BackThe IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge driver’s championship was out of reach for Jagger Jones, but he wasn’t to be denied securing the title for his team in Friday’s season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Jones led the entire 45-minute race on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course in the No. 87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08. The win lifted FastMD past MLT Motorsports in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) team standings by just 20 points. MLT’s Steven Aghakhani – the 2024 driver champion – finished second on Friday in the No. 6 Ligier JS P320, 4.835 seconds behind Jones.
The victory capped a magical season for Jones, who after missing the opening doubleheader round of the season joined FastMD and crossed the finish line first in 10 straight races. Two of the triumphs were negated – one by a postrace technical inspection infraction and the other for a postrace time penalty assessed in Thursday’s race – but he still collected a series-high eight wins.
“It was an awesome race,” Jones said Friday, “Yesterday, I feel like we were even better – we dominated but we got the penalty – so today I just wanted to make sure we got the win, got the team championship.”
Now that the season is complete, Jones said he hoped his performance opened eyes in the IMSA paddock as he looks to advance up the series ladder in 2025.
“I had to make the most of this opportunity,” he said. “These guys brought me in on the second weekend of the year and if I didn’t win, I don’t think I would be coming back. When your ride’s on the line, you have to go win to make it happen. And that’s what I did.
“I’m just really happy to be racing in this series. Thanks to IMSA, Michelin, VP. I had a really fun this year and hopefully I can further my career in the IMSA paddock. Hopefully, some of the LMP2 teams were watching today and even yesterday and this year. I would like to run there next year, but no plans just yet.”
By Mark Robinson
