Dion von Moltke held off veteran Randy Pobst throughout the final half hour, giving the APR Volkswagen team its first KONI Challenge Street Tuner victory. Von Moltke was at the wheel of the No. 181 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI started by Mike Sweeney.
“It was awesome, to go up against the best and score our first victory,” von Moltke said. “I was happy to bring home the first victory for APR; they’ve done a lot of hard work to get here.”
Pobst was seeking his third victory of the season in the No. 74 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si, but came up .501 seconds short at the checkered flag. Christian Miller, who started the race, managed to extend his ST championship lead to 16 points over Ashley McCalmont (175-159). Compass360 was going for its third straight win at Watkins Glen.
“I think I had the best car, but not in the right places,” Pobst said. “There wasn’t a good place to get around the VW. I was hoping for Dion to make a mistake, but he didn’t. He helped Christian extend his points lead, so we’re pretty excited about finishing second.”
McCalmont scored her second consecutive podium finish, taking third in the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt. Jamie Holtom, the 2008 ST champion, took third for the second consecutive race since rejoining his championship team.
Andrew Aquilante and Kristian Skavnes finished fourth in the No. 111 Subaru of America Subaru Legacy, followed by Andrew Burrows and Trevor Hopwood in RSR Motorsports’ No. 198 Cruise America/Fischer Skis Mini Cooper S.
Nine ST drivers exchanged the lead eight times. Ian Baas started on the pole in APR’s No. 171 APR Tuning/Gunther VW Volkswagen GTI and led 26 laps in a car he shared with rookie Josh Hurley.
The next action for the KONI Challenge will be at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a pair of two and a half hour races June 20-21. The ST class will race on Saturday at 1:45 p.m., while the GS competitors race Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
For additional information, visit www.grand-am.com, or go to www.twitter.com/RolexSeries for weekend updates.