Patience Pays Dividends for Paul Miller BMW’s Verhagen, Snow at Road America

Neil Verhagen had speed, but he also had patience. Knowing the driver he was chasing, Laurin Heinrich, probably had to stop for fuel before the end of the race, Verhagen – with plenty of fuel to reach the finish – patiently waited until Heinrich was forced to the pits.

Verhagen’s patience led to a come-from-behind victory for himself and co-driver Madison Snow in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class of the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix on Sunday at Road America. The discipline translated to Verhagen’s first IMSA victory.

“I could see that he was fuel-saving a lot,” Verhagen said. “I have to say Laurin did an incredible job. He defended very well. It was very difficult to pass him while he was fuel-saving.”

The win was Paul Miller Racing’s 17th in IMSA competition, but the first this season for the No. 1 car.

“Maybe things haven’t always fallen our way, but we’ve always had a pretty competitive package,” Verhagen said. “I knew at some point it was going to come our way.”

After starting fifth in the two-hour, 40-minute race, Snow helped the No. 1 BMW remain among the leaders during a chaotic start that saw three caution periods during the first 56 minutes.

“It’s really nice being back on the podium,” Snow said. “It’s been a tough year. This GTD PRO class is really competitive.”

With 27 minutes remaining, Verhagen began to pressure Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), with Sebastian Priaulx in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 right behind him.

Heinrich went 80 minutes in his stint before being forced to pit with 14 minutes left; Verhagen later noted that after long energy stints ruled the day at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, he wasn’t sure what to look for. But once Verhagen took the lead, he held it to the finish to win by 2.915 seconds ahead of Priaulx, who shared the No. 64 Ford with Mike Rockenfeller.

To claim his first IMSA win with Snow, who has 16 victories in his IMSA career, was special for Verhagen.

“To tick off the first IMSA win is very nice for me, personally,” Verhagen said. “Madison has quite a few of them. It was nice to be able to get this with him.”

The No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 co-driven by Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoè finished third after starting on pole and has unofficially moved up to second in class standings.

The No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims rallied to a fourth-place finish after being sent into the gravel with 90 minutes remaining by another car. That comeback kept them atop the GTD PRO championship standings by 30 points over the No. 81 Ferrari, with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) unofficially third, 97 back.

GTD: Koch Makes Pass Work for Triarsi's First Win

Kenton Koch passed Alec Udell with six minutes left, completing a come-from-behind conquest in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class and the first IMSA victory for Triarsi Competizione.

The win was the first for team principal Onofrio Triarsi and third for Koch, his first since last year’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Koch was making his second start with Triarsi after running the first half of the season with another team.

Triarsi moved the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 into second place early in the race, then stalked the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 started by Russell Ward and taken over by Philip Ellis and Udell’s No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R until Koch put himself into position to catch Udell and make the pass.

Udell had advanced to the lead following the last cycle of pit stops where the No. 36 Corvette car he shared with Robert Wickens leapt ahead of those needing to hit pit lane. But once Koch closed down the gap to make the run into Turn 6, it was a move that involved what Koch considered a fair amount of contact.

“(It) was fair based on how (race control) was calling the race,” Koch said. “They made the race interesting, and I hope that was interesting. I certainly had a blast. It was a fun pass.”

Triarsi credited Koch with helping the team get its first win.

“Having Kenton onboard definitely helped a lot with development,” Triarsi said. “He did an amazing job at the end of the race to put it up there. We’re definitely going to take advantage of this momentum, and we want to keep this going.”

As the race progressed, Udell’s No. 36 Corvette faded to eighth place on the last lap.

Mario Farnbacher and Misha Goikhberg finished second in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, while Daniel Serra and Manny Franco finished third in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

All three podium finishers set or equaled their best finish of the season. In Forte’s case, their good karma for helping Pfaff Motorsports out by loaning them its backup Lamborghini chassis came good. 

Results are HERE