Daring Last Gasp Pass by Westphal Secures Another Podium for Peregrine Racing
Lakeville, Conn. (July 18, 2022) — It took a dedicated effort by Peregrine Racing’s GTD outfit to prepare their new Carbahn Motorsports prepped No. 39 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO after an unjust accident in their last outing. They now have a trophy to show for it.
From his season best starting position of second place, Robert Megennis made a move for the lead into the first turn of the Northeast Grand Prix. IMSA officials quickly penalized the team for changing lanes at the start, but the early adversity couldn’t keep the rapid green and gray machine from achieving third position and its second podium of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
After serving their penalty on Lap 5 and dropping back to last place, Megennis quickly recovered a pair of positions for the team. He eventually made his way to fifth position, staying out during the pit cycle for a relatively long stint and saving fuel, which proved crucial in the end.
Teammate Jeff Westphal took the wheel in the first pitstop of the two-hour and 40-minute sprint. The team told him to push, and he delivered, methodically carving through the Connecticut hills until a late caution provided an opportunity to pounce.
At the culmination of a hectic, contact-filled sprint to the finish across the entire GTD field, Westphal jumped two wheels over the curb in the final corner. He went three-wide to pass two AMG cars on the inside, one of which had just run out of fuel. The electric move by the seasoned veteran gave Peregrine their second piece of hardware on the year and a much needed boost of momentum with three rounds remaining.
Peregrine Racing’s No. 93 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, piloted by Mark Siegel, started Saturday morning’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Lime Rock 120 in 19th position. Siegel drove a consistent stint to hand the car to Tyler McQuarrie. The American Pro drove well to finish in 13th place, contending with TCR traffic and gaining multiple positions towards the end of the race.
“After a month of adversity, a herculean effort by the crew to prepare the car, and an early setback at the hands of the race stewards, I am absolutely thrilled with this third-place result," said team owner Sameer Gandhi. "This team just keeps fighting—I couldn’t be prouder of all the men and women in black and green. We won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. You always have to keep digging in this sport, and that’s what we did today. A trophy is just what we need to energize us for the upcoming final three rounds of our first full year in GTD. On the IMPC side, 13th place is a solid result in such a competitive field. We’ll look to keep improving at Road America.”
The 2022 season continues for Peregrine Racing next month with the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America on August 4-7. Green flag for the second to last sprint of the year waves at 2:40 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 7. Full coverage can be streamed on Peacock, with replay coverage on USA Network at 6:30 p.m. ET that evening.
INSIGHT FROM THE GTD COCKPIT:
Robert Megennis:
“That was crazy. I am shocked. I’m so bummed about the penalty at the start, but everyone did such a good job recovering from it. Jeff had an amazing final stint. The team had great pit stops, perfect strategy, we were saving fuel the whole time, and we were still quick. The car was so fast all weekend. I’m hyped that we got the good result that the team so deserves. The crew has been flawless all day and I appreciate the support of Optimizely, DataRobot, Palantir, Gigamon and SailPoint so much. Thank you for partnering with us and making all of this possible.
Jeff Westphal:
“That last stint was a bullfight in a bullring driving a bull—and I had to drive it by the horns to get everything out of it. We had enough fuel to make it. They told me not to save and just go for it so I tried to close the gap to the cars ahead. Then I had to defend from those behind after we got bottlenecked up with that late yellow. There was bumping, there was rubbing, there was all sorts of business. In the end, I took a risk, jumped a curb, and we finished P3.”
INSIGHT FROM THE IMPC COCKPIT:
Tyler McQuarrie:
“Lime Rock Park is the smallest track we go to and that breeds aggression and contact. It’s also one of the toughest to extract the speed out of the car. This was Mark’s first time here and he did a phenomenal job during his opening stint, handing me a clean car, but we unfortunately fell a lap down. The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport was fast and I was matching the pace of the leaders. Even though we were a lap down, we still had a shot at a top 10. A late long yellow helped some cars that weren’t going to make it on fuel so we had to settle for 13th. Very happy with the effort from the entire team!”
Mark Siegel:
“This weekend was my first time racing Lime Rock Park and we had a great car. The Carbahn team did an awesome job, as usual, giving us a very fast platform. Unfortunately, we had a qualifying that placed us towards the back, but I was able to maintain position. We did go a lap down, but Tyler was able to gain a few spots and finish in 13th. For my first time tackling the track, I am content with that, but next year we’re going to do better.”
