In Friday’s two-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing entries were competitive from the start, but it was an unexpected pair of drivers that stepped up to deliver the best result for the Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Polesitter Owen Trinkler and his co-driver Hugh Plumb battled for the lead for the majority of the race in the No. 46 TeamTGM Mercedes-AMG GT4. The duo ran no lower than second in the race’s first 90 minutes, which was the position Plumb was in when he was spun from behind in Turn 7 with less than 30 minutes to go. The incident knocked the No. 46 down to an eventual 13th place finish.
Murry stepped up from there and, after taking over the No. 35 from Cox, charged from 13th in the field to a fourth-place finish. The 15-year-old was even closing on the third-place finisher when the checkered flag waved.
The No. 35 Riley Motorsports entry was one of two Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams finishing in the top-10 in the IMSA Pilot Challenge race. Bryce Ward and Christian Hohenadel overcame some in-race challenges to finish ninth in the No. 57 Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The two-hour IMSA Pilot Challenge race can be seen in delayed coverage on the NBC Sports Network on March 28 at 3 p.m. EDT.
Dylan Murry, Driver – No. 35 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I’m a little disappointed, but at the same time you can’t be disappointed with this kind of finish. On the last lap I caught up 50 yards. In turn 17, it was barely enough to get to him. I got to his right rear corner, touched him a little bit, he got loose but it still wasn’t enough, and we ended up fourth. We were 13th after the last pit stop because we were the only car that got four tires. It looks like Riley Motorsports made the right decision on that one, because we worked all the way back up. I was passing one or two cars a lap, left and right, and finally worked my way up to fourth. With five laps to go I finally saw third. If the finish line was closer to Turn 1, we might have been on the podium! The Mercedes-AMG GT4 was there all day. It was a very fast car. Old tires, new tires, it didn’t matter. Mercedes-AMG did a great job designing this car.”
Jim Cox, Driver – No. 35 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “We’re absolutely thrilled. We were five feet from being on the last step of the podium. The Riley Motorsports team prepared an incredible Mercedes-AMG GT4 for us, and this car is so compliant over the bumps here at Sebring. It just makes for a great car. I had my best qualifying position in the series so far, and Dylan absolutely drove the wheels off of it in his stint. We’re just so happy and looking forward to the next race at Mid-Ohio. We think the Mercedes-AMG GT4 is going to be a great car there.”
Christian Hohenadel, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4: “The Mercedes-AMG GT4 was quite good and my teammate Bryce Ward did a fantastic job after the start. I jumped into the car and it felt great, we had a couple of great laps there, but then I struggled a little bit with an ABS issue. It was a little bit unpredictable, but at least we brought the car back in one piece. It was one of the hardest races I have had so far, but we finished, collected points and it is a long season. We finished without a scratch on the car and I am looking forward to the next race.”