Jul 1, 2018
WATKINS GLEN, NY – Courtesy of Ford Performance – After almost winning at Mid-Ohio, Chad McCumbee and Pat Gallagher made it to the top of the podium for the first time together in a Ford Mustang GT4 at the Continental Tire 240 at Watkins Glen International.
The two combined to earn the Mustang GT4’s third win in a row after starting on the front row at p2, next to the pole-winning No. 80 Mustang GT4 and driver Brett Sandberg.
“This is the most competitive sportscar series I’ve ever been a part of,” McCumbee said.
“The intensity and talent throughout this field is second-to-none, and to win like we did today, it was really convincing. It’s great for ModSpace, Multimatic, everybody on our side and the Good Lord above. This is big. I feel like it’s probably one of the biggest moments of my road course career, coming over from stock cars.”
The No. 80 dominated early before getting turned into a tire wall halfway through the race. Sandberg and co-driver Martin Barkey finished 15th.
“Two podiums in a row, a second and a first, is great,” Gallagher said. “Multimatic has been giving us great cars to get some results, so we’ll keep it rolling. I really wanted to win at Mid-Ohio because it’s my home track, but Watkins Glen is one of my favorites also.
“We had a rough start to the year, but we’ll just keep trying to put this ModSpace Mustang in the middle step in the podium and see where we end at the end of the year.”
Nate Stacy and Kyle Marcelli, who won the second and third Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series races in a row at Sebring and Mid-Ohio, finished third in the No. 60 Scudo Mustang GT4.
“It was a crazy race,” Stacy said. “We started back in p7 and Kyle had worked his way up to p5 by the time I got the car. Thanks to some hard battling we got up to p3. It was a long stint. We doubled up in the middle. Overall, a really good run. Three podiums in a row, so I can’t complain. Good run overall and we can’t wait for the next race.”
Stacy and Marcelli drove one of two Ford Mustang GT4s that carried special patriotic paint schemes in honor of the U.S. Independence Day holiday for KohR Motorsports. Both were inspired by colors made famous by military war planes. The No. 59 Mustang campaigned by KohR finished 20th after retiring early, with suspected damage from earlier contact.
Ford NASCAR development driver Ty Majeski returned to IMSA competition with co-driver and mentor Scott Maxwell in the No. 15 Multimatic GT4. The two finished ninth.
The No. 7 fielded by VOLT Landscape Lighting Mustang GT4 finished 13th after qualifying fifth.
The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series returns next week at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.