Welcome Race Fans to the final race report installment of the season!
After two travel days from Wisconsin and the SCCA Runoffs, and one day to rest/work/check in at the track, we are back again at Road Atlanta! This is the final race in the 10-event IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series for 2024. We very fortunate to have beautiful weather too! Perfect clear blue skies and cool temperatures with low humidity will provide a truly lovely weekend for racing for the Fox Factory 120.
WEDNESDAY NOTES:
The VGRT crew worked crazy long days to repair the damage from the incident in the race at Indy. They had to take the back end of the car apart, drive to Texas for body panels, and weld everything back together. They finished Monday and arrived Tuesday at Road Atlanta from their shop in central Florida.
Practice 1 was our only session today. I must lead with the spoiler - it was excellent! Morgan had the fastest lap today! With a time of 1:28.398, he’s 0.2 seconds ahead of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th who are all right on top of each other (Honda, Alfa, Hyundai, respectively) at 1:28.6.
We did the usual stuff in this session. A little fine tuning for this track, finding the pit lane delta (how long it takes just to drive through without stopping), and feeling out the track, tires, brakes, and set up. In the hour long session, Morgan and Tyler both got some time in the car. Both drivers are happy with the car as it sits now. As always, there are minor adjustments to make this afternoon.
Approaching Hurricane Milton has everyone really worried about how bad it will be where they live and work and what they will find when they return home on Sunday so it's especially nice to see the car at the top of the chart today. It validates all their hard work!
Here’s hoping our position stays right there through the coming sessions. We go out for Practice 2 tomorrow at 9:20 AM Eastern and for qualifying at 6:30 PM Eastern.
THURSDAY NOTES:
Good morning, Race Fans!!
Practice 2: Thursday had Practice 2 and Qualifying separated by 9 hours! There was a surprising amount to do in that time. Short version - the car is good and the drivers are happy with the set up.
Morgan had the car in 1st for a long time in Practice 2 and that felt really good. But on the last flying lap, another car snuck past by a hair. We are super pumped to be so strong this weekend. Morgan says it feels odd to have no changes to request this time. It’s ready!!
Mid-Day: During the middle of the day, we catch up with friends, watch some cars, have a lot of conversations, and run a lot of errands. Much time is spent looking over the data - that’s where subtle things can be found that might help get a smidge more speed.
Qualifying: At last it's 6:30 and it’s time to qualify. The sun is nearing the horizon and that adds an extra element of difficulty with a tricky section of the track aimed directly into the setting sun. And with only 15 minutes, it’s all in Morgan’s hands alone. We just watch anxiously. On the first lap, a car pulled off, bringing out a red flag. That shortened the useful time considerably, leaving less than 9 minutes to do the job. Morgan has to warm up everything, find a good spot in the stream of cars, and lay down a good one. He kept turning personal best sector times, and even had a fastest sector at least briefly. We hope, and watch, and cheer. In the end, he’s in 4th. That is a fantastic grid spot and the best of the season. It’s another testament to the high quality hard work the VGRT team puts in for every event.
After it's done, there are more conversations, data and video review, and still more errands and hanging out. Also, the tracking spreadsheets get prepared for race day. Those help guide our strategy plans for the race.
Be ready at 12:45 Eastern on Friday! The Fox Factory 120 will be broadcast on Peacock. You can also listen in from the IMSA website or app as well. It's go time!!
FRIDAY NOTES:
Hello Race Fans!
Race day provides us with truly glorious weather. Clear, bright blue skies, low humidity, gentle breeze, and cool temps. Perfect for both cars and people.
Before the Race: Morgan is busy all morning, starting with the Hyundai photo. All the cars, drivers, and teams come together for the pictures, every car and person placed just so. Then, Morgan flits off to the driver’s meeting followed by an autograph session in the Fan Zone. He scurries back to the tent just in time to suit up and meet the car on the grid for the fan walk before the race. While he was busy, we grab some lunch and Jackson and I work out the strategy options. Because some things remain unknown until they happen (like yellows), we always have to react and adjust on the fly. Having a variety of options ready to go can make a big difference. We just hope one of them will work!
Again, this weekend had record ticket sales, so Morgan had a constant flow of folks stopping to chat and get autographs on the grid walk. I missed most of it while setting up my computer and comms. We have a couple spotters to help relay info to and from the far side of the track and keep an eye on the competition too. There are a lot of people to coordinate!
The pits for Michelin Pilot are on the outside of the track (club side) and the big dogs in WeatherTech are inside (pro paddock). Being in different places means we set up our own pit stall instead of borrowing a pro stall. We have all the same information on a lot of screens, but with a just canopy and couple of tables instead of the super fancy, two-story giant pit boxes. We have more room to move about, better ventilation, slightly better views of the actual track (coming down the hill onto the front straight and going up the hill out of turn 1), and even room for guests to cluster around.
Race Time! Now it’s time for the start. Morgan is gridded 4th with three Hyundais ahead of him. This is a terrific starting spot! We know that fuel use is going to be hyper critical today. The trick is to get or hold track position while using as little fuel as possible. It is very difficult to manage those two conflicting directions, but the talented ones figure out how to do it. Morgan holds onto 5th, kept in touch, and manages fuel well until the second yellow.
This yellow comes out with Morgan almost 49 minutes into his stint. That’s far enough in that pitting under the yellow is a must do. Ideally, we’d have wanted to go another 10-15 minutes, but making the pit stop under a green flag would put the car at the back of the pack making it almost impossible to make up the lost positions again.
Pit Stop: This is really good clean stop! We do the driver change, fill the tank, and change the front tires. Our stop is several seconds shorter than most of the other TCR cars because of Morgan’s uncanny ability to fuel save. The crew executes the choreography of the stop beautifully. We leapfrog up from 5th to 2nd! We take the lead when the one who did not pit comes in right after going back to green.
Green Flag Running: From there on, Tyler leads the next 39 laps. It is rather nerve wracking watching the fuel numbers as the race goes on and on under green. We get a tiny bit of help with a short yellow at 59 minutes, but it isn’t enough.
We really, really thought we had a solid chance to go the distance without a splash of fuel. With just a couple more green laps for Morgan or a few more yellow laps for Tyler and we’d be golden. Alas, we run out of gas on the final lap and have to come in for a splash. That drops us from 1st to 7th, but still on the lead lap at the checkered flag.
THAT’S A WRAP!
I’ll say it again. Racing is hard! So many variables that we can and can’t control meld together in a twisted mass. We do our best to see the clearest path through the jumble to reach the best outcome. Sometimes it works, but today we needed an extra 3 liters or so.
This was the last racing event of the 2024 season. All the SCCA and IMSA races have been run. In both series, the cars all get overhauled and carefully checked over during the off-season. Lots of components have limited lifetimes and those will all get replaced before their expiration times. Sometimes the rules change, necessitating updates to meet the new rule sets. Also, the cars get tested to be sure they are ready to face next year's battles. Of course, the teams and drivers all have to figure out who will be working with whom in 2025. Silly season is on! Worry not, I’ll be sure to let you know where Morgan lands.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Now we have about three months before the 2025 season begins. During that time, we will relax at home briefly and figure out exactly what next season will include. We are pretty certain that Morgan will be back in the IMSA paddock, though it still remains to be seen which team he will join. There's a pretty good chance that there will be some SCCA races as well. Morgan does love the SRF3 and it keeps his skills very sharp to drive that challenging car in an extremely talented field.
REFLECTION:
This year was always intended to be a learning year and a skill building year. It has turned out to be so much more than that! Morgan far exceeded all of the goals that were set and reset as the year proceeded. John and I also got huge educations as well as we took on bigger roles than we imagined at the outset. We are all immensely grateful for the support we've received all year from the teams and from all of our supporters. It has been a magical year indeed and we are optimistic and enthusiastic about the prospects for 2025.
Thank you so very much for letting me share this racing season with you! I'll be sure to bring you new stories in the coming months.