Ben Keating Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA — Different year, same result for Oliver Jarvis and Mazda Team Joest as the British racer captured pole position for the second year in a row for Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Jarvis turned a fastest lap of 1 minute, 33.711 seconds around the 3.56 mile road course to average 136.760 mph. Jarvis’s lap was .026 seconds slower than his track record lap set last year. “This year feels different, this year feels business like,” said Jarvis. “Last year, huge amount [of] emotion, it wasRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer BRASELTON, Georgia — Qualifying for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans featured some welcome returns to the top of the time sheets with a few surprises thrown into the mix. Felipe Nasr gave co-driver Pipo Derani an early birthday present by qualifying the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi on  pole position. Nasr set a new lap record for DPi cars with a lap of 1 minute, 8.457 seconds around the 2.54 mile circuit. Ricky Taylor qualified second in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske DPi, justRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DANVILLE, Va. — It was finally Mercedes-AMG’s turn atop the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium in 2019 and on Sunday at VIRginia International Raceway. The No. 33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating scored their first victory – and podium – of the season in the GT Daytona (GTD) at the 3.27-mile circuit in Alton, Virginia. In fact, it was the first podium of the season for the manufacturer in GTD and the first win for Bleekemolen and KeatingRead 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 IMSA Wire Service Hot on the heels of last weekend’s spectacular Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now makes its way into Canada for the annual trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Sunday’s two-hour and 40-minute Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Acura. The entry list for this weekend features 36 cars spread across four classes. The Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class features 11 entries, with two LMP2 machines, eight GT Le Mans (GTLM) class entries and 15 cars slated to competeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer WATKINS GLEN, New York — It has been a Mazda Team Joest show up front at the Sahlen’s Six Hours as the Japanese manufacturer seeks their first win in the DPi era of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Nos. 55 and 77 RT24-P machines have swapped the lead during pit stop cycles and at one point had lapped all the way up to sixth place in the first half of the race. The race had a difficult time getting started as Tommy Milner in theRead More

By IMSA Wire Service Texas car dealer Ben Keating and his team have shown prowess in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance races over the past several years. Keating and his longtime full-season co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen won both the 2017 and 2018 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. In fact, Keating’s overall performance in the 2018 WeatherTech Championship earned him the Bob Akin Award as the top sportsman driver in the GTD class, which comes with an automatic invitation from IMSA to the following year’s 24 HoursRead More

By IMSA Wire Service If you’re a regular follower of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans might seem a little bit like a high-speed version of musical chairs. We’re accustomed to seeing Renger van der Zande driving car No. 10 in the top class, but this one’s quite a bit different. Instead of sharing the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R with Jordan Taylor, van der Zande will be driving the No. 10 DragonSpeed BR Engineering BR01-Gibson LMP1 car with Ben Hanley and HenrikRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio– The GT Le Mans and GT Daytona class pole position battles came down to a fight for optimal track conditions and Sebastien Bourdais and Richard Heistand played that game perfectly to earn pole positions for their respective classes ahead of Sunday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Bourdais piloted his No. 66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT around to a fastest lap of 1 minute, 19.124 seconds around the 2.258 mile permanent road course toRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Tuesday’s Michelin on-track opportunity at Daytona International Speedway included a total of 38 race cars from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA Prototype Challenge series. On-track activity began at 8 a.m. ET and continues through 8 p.m. The sessions are closed to the public. A total of 18 WeatherTech Championship cars participated, with two Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars, one LMP2, two GT Le Mans (GTLM) and 13 GT Daytona (GTD) machines. Jordan Taylor was the loneRead More