IMSA Category

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — All it took was one small mistake at Turn 5 and Dane Cameron was right on Harry Tincknell’s rear wing on the last lap at Road America. An aggressive defense on Tincknell’s part kept Cameron behind as the Brit an co-driver Jonathan Bomarito gave Mazda Team Joest their third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory in Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase. The No. 55 Mazda RT24-P DPi led 44 laps of the eventual 83 turned in Sunday’s two hour, 40 minute sprintRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Dane Cameron being fastest in qualifying was no surprise to anyone at Road America. The No. 6 ARX-05 DPi was quickest in all three practice sessions and set a new track record in qualifying for Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase. The points leader in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship standings went around the 4.048 mile road course with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 48.715 seconds, a full 3.2 seconds faster than last year’s Prototype qualifying pole time. Cameron averaged 134.045Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Acura Team Penske has set the early benchmark in Friday practice for the IMSA Road Race Showcase at Road America. The championship-leading No. 6 ARX-05 of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya set the fastest lap time in both morning and afternoon sessions. The fastest lap of the day went to Cameron at 1 minute, 50.007 seconds to average 132.471 mph. Second fastest overall was the No. 54 CORE Autosport Nissan DPi which has the benefit of being the only DPi manufacturerRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Turner Motorsport’s 2019 IMSA season has transformed so much that their average finish from the first four races to the last three races went from 11.75 to two. Co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley went from finishing ninth, 13th, 15th and 10th to second, first and third and climbed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD standings from 13th to second. That kind of transformation isn’t really the result of the flip of a magical switch. Misfortune plagued the team earlier in theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer In a race that is a crime against motorsports for how short it is, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the IMSA Road Race Showcase this weekend. A two hour, 40 minute race on Sunday around the 4.048 mile road course has 35 cars that will contest the ninth race of the 2019 season with a couple of changes from the ordinary. In the DPi class, there are only 10 entries instead of the normal 11. Juncos RacingRead More

By IMSA Wire Service As if Mazda Team Joest needed further incentive to keep its torrid streak in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class going in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, there’s this tidbit from John Doonan. The director of motorsports for Mazda North American Operations has overseen the development of the brand’s sports car program that has culminated in victories in each of the past two races. First by the No. 55 entry at Watkins Glen International on June 30 and then by the No. 77 a week laterRead More

By IMSA Wire Service After a brief respite during another busy summer of racing, all four classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship reunite next weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. While the GTLM and GTD teams are fresh off a GT-only showdown at Lime Rock Park last weekend, Road America marks the return of the Prototype classes – DPi and LMP2 – to the grid after last competing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 7. The entry list shows a total of 35 cars between theRead More

By IMSA Wire Service The Northeast Grand Prix on a sweltering Saturday at Lime Rock Park delivered excitement to the checkered flag, with a pair of first-time winners in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe collected their first win in nearly a year, capitalizing on a three-stop strategy in the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing No. 67 Ford GT to earn the victory in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. Westbrook didn’t take the race lead until less than seven minutes remained and pulled awayRead More

By IMSA Wire Service You could anticipate it coming for quite some time, but it wasn’t until Richard Westbrook finally positioned his No. 67 Ford GT to the inside of Earl Bamber’s No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR with six minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the Northeast Grand Prix that it was decided. With that move, Westbrook secured what would be the first IMSA WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) victory of the season for himself and his Ford Chip Ganassi Racing co-driver, Ryan Briscoe, on Saturday afternoon at LimeRead More

By IMSA Wire Service LAKEVILLE, Conn. – Laurens Vanthoor picked up his first career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole position, setting a new GT Le Mans (GTLM) class track record at Lime Rock Park in a 1-2 sweep of qualifying for the Porsche GT Team ahead of this afternoon’s Northeast Grand Prix. Vanthoor posted a best time of 49.133 seconds (108.000 mph) in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR, breaking the previous record of 49.754 seconds (106.6 mph) set last year in qualifying by Antonio Garcia in the No. 3Read More