hard overnight; the L.A. Honda World
guys did an amazing job. The race was
really challenging and we just kind of
checked ourselves until the end and
we found ourselves in the lead and it
came to us.”
The second round of the IMSA
Michelin Pilot Challenge will take place
at Sebring on 15 March.
Round 1 – Friday 25 January,
Daytona Int. Speedway
1. O’ Gorman/Blackstock (LA Honda
World Racing, Honda Civic FK7); 2.
Pombo/La Marra (LA Honda World
Racing, Honda Civic FK7); 3.
Galante/Vance/Salinsky (Fast MD
Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS DSG)