The brand new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport has won its inaugural race, the Endurance Challenge at Daytona, today at Daytona International Speedway. RS1, a longtime Porsche entrant in the GS class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, was able to stave-off heated competition from fellow Porsche privateer TeamTGM to score the victory in the 4.0-liter flat-six engined-sports car’s competition debut. It was the first series win for the driving combination of Eric Filgueiras (Cocoa, Florida) and Stevan McAleer (Scotland). The four-hour race was the first GT4-spec victory on the 2.56-mile, 12-turn road course for Porsche since RS1 earned the first win for a then new Porsche 718 Cayman in 2018. In total, nine Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport race cars finished today’s season-opening enduro with four cars in the top-ten overall.

The No. 28 RS1 Porsche of eventual race winners McAleer and Porsche Motorsport Pyramid graduate Filgueiras pushed hard from the start battling past the pole position-winning No. 8 McCann Racing Porsche. The first-year McCann team with drivers Andrew Davis (Athens, Georgia) and Michael McCann (Canton, Ohio) would fall out of contention with a punctured left-front with just over one-hour remaining. They would continue in the race but have to settle for 25th in the 48-car field.

TeamTGM returned to the Porsche family with a pair of the new machines. It was team owner Ted Giovanis (Highland, Maryland) and veteran Owen Trinkler (Brentwood, Tennessee) who charged to a second-place finish in the No. 64 Porsche. Their team car of brothers Hugh Plumb (Unionville, Pennsylvania) and Matt Plumb (Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania) finished the race in sixth-place. All four TGM drivers will race the No. 64 Porsche 911 GT3 R race car in the Rolex 24, January 29 – 30. In fourth-place, was the No. 93 of Carbahn with Peregrine Racing. The new-to-Porsche GT4 operation saw Mark Seigel (Palo Alto, California), Tom Dyer (West Jordan, Utah) and Tyler McQuarrie (Danville, California) share driving duties on the way to the top-five result.

Longtime Porsche entrant GMG Racing earned a top-15 result in the No. 32 being driven by Canadian Kyle Washington and James Sofronas (Villa Park, California). The pairing will return for Saturday’s 60th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the No. 34 Porsche 911 GT3 R along with Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) and Klaus Bachler (Austria). The No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Jason Hart (Flower Mount, Texas) and Matt Travis (The Woodlands, Texas) crossed the finish line 19th overall. In 21st was Black Swan Racing’s No. 540 shared by owner/driver Tim Pappas (Boston, Massachusetts) and Dutch brothers Jeroen and Sebastian Bleekemolen.

Round Two of the 2022 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is scheduled for Thursday, March 17 at Sebring International Raceway. The two-hour race will take place as part of the annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Eric Filgueiras, Driver, No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
“We are really proud of this win. This is my first IMSA race and first IMSA win. I have been associated with RS1 for a while and we wanted to put all the pieces together. I raced in half a season of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America last year, so I was familiar with the 718 platform, and it just felt like home. We are proud to have RS1 back on top… it is where they should be.”

Stevan McAleer, Driver, No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
“The race was incredible. There has been a lot of bad luck the last few years here and to get the Cayman upfront in its debut in the series is special. It is quite a car. There are a lot of Porsche race cars on the track out there and I think just from the sheer number of Porsche cars it showed the teams favoring that this was going to be a good car this year. Eric did an absolute phenomenal job, the first time in IMSA for him. He ran as quick as the guys up front. How we won this race today, comfortably, is that the car didn’t fall off. I am blown away that the Michelin tire could go that long on this car; same brake and turn-in points over the stint. I am delighted to get a win for RS1.”

Ted Giovanis, Driver/Owner, No. 64 TeamTGM Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
“I’ve been on the podium before but not since 2016 so this is great. I was really hoping for a win. It seemed like the team was going to be in a good position, but the number 28 car had just a little too much on us in the banking and was able to get us. But all in all, we are just ecstatic with this performance and I’m sorry that Owen got overheated but he’ll be fine. Owen has been driving like a man on fire this weekend. I’m ecstatic, more then we could have imagined.”

Owen Trinkler, Driver, No. 64 TeamTGM Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
“First of all, I’m super happy for Ted. This has been coming for a little while. We almost had the win at Atlanta, but we made it up at Daytona, at the World Center of Racing. Almost got the win, we just didn’t have the speed that the number 28 had. I can’t say enough for our guys. We got this car and in seven days had it on track at Sebring and put some miles on it. We did limited practice here because of weather conditions and look where we are. Not the top step but we led a lot of this race toward the end. Ted’s first podium in Michelin Pilot Challenge GS ever and I’m just so happy for our boys and how we’ve grown as a team and where we are going. The Porsche performed flawlessly. Looking forward to this year.”

Matt Plumb, Driver, No. 46 TeamTGM Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
“The performance of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport is great. But I think Daytona can be a bit deceptive because it’s such a unique track. Which really suits the strengths of the Porsche. The car is so great, amazing race car. So happy for Ted and Owen to get a podium, first out with this brand new car, glad we could support them.”

Hugh Plumb, Driver, No. 46 TeamTGM Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
“Super excited for TGM, I think we had two really positive finishes today, P2 for the number 64 car with Ted and Owen. Matt was sixth after battling some earlier issues in his stint. Onwards and upwards, I couldn’t be happier for all the guys, we had excellent stops. We have precedence to the No. 64 car, which that’s the deal, when they are in front of us we give the pit stop to them as they’ve done for us. Hats off to all the guys at TGM and Ted and Owen. It’s a big day tomorrow with the start of the 24-hour race and look to have the same sort of success as we did today.”