A rim failure, followed by a crash, brought GEBHARDT Motorsport’s title hopes in the IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge to an end.
The season finale of the IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge took place at the legendary Road America circuit. GEBHARDT Motorsport fielded two Duqueine D09 LMP3 prototypes on the historic circuit. Oscar Tunjo and Valentino Catalano travelled to Wisconsin as championship leaders and gave their all to bring the title back to Sinsheim.
In qualifying, Oscar Tunjo secured pole position for the two-hour race. This meant that the GEBHARDT Motorsport car, bearing start number #1, had started from pole position in all four endurance races.
Oscar Tunjo also led the race for the first hour, and it looked as though the long-established team from Sinsheim would be celebrating another title in the LMP3 class. However, with around 56 minutes of the race remaining, Tunjo crashed heavily at the exit of the “Carousel” following a problem with the rim, and their title hopes came to an end in the gravel at Turn 10.
The sister car driven by Jake Williamson and Danny Soufi had already retired earlier. It was a day to forget for the GEBHARDT Motorsport team.
“Of course, we would have loved to win the title in the IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge,” explains team principal Fritz Gebhardt. “Unfortunately, Oscar had a heavy crash following the rim problem, but the most important thing is that he’s all right. We still hold the top two positions in the overall standings of the IMSA VP SportsCar Challenge and will give it our all to secure the title at Road Atlanta. We’ll also be fighting to secure the title for the GMS team in the Prototype Cup Europe.”
Due to this bitter retirement, Oscar Tunjo and Valentino Catalano are now third in the IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge championship. Jake Williamson and Danny Soufi finished the endurance race in fifth place.
