Colin Thompson makes dramatic pass to win at Watkins Glen - Speedway Digest

Colin Thompson earned his first career Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama victory in wild fashion Friday at Watkins Glen International, passing championship rival Angel Benitez Jr. in the final turn. The young man from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, held off Benitez by .108 of a second at the finish in the No. 14 Kelly Moss/Porsche of Bucks County 911 GT3 Cup car. He worked lapped traffic perfectly over the closing laps to pass Michael Lewis and catch Benitez, trimming a gap of 4.797 seconds to Benitez with less than five minutes remaining in the 45-minute race.

“If you would have told me I was going to win the race with six laps to go, I would never believe you,” Thompson said. “But I was able to make a pass on Michael that didn’t slow us up, and we were wicked good getting through lapped traffic. When I got to Angel, going into the first corner of the last lap, it was a battle to get by him and we were able to sneak by him on the last corner of the last lap.”

Lewis placed third in the No. 98 Competition Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian entry, just .355 of a second behind Thompson in a fantastic finish in Round 6 of the season.

The final lap was a breathtaking duel between Benitez and Thompson, with their dramatic dicing through lapped traffic to add another twist.

Benitez, from Valencia, Venezuela, led Thompson by .113 of a second in the No. 05 Formula Motorsport/Avid Motorsport Porsche at the white flag. Both cars snaked around the 11-turn, 3.4-mile circuit in tandem on the final lap. Benitez came up on the lapped car of Seth Davidow – Thompson’s Kelly Moss Motorsports teammate — in the famous “Boot” section of the circuit, with less just four turns remaining in the race.

Davidow made his car wide, letting Thompson get a critical run exiting the penultimate corner of the circuit, a left-hander. Then Benitez and Thompson split Davidow’s lapped car entering the final corner, a right-hander, with Benitez on the outside and Thompson on the inside.

Thompson dove hard for the curbing in the corner and made his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup stick at the apex, powering out of the corner and driving to the checkered for a thrilling first victory. International Motor Sports Association officials penalized Davidow 30 seconds after the race for blocking.

“We had a good car, an incredible car,” said Benitez, who drives for the only single-car team in the Platinum Cup division. “The guys from Formula Motorsport and Avid Motorsports did a great job setting up the car. We were the fastest, and we were away from the pack. And suddenly other teams with more cars were putting their cars in front of me just to block me. He (Thompson) passed me in the last turn, and it’s not cool at all that teams do that. We are all here trying to do our best to improve. They shouldn’t win like that. I want to say thank you to IMSA for doing this, and I know they will do the best to resolve it.”

Thompson took the championship lead by two points, 96-94, over Benitez with the victory. He and Benitez entered this event tied atop the standings with 76 points.

Kasey Kuhlman, from Cincinnati, finished fourth overall and was the first Platinum Masters (age 45 and older) finisher in the No. 15 Wright Motorsports entry. Christina Nielsen, from Aarhus, Denmark, rounded out the top five in the No. 25 NGT Motorsport Porsche.

“It was my first start on the first row since 2011, so I was very excited,” Kuhlman added. “I had a good car. I lost my helmet cooler right at the start of the race, and the heat just got to me. Fatigue, I think, cost me an (overall) podium spot. It was a good run. Didn’t make a lot of mistakes but just a little slower than the rest of the group. I’m happy with the day overall.”

Javier Quiros finished second in the Platinum Masters in the No. 27 NGT Motorsport entry, with David Williams rounding out the Platinum Masters podium in the No. 37 TPC Racing 911 GT3 Cup car.

“At the beginning, I tried to keep up with the big bunch of guys, but I don’t know – something happened to me,” Quiros explained. “My brake or something got stuck, and everyone started passing me. In about the eighth lap, I thought to myself, ‘OK, Javier, you can either stop in the pits and drink water or start to move. So I decided to start moving. And I did, but it was little too late. I picked up quite a few places and was able to get second in the class, but tomorrow I want the win.”

Masters driver Michael Levitas was the top Gold Cup (2010-2013 model cars) finisher in the No. 35 TPC Racing entry. Joining Levitas on the Gold Cup podium were runner-up and fellow Masters driver Jeff Mosing in the No. 01 Topp Racing entry and Kristin Treager in the No. 52 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

“It’s just flippin’ fantastic. It was a great race,” added Levitas. “That was just a classic race from top to bottom, where if I wasn’t good at the start, it was done. It was tough. It was just a great race. This is how races should be. Great competition, great series. IMSA just did a fantastic job, and the competitors are awesome. But I’ll tell you when I get home I’m getting Yokohama tires for my Porsche. My car was so tight on the start. I was grinding my front left tire so hard. I had such confidence with those tires. Yokohama, great tires.”

2009 Gold Cup season champion Melanie Snow was the third driver on the Gold Masters podium in her season debut in the No. 57 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

“I had a really bad start, so I was trying to make it back up,” Snow stated. “There was a car off in just about every turn on that first lap, so if you could avoid the mayhem it was good. I just tried to get my head back together and get back in the groove after all the weaving and swerving. And then I just picked it up. I think I overdrove a little in the beginning and wore my tires down, so I had to let them rest. I was hoping to catch chase Kristin (Treager) and (Patrick-Otto) Madsen down in the end, and I just wasn’t able to do it. It was my own fault. I pushed too hard in the beginning and had some quick laps, but it was so fun to be back in the car again and so great to be back here. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better for me.”

Mark Bullitt earned the Yokohama Hard Charger Award after climbing to ninth after starting 14th in his No. 26 NGT Motorsport Porsche.

“It was very good,” Bullitt concluded. “The car was great, and the track is amazing. We didn’t have a lot of traffic to deal with, so we could make up a lot of spots step by step. It was very consistent, just good times.”

Round 7 of the season, another 45-minute race, was held at 6:45 p.m. (ET) Saturday.

For more information about Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, visitwww.gt3cupchallengeusa.com, follow hashtag #GT3USA @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook. For live updates of on-track action during the season, follow @IMSALive on Twitter.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.