• Road America is a renowned, 4.1-mile motorsport road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, hosting several notable racing series, including IndyCar, NASCAR, and more.
• During Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Dai Yoshihara put the #93 Pit+Paddock FL5 Civic Type R TCR on pole position, helping set the stage for the afternoon race.
• The #93 Pit+Paddock FL5 Civic Type R TCR crossed the checkered flag in P3, logging the team’s second consecutive podium with three pivotal races to go.

Racers are quick to call Road America an “old school” course, and because of that, it’s a driver’s dream. To compound this enthusiasm, the renowned, 4.1-mile motorsport road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin was repaved in 2022, offering up more grip and more speed throughout its 14 turns and 171 feet of elevation change. That figure ties it with Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) for the second-most of the IMSA calendar; the Midwest road course is only trumped by Laguna Seca, which boasts 180 feet—in large part because of its dramatic Corkscrew turn.

Mercifully, this wasn’t Dai Yoshihara’s first time around Road America. He got acclimated to the course during his single year in TC America competition and was eager to show what he could do in Michelin Pilot Challenge equipment. Saturday morning’s qualifying session gave him that opportunity and he seized it to the fullest; Yoshihara put the #93 Pit+Paddock FL5 Civic Type R TCR on pole position for the afternoon contest. “It’s been my personal goal to set pole this year,” confessed Yoshihara after parking the Type R in front of MOTUL’s pole position marker.

AS IT HAPPENED

Compared to previous rounds, the Road America 120 got off to a smooth start. Yoshihara kept the lead in the early going, keeping the two Hyundais—Gottsacker in the #33 and Filippi in the #98—just under a second behind. Ahead, the top 3 in the GS class were wrapped up in a close battle, which kept things interesting as the first phase of the race waged on. The #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai snuck past Yoshihara at the 1:24 mark amidst GS traffic, but Yoshihara quickly sped back ahead before the turn 1 dive. However, the order was soon reversed because Yoshihara’s pass was executed under the first full course caution thanks to track debris from the #92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 in GS.

The double yellow flags were the perfect excuse for the field to dive into the pits. Yoshihara parked in his pit box at 1:13 and swapped driving duties with Wittmer while the #93 Pit+Paddock FL5 Civic Type R TCR was treated to fuel and fresh tires. Wittmer came out of the pits in P8, with the #33 Hyundai crucially behind; however, our rival would have to pit shortly after to serve a penalty for leaving pit lane with fueling equipment still attached. As we crested an hour left in the Road America 120, it was Hyundai in the top three positions. The #99 Victor Gonzalez  Racing Hyundai’s mistake from the lead started a massive order shuffling as it tumbled down the order. At this point, teams were left with a critical decision to make: try to sip fuel for a one-stop strategy, or refuel and risk losing track position by making it two. Most chose the latter—including Wittmer—who came in for a short burst at 0:42 and came back out in P7.

The #50 Supra broke rear suspension components over the rumble stripes with 16 minutes to go, which brought out the safety car again. The incident made the one-stoppers look like they’d gotten it right and we began thinking a P6 result would be our unfortunate fate. But with the white flag waiving, the attrition began. Wittmer climbed up to P4 after #12 Lally ran out of fuel and onto the podium after Dupont in the #76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai—the race leader at the time—did the same. On a track that makes it difficult to conserve fuel, It was clear that a two-stop strategy was the right way to go. Wittmer crossed the finish line in P3, a sniff away from snagging P2 (0.3 seconds).

FROM THE DRIVERS

“P3 at Road America!” Wittmer said. “A mix of incredible work ethic and execution by the whole Montreal Motorsport Group (MMG) crew led us to champagne showers. I can’t thank them enough for their constant effort and hard work. Back-to-back podium finishes feel great…huge shoutout to my teammate Dai Yoshihara for his top-tier performance this weekend!”

Dai’s performance was critical to helping the team seal P3, starting with his incredible lap during qualifying. “I was thrilled to grab pole position this weekend—my first in my IMSA career and fourth for the team,” said Yoshihara. “So thankful to this team and Karl for helping set the car up. The car felt great. It was also amazing to come back to Road America after retiring last year, and I wanted to prove that I could be fast around here. Thanks to my team and my sponsors— ARP, ENEOS, Turn 14 Distribution, Mishimoto, Whiteline, and DBA—I could finally make that happen.”

FROM THE TEAM

The MMG team dedicated the first round of practice to acclimating Wittmer and Yoshihara to the Road America race setup. Some major setup adjustments were made in the paddock following Practice 1 and Wittmer jumped in first for Practice 2 to confirm the changes. Once he felt comfortable, he jumped out and gave the car to Yoshihara to close out the second session. After Practice 2, the crew did a quick verification of our setup for Qualifying. With confidence, the team sent Yoshihara out to grab pole position.

“[In qualifying] Dai set a blistering 2:17.068—the fastest lap of the weekend for TCR. He did an incredible job and we’re so proud of him,” commented Sabrina D’Amico, MMG’s co-owner and Logistics Manager.

As suspected, fuel saving was a high priority and Yoshihara relinquished the lead to make sure he was sticking to the team’s plan. “Karl fought valiantly to make up for a longer-than-expected pit stop; he got back on track at P8 and spent the last 20 minutes battling his way up to a P3 podium,” D’Amico continued. “We’re delighted by this second consecutive podium. What a great way to kick off the second part of our IMPC season!”

The next Michelin Pilot Challenge race is at VIR—the Virginia is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix—on Saturday, August 23.

Thank you to ARP, ENEOS, Turn 14 Distribution, Mishimoto, Whiteline, and DBA for supporting Pit+Paddock’s inaugural IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign with Montreal Motorsport Group.

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