Joey Hand Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course plays host to the Acura Sports Car Challenge on May 4-6, highlighting the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship’s return to the track for the first sports car main-event weekend in Ohio since Grand Am’s last visit in 2013. There are 34 cars on the entry list in the first non-endurance event on the calendar with all three car classes present so let’s dive into the entry list. Prototype The Prototype field boasts 14 entries with the same entriesRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will make its first visit to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, marking IMSA’s first appearance at the circuit since a GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series event in 2013, for the two-hour and 40-minute Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio on Sunday, May 6. The race features a 35-car entry list across three WeatherTech Championship classes, Prototype (P) with 14 entries, GT Le Mans (GTLM) with eight, and GT Daytona (GTD) – which returns to action after sitting outRead More

By IMSA Wire Service LONG BEACH, Calif. – Joey Hand saved his best for last in qualifying for Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach. The 100-minute race will be televised live on FOX network at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT Saturday. Live IMSA Radio coverage also is available on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio. On his final lap of the 15-minute qualifying session, Hand threw down a new track record lap for the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class around the 1.968-mile, 11-turnRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The checkered flag has dropped on final practice for the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona and it was extremely close at the sharp end of the grid. The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi was fastest with Mike Conway putting in a lap of 1:36.865, just .181 seconds over the No. 37 Jackie Chan DCR JOTA ORECA LMP2 machine driven by Lance Stroll. Third fastest and just .253 seconds off fastest time was the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPiRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Qualifying for the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a tense affair and it came down to a last lap dash by Renger van der Zande as he pushed his Wayne Taylor Racing No. 10 Cadillac DPi to pole position ahead of Saturday’s racing classic with a fastest lap of 1:36.083. That lap was .007 seconds faster than Helio Castroneves’s in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura. Behind them, Action Express Racing has their No. 5 Cadillac DPi ahead of Performance Tech Motorsports’s ORECA LMP2 machineRead More

While GT Le Mans (GTLM) has the smallest field at nine cars, there is no shortage of action between the manufacturers. Let’s take a look at the class by manufacturer. Corvette The brute strength of the C7.Rs cannot be overstated as the popular GM marque won back-to-back runnings in 2015 and 2016 with 2016 being a classic photo finish with the two cars so close to each other. Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler highlight a powerful driving lineup for the Chevrolet team and will be fightingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Going through the session results for the Roar Before the 24 a week later, a few things stood out that deserve attention ahead of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season opener. Mazda Mazda had a rough go with a private testing incident in December setting their program back but it’s interesting to see their progress through the various sessions. In the first session, neither Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi took to the track and in the second session the No. 55 car with SpencerRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The Roar Before the 24 gives teams in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship the opportunity to test out their machines ahead of the season-opening Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona at the Daytona International Speedway road course. The end of the testing period is marked by a qualifying session that determines pit road and garage space selection. Prototype It was a near-perfect Cadillac sweep of the top three positions of the seven practice sessions. Out of 21 positions, Cadillac-powered DPi machines occupied 18 of those positionsRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Seven months removed from their historic win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller and Sebastien Bourdais claimed the win in the GT Le Mans class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Mueller took the lead for good from James Calado in the Risi Competizione Ferrari on the race’s final restart with 30 minutes remaining and held off a few charges by Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet to take the win. Bourdais admitted and he was onRead More

By IMSA Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Florida – Continuing its trend of making major announcements on the biggest stages, officials from Ford Motor Company and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing unveiled the driver lineup for the highly anticipated Ford GT program to debut in the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in a packed media center at Homestead-Miami Speedway as part of Ford Championship Weekend. The two-car team will compete in the GT Le Mans class beginning with the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 30-31, 2016. The full-time WeatherTech Championship lineup willRead More