IPC: Road Atlanta
MLT brings home a Podium Finish at the Team’s home race.
Braselton, GA- The final race of the 2022 season and the final race for the IMSA Prototype Challenge Series, the two-driver format going away next year, was set at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. However, LMP3 isn’t going anywhere, and will be the premier class of the new IMSA VP Sportscar Challenge featuring the prototypes and GT4 equipment in a two 45-minute sprint race format for 2023.
The sendoff for this format was set to be an exciting one as MLT showed the pace to run up front and challenge for trophies. After a strong run holding the top of the leader board for most of Practice 1, and running used tires in Practice 2 the team was confident heading into qualifying. Jason Rabe was set to qualify the car and ended up placing us on the front half of the grid in 8th place.
The race was set to start at 8 am on Friday morning, with the sun glaring in the driver’s eyes heading into the fast Turn 1. Jason Rabe did his job and kept the car clean and leaders in sight, gaining one spot to bring the car to the pit stop in 7th with a pack all batting for the top 5. The pit crew executed a perfect stop and dropped Corey Lewis onto four new Michelin Tires to wait on the command to launch for the limit of the timed pit-lane delta. With the quick pit-work and precise timing MLT Motorsports was the only team in the race to be within 1 second of the minimum pit-lane time.
With Corey Lewis in the car, he went to work running down the competition and placing himself in 3rd before a full course yellow came out. This put the leaders in sight, but several laps down cars were in the mix on the final restart. Despite being laps down, several of these cars made life very difficult for the MLT LMP3 and allowed the leaders to pull a gap on Lewis. Despite this he pressed on and built a gap to the cars running behind for position. Brining the car home in 3rd place to claim trophies and champagne early on Friday morning for the MLT Motorsports Team.
Stay tuned for announcements about the Team’s 2023 plans!
About MLT Motorsports:
Founded in 2018 by Dr. Mike Thompson, MLT Motorsports has established itself as a premier team amongst the IMSA paddock in the LMP3 category. Based near Road Atlanta the team has easy access to some of the best road courses in the country and importantly Florida, where the sportscar racing world kicks off every winter at Daytona and Sebring. Constant investment and maintenance have seen the team arrive to each race weekend with top-notch race cars and state-of the art equipment.
Early success can be attributed to the hard work and experience the team possesses as the first win came on their second start at Mid-Ohio in 2019. During the 2021 season MLT finished off the podium only once on the way to a double championship win; earning the IMSA Prototype Challenge Team’s and Driver’s Championship with drivers Dakota Dickerson and Josh Sarchet. Parlaying the success of 2021 Championship MLT made its IMSA Weathertech Championship debut at Mid-Ohio in May of 2022 joining the ranks of the best sportscar teams in the world.
For inquiries on testing and race programs email us at: info@mltmotorsports.com