Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio – Entry List Notebook

By IMSA Wire Service

After two endurance races totaling 36 hours of competition, followed by a 100-minute sprint race, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads into its “regular season” with the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. The race on Sunday, May 5, is the first of six two-hour and 40-minute races on the 12-race WeatherTech Championship calendar.

The race features a 36-car entry list across four WeatherTech Championship classes, DPi with 11 entries, GTLM with eight, GTD with 15 and LMP2 with two. The GTD and LMP2 classes return to action after sitting out last month’s BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach.

NBCSN will have live television coverage of the race beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. Live IMSA Radio coverage is available on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and via SiriusXM Radio. Tickets are available now at MidOhio.com.

Click here for the provisional WeatherTech Championship entry list.

Notes:
· The Acura Sports Car Challenge is the first race in a new, seven-race competition called the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup for GTD class competitors. The IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup is made up of the remaining non-endurance races (all events minus Watkins Glen and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) and gives teams a relatively cost-effective option to compete at the top level of North American sports car racing. It uses the same points system and sporting regulations as the GTD classes uses throughout the standard WeatherTech Championship season.

· Of the 70 drivers on the entry list – two entries have only one driver currently listed – 17 of them have won at least one IMSA at Mid-Ohio.

· No. 4 Corvette Racing driver Oliver Gavin and No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 driver Bill Auberlen are the winningest active IMSA drivers at Mid-Ohio with four wins each. They also are the two winningest active drivers in professional endurance sports car competition. Auberlen (58) is second on the all-time list behind Scott Pruett (60), while Gavin (48) sits sixth.

· The defending Acura Sports Car Challenge race-winning No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi of Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves enters the Mid-Ohio weekend second in DPi points, two marks behind the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. of Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani. The Mid-Ohio win last year for Taylor and Castroneves was Acura’s first and only DPi win. It was also the first WeatherTech Championship Mid-Ohio win for both drivers. Castroneves owns two CART wins at the track (2000, 2001).

· Mid-Ohio was the site of Acura Team Penske’s best race last season with Castroneves also earning the Motul Pole Award ahead of the race win. The team’s No. 6 Acura DPi of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya finished second to secure Acura Team Penske’s first WeatherTech Championship double-podium. Of note, the Acura Team Penske organization comes into this year’s race with significant momentum after recently completing another double-podium in the most recent event at Long Beach, finishing second and third. Cameron (Sebring) and Castroneves (Long Beach) each have Motul Pole Awards already this season.

· Auberlen earned three of his four Mid-Ohio wins with the Turner Motorsport team, taking GRAND-AM GT class wins in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Three of Gavin’s four wins came with Corvette Racing (ALMS GT1 in 2006 and 2007; ALMS GT in 2012).

· Corvette Racing is the winningest active IMSA team at Mid-Ohio with a total of eight victories. Three of the four drivers in the team’s current lineup, Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jan Magnussen, have previous Mid-Ohio wins. Magnussen will be looking for his third Mid-Ohio victory alongside co-driver Antonio Garcia, who has yet to win at the venue. A victory would be Corvette’s racing 100th in all IMSA competitions.

· John Edwards qualified on the GTLM pole in 2018 in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE. It was his third career pole at the track, tying him with Gavin as most among active drivers.

· Jack Hawksworth earned the Motul Pole Award in GTD in 2018 in the No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 while his teammates Kyle Marcelli and Dominik Baumann won the race in the No. 14 Lexus. It was the first North American victory for the Lexus RC F GT3.

· Starworks Motorsport returns to Mid-Ohio this season with Ryan Dalziel and Parker Chase after not competing in the event one year ago. Dalziel and Starworks teamed up for a GRAND-AM DP win at Mid-Ohio in 2011 in a Ford/Riley. Enzo Potolicchio was Dalziel’s co-driver in that event.

· Two entries in the GTD class will make their season debuts at Mid-Ohio. Lawson Aschenbach and a TBD second driver are entered in the No. 74 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG, while the McLaren 720S GT3 will make its WeatherTech Championship debut with Paul Holton and Matt Plumb piloting the No. 76 Compass Racing entry.

· Porsche is the winningest manufacturer at Mid-Ohio with 23 victories since 2000, leading its next-closest competitor, Chevrolet, who has 14. The Porsche GT No. 911 and No. 912 teams have won the last two WeatherTech Championship GTLM races with the No. 911 winning at Sebring and the No. 912 at Long Beach. The team has won the pole for the GTLM class in each race in 2019 with Nick Tandy winning at Daytona and Long Beach and Patrick Pilet at Sebring.

Previous Mid-Ohio Race-Winning Drivers in 2019 Field (17)
Oliver Gavin – (4) GRAND-AM SRP/Overall – 2001 ALMS GT1 – 2006, 2007, ALMS GT – 2012
Bill Auberlen – (4) GRAND-AM GT – 2004, 2010, 2012, 2013
Jan Magnussen – (2) ALMS LMP900/Overall – 2001, ALMS GT1 – 2008
Andy Lally – (2) GRAND-AM SRPII – 2001, GRAND-AM GT – 2007
Jeroen Bleekemolen – (2) ALMS GTC – 2010, 2012
Dirk Mueller – (1) ALMS GT2 – 2008
Patrick Long – (1) ALMS GT2 – 2009
Joey Hand – (1) GRAND-AM GT – 2010
Ryan Dalziel – (1) GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2011
Bryan Sellers – (1) ALMS GT – 2011
Tommy Milner – (1) ALMS GT – 2012
Richard Westbrook – (1) GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2012
Joao Barbosa – (1) GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2013
Helio Castroneves – (1) IMSA DPi/Overall – 2018
Ricky Taylor – (1) IMSA DPi/Overall – 2018
Laurens Vanthoor – (1) IMSA GTLM – 2018
Earl Bamber – (1) IMSA GTLM – 2018

Previous Mid-Ohio Pole Winners in 2019 Field (12)
Oliver Gavin – (3) ALMS GTS – 2004, ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007
John Edwards – (3) IMSA GTLM – 2018; GRAND-AM GT – 2012, 2013
Patrick Long – (2) GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2006, ALMS GT2 – 2006
Jordan Taylor – (2) GRAND-AM GT – 2010, GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2013
Andy Lally – (1) GRAND-AM SRPII – 2001
Bill Auberlen – (1) GRAND-AM GT – 2004
Lawson Aschenbach – (1) GRAND-AM GT – 2008
Jeroen Bleekemolen – (1) ALMS GTC – 2010
Tony Vilander – (1) ALMS GT – 2010
Joey Hand – (1) ALMS GT – 2011
Helio Castroneves – (1) IMSA DPi/Overall – 2018
Jack Hawksworth – (1) IMSA GTD – 2018

Previous Mid-Ohio Race-Winning Teams in 2019 Field (9)
Corvette Racing – (8) ALMS GTS – 2001, 2002, 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT – 2012
Acura Team Penske – (4) IMSA DPi/Overall – 2018; ALMS LMP2/Overall – 2006, 2007; ALMS LMP2 – 2008
Chip Ganassi Racing – (3) GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2004, 2009, 2010
Turner Motorsport – (3) GRAND-AM GT – 2010, 2012, 2013
Action Express Racing – (1) GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2013
Mazdaspeed – (1) GRAND-AM GX – 2013
Porsche GT Team – (1) IMSA GTLM – 2018
Starworks Motorsport – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2011
3GT Racing – (1) IMSA GTD – 2018

Previous Mid-Ohio Race-Winning Manufacturers in 2019 Field (Since 2000)
Porsche – 23
Chevrolet – 14
BMW – 8
Audi – 5
Lexus – 3
Mazda – 3
Acura – 3
Ferrari – 2
Ford – 2
Nissan – 2
Lexus – 1