WATKINS GLEN, New York – The No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 team, co-drivers Michael de Quesada, Daniel Morad and Billy Johnson, secured a season-best fifth-place finish Sunday in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Morad started the race on the outside of the second row after qualifying fourth on Saturday, and joined de Quesada and Johnson in never running out of the top five throughout the six-hour race on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen road course.
The Alegra team and drivers arrived to Watkins Glen determined to shake off a streak of bad luck in the first four races of the year, including a pair of contact-related retirements at the Detroit Grand Prix and early in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
At The Glen, however, the Alegra team and drivers never put a wheel wrong and avoided the bad luck that hampered some of their competition on Sunday.
Morad pitted the No. 28 from third after his opening shift and handed off to de Quesada, who raced in the top-four throughout his double stint behind the wheel.
Johnson anchored the middle portion of the race before Morad returned to the No. 28 for the final run to the finish. Morad was in a podium position for a late-race restart with 30 minutes to go but was taken high in turn one by the race leader and then lost positions when another competitor checked-up on him later in the same lap.
Morad maintained his focus and defended the fifth-place position to the finish, sealing the season-best result and giving the Alegra team some strong momentum heading into Friday evening’s second IMSA WeatherTech Championship race at The Glen in six days.
The IMSA WeatherTech 240 is a two-hour and 40-minute race scheduled to start at The Glen this Friday, July 2 at 6:10 p.m. EDT. Live coverage for the entirety of the race begins at 6 p.m. EDT on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN).
The No 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team of Kenny Habul, Mikael Grenier and Maro Engel also competed in Sunday’s six-hour race only to be retired after an early suspension issue dropped them from contention.
Three Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams secured top-10 finishes in Saturday’s hard-fought IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race, a four-hour battle that was slowed by a string of contact-related caution periods for more than 90 minutes and 31 of the race’s 104 laps.
A pair of Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries and one of Winward Racing’s two Mercedes-AMG GT4 challengers were among the top-10 finishers.
No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss crossed the line in sixth place after leading four laps.
Murillo’s sister No. 65 Mercedes-AMG GT4 entry of Brent Mosing, Tim Probert and Kenny Murillo finished 10th.
The Murillo duo was split by the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Bryce Ward and Alec Udell, climbing back from a first-lap spin to lead four laps and finish ninth.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge series joins the WeatherTech Championship for this Friday’s quick return engagement at The Glen. A two-hour Pilot Challenge sprint race at 2:35 p.m. EDT is the opening round of Friday’s doubleheader that concludes with the WeatherTech 240 at 6:10 p.m. EDT.
Daniel Morad, Driver – No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It was a great day. All three drivers did their job. The team executed every pit stop perfectly and the strategy was awesome. We had a really great call by Cole Scrogham, our strategist, and a fantastic Mercedes-AMG GT3. Well done to the engineering team for getting this thing dialed in from the moment it came off the truck. We had a great weekend. We qualified top five and ran in the top five all day. On the last restart, when it was really tight, a lot of traffic was coming through with faster Prototypes and GTLM cars. Going through the last corner the car in front of me completely checked up and caught me out. There were cars to the left and right of me, and I just had to check right up, and the competition had free reign and the momentum to ease by down the straight. It is still just a great result all around, and good momentum going into the next one.”
Michael de Quesada, Driver – No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It’s definitely been a tough season so far. We’re a privateer team, we have a limited budget, and to go from race to race is already a struggle, not to mention crashed cars. It’s like climbing Mount Everest but coming here this weekend we all felt good. We made no mistakes. Every single driver did an incredible job, and the strategist especially, giving us that jump at the last yellow. I think everybody is excited to carry the momentum to the sprint race next week.”
Billy Johnson, Driver – No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It’s great to finally get the monkey off our back and have a solid race. The team really deserves a win for all of the bad luck and the hard work they’ve put into running this car, into this season and coming back race after race. It’s definitely a huge accomplishment to get our first top-five. We look forward to moving up the finishing order even more and getting to the top step of the podium, because that’s what this team deserves. I’m excited and happy for everybody, it’s great to be a part of it and be back in the Alegra Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the Michelin Endurance Cup series. We’re moving in the right direction. The team did an awesome job, and the handling of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 is the best it has ever been.”
Eric Foss, Driver – No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “We knew we were going to have to do something a little different. We got out of sync on the pit strategy, and it was really working out for us. Even at the end there we were in a good window, so we were able to just take a little bit of fuel and sneak some tires on the rear of the car. That put us in a really good position on the last restart. Our Mercedes-AMG GT4 was just on point, our strengths are in the corners, and the consistency and the reliability are what is so amazing. You can drive the Mercedes-AMG GT4 at 11/10ths all day and it never complains.”
Alec Udell, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “Overall, it was a good race for us. We moved forward which is always nice. We had a bit more in our Mercedes-AMG GT4, but I made a small mistake when I was fighting Eric on the last restart and went wide in turn one and lost a few spots. I was able to claw back two or three places and got back to ninth. The Winward team was great, and we had really awesome pit stops. I think we had a really good strategy going. We were just about to come in before the last caution which, would have put us perfectly on strategy. We’re going to head back home to Houston for a little bit, we’ll come back on Wednesday and hit it again.”
Kenny Murillo, Driver – No. 65 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “It was challenging, for sure. We just focused on staying out of trouble and doing the best we could do to see where we ended up. I can’t thank Tim and Brent enough for the opportunity to drive this great Mercedes-AMG GT4 for two hours and 10 minutes out there against the pro drivers. It was a huge learning opportunity. We did pretty well but, unfortunately, got some damage that hurt the performance for the last 30 minutes. We really felt like we could have run right there with Eric and worked as a team, but I’m super grateful to be here racing in IMSA. It was an absolute blast, and I wouldn’t change anything.”
