Road Atlanta / HSR Photo
Round 3 of the 2025 HSR Classic Endurance Championship Presented by
Mission Foods Concludes Sunday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
Opening Rounds of the Inaugural HSR Road Atlanta Classic 10 Hour
Presented by Mission Foods in the Record Books
First Running of the HSR Road Atlanta Classic 10 Hour Presented by
Mission Foods Concludes Sunday Afternoon at Michelin Raceway Road
Atlanta
BRASELTON, Georgia (September 27, 2025) – The opening rounds of the
first-ever HSR Classic Road Atlanta 10 Hour presented by Mission Foods
went into the record books Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. A
morning rain shower gave way to perfect sunny and clear conditions and
even better on-track competition that saw initial Run Group leaders
emerge and, in typical endurance racing fashion, early pacesetters and
favorites encounter trouble before the day was done.
The HSR Classic Road Atlanta 10 Hour is the third round of the inaugural
HSR Classic Endurance Championship presented by Mission Foods, which
features a schedule of four “tribute events” celebrating the biggest and
longest-running sports car endurance races in the United States.
This weekend’s round pays homage to the legendary ALMS and now IMSA
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 10-hour race that concludes each
year’s contemporary sports car racing season at MRRA. The HSR Classic
Road Atlanta 10 Hour features four different Run Groups each taking to
the 2.54-mile Georgia road course for three different segments over the
course of Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday featured the first two segments for Run Groups A through D, and
convincing performances and heartbreaking disappointments were spread
throughout.
Group D features a solid field of modern Prototypes retired from
contemporary competition but still more than capable of putting on a
high-speed show at MRRA. Another “rivalry renewed” between Pierce
Marshall and Eric Foss, in the Matador Motorsports 2017 No. 02 Cadillac
DPi, and their friends and respected competitors Bob Neapole and Guy
Cosmo, in the RBN Motorsports with Cosmo-Sport 2020 No. 60 Acura ARX-05
prepared by Hudson Historics, returned to the spotlight Saturday.
Opening segment driver Marshall and second-round pilot Foss swept both
of the day’s Group D races and have a 40.511 second advantage over the
No. 60 Acura squad going into Sunday’s final. While that lead margin is
somewhat sizeable in some categories, 40 seconds can evaporate quickly
when a pair of powerful DPi teams battle it out. The Group D race will
go down to the wire in the third and final round on Sunday.
The only other leader to sweep both Saturday rounds came in Group B
where an on-form Dan Long and Dennis Olthoff drove the Downforce 1966
No. 98a Superformance GT40 prepared by Olthoff Racing to a pair of
segment victories. Similar to the Group D race, however, the Group B
battle is a close one for an endurance race, and Long and Olthoff are
just 31.253 seconds ahead of the deceivingly quick 1972 No. 63 Porsche
911 S/T of Robert Spence.
Group B shares the track with Group A in which veteran HSR race winner
and champion Todd Treffert has moved closer to his second HSR Classic
victory of the season in his sharp 1974 No. 41 Porsche 911 Carrera Cup
RSR “Baby” Turbo prepared by the 901 Shop. Treffert finished second
in Saturday’s first round and took the win in the second segment to
build a comfortable more than two-minute lead.
Treffert’s nearest Group B challenger is the equally immaculate 1976 No.
84 Chevrolet DeKon Monza of brothers Theo Bean and Patrick Bean. This
classic Porsche 911 versus Big American V8 battle between Treffert and
the Beans is a period-correct and spot-on contest that could have easily
taken place at Road Atlanta 50 years ago.
Saturday’s additional overnight leader is the 2019 No. 2 Fortress
Stabilization Porsche 991.2 GT3 R team of Ed Wheatley and top Porsche
GT3 and Carrera Cup pro driver Jimmy Llibre, who hold the edge in Group
C. Typical of this GT Modern (GTM) field, Group C is the closest of the
four competing races that make up the HSR Classic Road Atlanta. Wheatley
and Llibre holding a 22.398 second lead ahead of tight field of other
top GTM performers.
The opening Group A/B race was won in class and overall by Ford Motor
Company CEO Jim Farley, who enlisted sports car racing legend Jan
Magnussen to co-drive this weekend in the A division in Farley’s
beautiful 1978 No. 98 Ford-Lola T298 prepared by One Motorsports.
Magnussen, a three-time Petit Le Mans winner at Michelin Raceway Road
Atlanta – among his vast sports car racing achievements – was at the
wheel and leading overall in Saturday’s second Group A/B race when the
Lola lost its left rear wheel in the circuit’s Turn 6 and 7 section and
failed to finish the race.
Another unfortunate incident befell Juan Gonzalez and three-time Rolex
24 At Daytona race winner Butch Leitzinger who were set to battle the
Matador Cadillac and RBN Acura in Group D. Gonzalez was at the wheel of
his 2017 No. 81 Mission Foods Cadillac DPi, and running close in the
lead train with Marshall and Neapole, in the opening Group D race only
to be forced to the pits with a mechanical issue. The team removed the
engine cover and spent several costly minutes in the pits working in the
engine compartment area before towing the Cadillac back to the paddock.
The No. 81 did not make the start for Saturday’s second race.
The third and final rounds to decide the winners of the inaugural HSR
Classic Road Atlanta 10 Hour presented by Mission Foods begin Sunday at
2:30 p.m. EDT. Tickets are available for Sunday’s final day of
competition at www.michelinracewayroadatlanta.com [1].