Promising Run for Peregrine Racing at VIRginia International Raceway Ended by Contact, Puncture
Alton, V.A. (Aug. 30, 2022) — Peregrine Racing’s Carbahn Motorsports prepped No. 39 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO finished in eleventh place in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, the final sprint race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. The team was hoping to gain ground in the championship standings in Sunday’s race at VIRginia International Raceway. A podium was looking certain for the No. 39 before contact from a competitor sent the green and gray Lamborghini to the pits for repairs and to the back of the field. The car that initiated the contact continued on without penalty.
Robert Megennis qualified in fourth position on Saturday, putting the team in a position to succeed on race day. He completed the first stint of the race cleanly, holding position at the start and running inside the top five.
Jeff Westphal ran in fourth position before making a move on track for third. The provisional podium put Peregrine in position to gain points on their championship rivals and would have been their third consecutive trophy. Unfortunately, a GTD competitor made contact with the rear of the car while attempting a pass in latter stages of the race causing damage, cutting a tire and sending Peregrine to the back of the field.
Peregrine’s Carbahn Motorsports prepped No. 93 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, driven by Mark Siegel and Tyler McQuarrie, finished in 19th position in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (IMPC) Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix on Saturday. Siegel did well to hold position and hand McQuarrie a clean car, with the team emerging from their driver change in ninth place. A top-five finish looked probable, but Peregrine’s IMPC team ultimately met the same misfortune as the GTD team—a late flat tire—caused this time by debris on the track.
“We have all the right ingredients to achieve results," said team owner Sameer Gandhi. "The last two races in GTD with podiums proved that, and this weekend easily could have been our fourth of the season. Racing is unpredictable and sometimes, even when you do everything right as a team, circumstances that are out of your control end your day. I’m just sorry for all the guys that work so hard on both cars that they didn’t have the results they deserve to celebrate.”
The 2022 season concludes for Peregrine Racing with the 2022 running of MOTUL Petit Le Mans on September 28-October 1. Green flag for the last race of the year waves at 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 1. Full coverage can be streamed on Peacock and partial television coverage airs on both USA and NBC networks. Follow Peregrine’s official social media channels for updates in the lead-up and during the weekend.
INSIGHT FROM THE GTD COCKPIT:
Robert Megennis:
“We entered this weekend with a real chance to better our championship prospects. I’m so proud of the Peregrine Racing crew for putting the maximum into everything they do and executing so well. I got a clean start and ran in the top five until I handed the wheel to Jeff. He was on it, as always. He had a great move that got us into the top three halfway into the race. We had a fast car and we were looking good for another great result. Unfortunately, an overly aggressive move from another driver damaged our car and forced us to pit for repairs. It’s so disappointing that no penalty was given when our race was ruined and our car was damaged because of a competitor's decision. I’m sad that it was completely out of our hands, but racing isn’t always fair. The crew killed it and the car was rapid. Leaving this race, we have one goal: win Petit Le Mans. Petit is where I earned my first GTD podium and I couldn’t be more excited to go back. Lastly, I must extend my thanks to Optimizely, DataRobot, Palantir, Gigamon and SailPoint for their loyal support.”
Jeff Westphal:
“The weekend started off fairly well. We had a good qualifying. Robert did a fantastic job and the car showed great pace on a single lap. We came into the race on a hot day and we were missing a little bit of rear grip compared to what we had all weekend so it was a bit of a struggle. Unfortunately we had a good position going—we were fourth and I made a move on-track for third—and a driver in a Mercedes that has pushed people out of the way for the last three races decided it was my turn. He shoved me wide in Turn 1 with no penalty. He was able to clear the field on raw pace and drive away and win the race, so there’s not a lot that we could’ve done there. It damaged the car and put us back in the pit lane, ending our chances. Looking forward—I love Atlanta. It’s such a fun track to drive. I’m looking forward to just being there and competing. It’s a race I’ve won in the past. The Lamborghinis have always been strong while I’ve been racing against them there. It’ll be my first crack in a Lambo and I’m excited for it.”
INSIGHT FROM THE IMPC COCKPIT:
Tyler McQuarrie:
“We came here with high expectations. As a team, we’ve had success at VIR in the past. We got the car off the trailer in a good way, but it was missing a few tenths here and there. Mark did a good job in mixed conditions for qualifying and had a great start. He stayed out of trouble in the first stint and we were in ninth place. The race went back to green and we really got held up by a couple of cars in front of us. The car felt decent and then shifted to some really bad understeer and we fought that the entire time. It made it hard to pass and the team made a great call on strategy to bring us in and get a splash of fuel to get us to the end. Even though the balance of the car wasn’t there, we were looking for a good result based on the strategy. Unfortunately, we had a tire go, and it was deflating—literally. We’ve had a couple of tough races and the crew needs a good result. We have one more race at Road Atlanta to make it happen.”
Mark Siegel:
“We started out with a car that was good, but not great. Some of it might have been track conditions, but the car was understeering a little too much. I was able to keep it in position where we started with no danger of going down a lap. We pitted under yellow and turned it over to Tyler in ninth place, which was probably the best possible end result for that stint. It gave Tyler a chance to drive the car to the front. Unfortunately, in Tyler’s stint we took an early fuel stop. Strategy-wise, we did that to get the car into clean air because we were having problems with overheating. Fast-forward to the end of the race and that would’ve worked out fantastically for us—tons of cars ran out of fuel or needed to do spots and we would’ve probably had a top-five finish. Sadly, Tyler picked up some debris on the track that cut down a tire and ended our race with about 17 minutes to go. It was a super disappointing way to end a day a day where I feel like we had the car and strategy to place much better. Looking at the season as a whole, we’ve had good luck and bad luck. As long as the team is functioning and everyone is doing their job, we’ve got a recipe that we’re happy with. I look at it as a positive day with a really unfortunate result.”
