LAKEVILLE, Conn. — Bijoy Garg learned his lesson the hard way — twice — in the most recent round of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
The Jr III Racing driver wasn’t about to let it happen a third time Saturday morning at Lime Rock Park.
Garg bolted to a strong start at the beginning of the 45-minute race, as well as a pair of restarts from full-course cautions, to lead flag-to-flag in the No. 3 Jr III Ligier JS P320. He won by 11.025 seconds over Dan Goldburg in the No. 73 JDC MotorSports Duqueine D08, chopping Goldburg’s lead over Garg to unofficially just 20 points heading into the second race later in the day.
While Garg took the overall and Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) victory, John “JCD” Dubets controlled the GSX class race as well, winning from the pole position in his VP Racing Challenge debut and leading an Auto Technic Racing podium sweep in the team’s home race.
Slow starts off the line led to a pair of second-place finishes for Garg two weeks ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
He was determined to not repeat the gaffes.
“Honestly, with what happened at Mosport with the starts, this feels like a relief,” Garg admitted. “It’s back where we should be. Hopefully, we can continue this momentum. Really, really excited.”
The excitement is bubbling over to the second race at 3:05 p.m. (ET), since Garg will once again lead the field to the green flag.
“I don’t see why we can’t do the same thing as the first race,” he said. “I felt like I could really control the start, and to be honest, it’s quite hard to pass another LMP3 around here. Hopefully, I can use that to my advantage and pull away.”
Dubets’ win mirrored Garg’s in that he started from the class pole and was never seriously threatened on the initial start or the restarts. He brought the No. 26 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) home 3.561 seconds ahead of teammate Jake Walker in the No. 24 BMW, with Stephen Cugliari taking third in the team’s No. 25 BMW.
“This one’s extra special for us because the team I race for, the team that took a chance on me and put me to work, they’re right here in New Milford so this is their home race,” Dubets said. “We got three cars on the podium so that’s the best way we could go today. Those BMWs, man, they were dialed in!
“I really owe it to the guys because the car was really easy to drive and it did all the work. I just happened to be the passenger.”
A first-lap incident left the GSX season race in disarray.
Points leader Sebastian Carazo (No. 27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport) and Tim Probert (No. 65 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4) both crashed hard into the Turn 1 barrier after contact that also included Patrick Wilmot (No. 88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 (G82)). No drivers were injured but the damage to Carazo’s and Probert’s cars puts their participation in this afternoon’s second race in jeopardy.
With his fourth-place finish in the morning race, Francis Selldorff (No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW) unofficially overtook Carazo atop the GSX standings by 10 points leading into race two.