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Jul 1, 2014 / reports

GIMPLE TAKES FIRST IMSA WIN AT WATKINS GLEN

Kyle Gimple is having a summer to remember as the young driver backed up his career-best qualifying result on Friday with a debut IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge victory on Saturday in the Continental Tire 150 at the Glen in the No. 75 Honda Civic Si Children’s Tumor Foundation/HPD/Racing4Research.org for Compass360 Racing. 

Gimple and co-driver Ryan Eversley had to maximize fuel economy throughout an expectedly long green flag run to the finish after their pit stop to take a dramatic victory on Saturday. 

 

“This feels great!” enthused Gimple, who scored second at Watkins Glen last year with Eversley and was able to come back to go one better this year. “The whole weekend, we knew we’d be fast and consistent. We knew that the Porsches were going to be fast, but it came down to fuel strategy in the end and Ryan was able to milk it for all we had and come away with a win.”

 

 

Gimple opened the race from third on the 59-car combined class grid, and was able to make a quick move up into second place after the race restarted following a start line crash at the green flag. Gimple knew that his car was going to be stout, and showed that with a long stint in podium position before turning the car over to Eversley. 

 

Eversley managed to conserve fuel while shadowing the leading Porsche before it ran out of gas, bringing it home for Compass360 Racing, giving the team its first CTSCC win since Virginia International Raceway in 2011. 

 

 

“When we went back to green I got by the Mazda, but the Porsche had so much straight line speed that there was nothing I could do,” said Gimple. “Last year we were really strong and just got beat on the last lap so this feels really good. Ryan did a great job to save the fuel that he did for us to win. This is great for the championship.  Now we’ll just look forward to the home race for Compass360 when we go up to Mosport next month.”

 

 

The next stop for Gimple on the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge schedule is Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in two weeks.

 

(Courtesy Sunday Group Management.)