joao barbosa Tag

By IMSA Wire Service ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – It’s not unusual for a race at the 4.048-mile Road America to come down to fuel strategy, and that’s exactly what happened in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Continental Tire Road Race Showcase. No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA LMP2 co-drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun picked up their second consecutive WeatherTech Championship Prototype race victory thanks in large part to team strategist – and Colin Braun’s father – Jeff Braun and his decision to go “underground” following Colin’s last pit stop withRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Christian Fittipaldi announced at Road America that the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona will be his final competitive professional race as the 47-year-old will turn his attention outside the race car as the teams’ full time Sporting Director as they compete in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Fittipaldi has had a racing career full of variety. Winning the 1991 International F3000 championship opened his world to Formula One where he raced for three years before going to the U.S. in 1995. FittipaldiRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park represented the halfway point of the 10-race season for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s flagship Prototype class and was the fourth of 11 rounds for the GT Daytona (GTD) class. It also marked the second and final 100-minute street circuit sprint for the 2018 season. The intense battle featured five lead changes in the Prototype class and three in GTD, with Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran in the No. 31 Whelen EngineeringRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT– Felipe Albuquerque and Mario Farnbacher led their respective classes in Saturday’s warmup session ahead of the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. The Prototype and GTD-only event had Felipe Albuquerque setting the fastest lap of the session in his No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi machine with a lap of 1 minute, 22.958 seconds around the 2.3 mile street circuit. Albuquerque and co-driver Joao Barbosa roll off fourth for Saturday’s race which isn’t surprising given that they were thirdRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R driver Joao Barbosa will be looking to continue two different winning streaks when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns to action this Sunday in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. The two-hour, 40-minute race marks the return of IMSA competition to the historic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio for the first time since a GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race in 2013. Sunday’s race will be televised live on FS2 beginning at 1Read More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s 100-minute BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach provided a departure from the endurance racing mindset of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s first two rounds – January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts – to a sprint racing approach. But there was no shortage of strategy, intrigue and drama on the famed Southern California street circuit. Here are five things we took away from the weekend. 1. Portugal,Read More

By IMSA Wire Service LONG BEACH, Calif. – A Cadillac DPi-V.R. won Saturday’s BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach, but it wasn’t the one fans may have expected coming into the weekend. Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque ended a three-year winning streak for Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. team with an impressive performance that put the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. team into victory lane for the second time this season. It was the first career Long Beach win for both driversRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – While we’ve only had two races thus far in the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and there’s still a long way to go, we’ve already passed the halfway point in terms of point-scoring opportunities toward the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. The Patrón Endurance Cup recognizes the top performers in the four endurance races on the WeatherTech Championship schedule, January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts – which was run lastRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Action Express Racing took the overall victory for the 56th Running of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, setting a new distance record for the event in the process. The trio of Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa crossed the finish line with a total of 808 laps with their No. 5 Cadillac Dpi-V.R., which was enough to beat the current configuration’s previous record of 762 laps set in 1992. When the race began to settle in, it looked to be a contest between bothRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — It was a record day for the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona and it was a victorious day for Action Express Racing. The No. 5 Cadillac DPi driven by Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi were victorious, completing a record 808 laps and a record 2,876.48 miles over 24 hours. In the last eight hours, the No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi went to the garage for repairs after contact with the No. 31 Cadillac DPi. The Nos. 67 and 66Read More