Tough Day for TeamTGM at Road America

Elkhart Lake, Wis. (3 August 2019) – A race day that saw sunshine and torrential downpours threw a wrench in the strategy for IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams including TeamTGM who after a 10-minute dash to the finish in wet conditions, finished 15th and 17th.

It was a busy day at Road America for the TeamTGM guys with qualifying and the Road America 120 all within five hours of each other. Owen Trinkler qualified the No. 46 Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis (JKTG) Foundation / Camp Boggy Creek Mercedes-AMG GT4 on the front row for the main event.

The performance marked the third consecutive front row start for Trinkler in the www.jktgfoundation.org entry. Co-driving with Hugh Plumb, the duo set themselves in a strong position for the green flag.

The sister No. 4 JKTGfoundation.org / Camp Boggy Creek Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Ted Giovanis and Guy Cosmo continued to show improvement through practice to start on the tenth row.

The team was ready to go for the two hour event, but that preparation was put on hold as a severe storm cell raged through the track, as track officials urged fans and crew to take shelter. The race was on hold for just over an hour before the green flag flew for a race that was shortened to one hour and 15-minutes.

Starting on wet Michelin tires, Trinkler took the green flag to make a noteworthy outside pass in Turn 1. That highlight quickly ended when the back end of the No. 46 Mercedes locked up and looped Trinkler around causing him to fall down the order to 31st overall.

Trinkler made a mad dash through the field to bring the Mercedes-AMG to 10th in class before pitting on lap 12.

Giovanis had an equally solid start despite treacherous conditions maintaining his gap to the leaders throughout his 30-minute stint. Giovanis brought the No. 4 Mercedes into pit lane on lap 13 and turned over a clean car to Cosmo who closed out the race.

On his way to get his lap back, Plumb was laying down lap times that were nearly a half a second faster than the leading class cars. With 30-minutes remaining the rain started to fall once again and shortly after the first full course caution of the race came out.

The team made a gamble to stay out on slick tires in hopes of one final full course caution following the restart, but conditions were too wet to continue and both the team cars headed to pit lane with just under 15-minutes remaining for Michelin rain tires.

A shuffle in the order and a sprint to the finish saw the No. 4 Mercedes finish 15th while the No. 46 Mercedes finished 17th.

The next round of racing action will head to VIRginia International Raceway on August 23-24.

TeamTGM Driver Quotes:

Ted Giovanis:

“The rain surprised us. There was so much carnage that we did not have the opportunity to get a result. We had to make the call to move to rain tires from slicks before we started and we did not have the rain set up. It was raining in different places and at different times so we struggled with making the choice of when to come in for rain tires. We will recover and move forward.”

Guy Cosmo:

“Ted did such a great job during his stint. Despite the varying conditions he maintained his gap to the leaders and didn’t let up at all. Strategy became very difficult for everyone. I found myself in a position where I wasn’t really in the race which becomes incredibly risky. We were still on slicks during a restart and while I do want to race – it wasn’t the time for me to race. There was nothing for us to gain and did not want to put the car at risk. Overall, it was a lackluster day.”

Owen Trinkler:

“Today was a tough day. The rain really caught us off guard and we had to completely change our strategy. A huge thank you to the crew guys, they didn’t slip up and were ready for all of the obstacles that were thrown at us today. It’s a shame we couldn’t come home with a better result but we’ll come back at VIR even stronger.”