Porsche Pairing Has Closed to within 50 Points of Michelin Pilot Challenge Leader
By Tony DiZinno
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – An Instagram post Stevan McAleer authored after a brutal weekend at Watkins Glen International featured his wife and their dog and ended with a manifestation that has come almost completely true in the last three months.
“Simply put, Watkins Glen was not kind to me this year but I’ve never had so much drive to be better,” McAleer wrote.
“Trent and I are about to come back in spectacular form in Michelin Pilot Challenge and I am confident that Sheena and I will get our first win in GTD before the year is out.”
Since that post? McAleer and Trent Hindman have, in fact, won back-to-back IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge races in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport and added a runner-up finish in their most recent outing at VIRginia International Raceway to come from eighth in Grand Sport (GS) points, 400 points behind series leader Matt Plumb in the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4 to just 50 behind in second place with two races to go.
And while not a win, McAleer did deliver his and Sheena Monk’s first Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) podium together in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, finishing third at Road America in the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.
The results come from atoning from early season strategic stumbles, most notably at Sebring and Watkins Glen, and adapting to ever-changing circumstances in both series.
They’re driven in part by their collective championship pedigree. Hindman seeks what would be his fifth IMSA championship; a title would be his third GS class crown (2014, 2022) in addition to his 2019 WeatherTech Championship GTD and 2017 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Pro class (and World Final) titles. McAleer has 2012 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin and 2015 Michelin Pilot Challenge Street Tuner (ST) class titles on his resume.
When the two of them appeared with RS1, itself a past GS (2017) and ST (2016) class champion, this pairing was instantly expected to become a title contender.
Hindman joined RS1 this year after his longtime co-driver who he helped coach and mold into a Michelin Pilot Challenge champion, Alan Brynjolfsson, stepped away from driving at the end of 2023. He also brought along the engineer and strategist they’d had at the Wright Motorsports-entered car to RS1. That changed the mentality and approach to his weekends.
“Over four years, Alan went from being super green to being one of the strongest starting drivers on the grid, in terms of his all-around performance and combination of speed, consistency and race IQ,” Hindman explained.
“With RS1 now, it was pretty plug-and-play. Stevan is an established champion, great driver and great guy. What is different is the expectation and external pressure, because you see that lineup on the entry list of us being well-established, versus a constant build with Alan.”
Hindman elaborated, making the point you really never notice the rate of change in the paddock until you go from one season to the next and note the swaps of crew, teams, driver lineups and/or cars year-to-year. Since both drivers have been in Michelin Pilot Challenge off and on for most of a decade, they’ve noted how much stronger the paddock is too.
“If you look at the last restart at Road America, I’ve got Jack Hawksworth, Aaron Telitz, Kenton Koch and Robby Foley all behind me,” McAleer said. “And these are guys that can win and have won easily in WeatherTech.
“Any podium in Pilot Challenge and WeatherTech is a big deal. This series is harder in that, while two pros will generally win an all-green race over a pro-am car, it’s not always that way. The simple strategy means they can leapfrog easily on pit stops. It’s a very hard series to win in.”
Case in point: Hindman and McAleer’s back-to-back victories at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America marked the first GS team to win two races this year, after five different teams won the first five races.
“Where we are now is the result of some very hard lessons learned early in the year,” Hindman said. “That said, you have to go through tough moments in the first half for it all to come together in the second half. We’re executing our prerace plans better, and we’ve also had luck, too, which can’t be understated.”
McAleer put it point blank, that after Watkins Glen, their preseason championship aspirations were nearly gone.
“Preseason we thought if we don’t step on our toes, I have high expectations we’ll win this championship,” he said. “That’s exactly what we did: We stepped on our toes. Some really big missed strategy calls cost us some momentum. We were halfway through the season, and I said I think after the Watkins Glen event, ‘We’re just about out of this.’”
Heading into the final two races, both drivers note momentum is amazing, but it’s not everything. They still need to surpass Plumb in the points, and said TGM is due a good result after a patchy second half of its season.
“The self-expectation is we need to win, but we have to stay flexible and open-minded to the situation,” Hindman said. “It will be that at Indy and especially at Road Atlanta.
“It may be a conscious decision to take no risk. If there’s an opening, go. It could be a case of finishing second might hurt my own pride and ego, but that goes against our ultimate goal of the championship. Running into the back of Spencer (Pumpelly) and BGB at VIR wouldn’t have helped us because the (Nos.) 46 and 19, our two rivals, were both out of it. “
McAleer added, “It’s become a two-car fight. It’s all on the table. We look at it on paper and the (No.) 46 car has the advantage. We’re only a handful of (points) behind them, and we could leapfrog them quickly. I’d like to do that.
“In 2016, I was in the lead and lost. I needed to finish in the top four, and Spencer had to win the race. In the race it was reversed where I was leading, he was fourth, and then my engine failed and we lost the championship to RS1. That one stings a little.
“The (No.) 46 car, I know how they feel. It’s uncomfortable. They’re leading and they still have control, but we have the momentum in our favor. We can’t focus on (No.) 46. But if we focus on the last events and nail the last two like we have, we’ll be GS champions.”
The next race, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120, streams live on Peacock (in the U.S.) and IMSA.tv (outside the U.S.) at 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 21.