Road America Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — If it weren’t for bad luck, Robert Alon and the JDC/Miller Motorsports crew wouldn’t have had any luck as the No. 85 ORECA LMP2 machine went from leading early to eventually finishing 12th in Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. After leading early, Alon pitted under the second full course yellow of the race. It was on that pit stop that he hit a tire from his teammate’s stall and was penalizedRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was an action-packed two hours and 40 minutes of racing at Road America in Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase with all the drama and plot twists of a summer blockbuster. Especially in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype class, the strategic battle came right down to the end as the No. 54 CORE autosport team of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett emerged victorious for the second time in a row, while the Ford Chip Ganassi train kept a rollin’ inRead More

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 IMSA Wire Service ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook gave Ford its fourth consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win Sunday in the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America, putting the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT back atop the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class standings in the process. The winning pass came with two minutes remaining in the two-hour, 40-minute race when the race-leading No. 25 BMW M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi ran out of fuel just short of the finish.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — After dealing with the headaches at Lime Rock Park, Patrick Long and Christina Nielsen rebounded to win the GT Daytona class in Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. The No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R qualified on pole position and led early before pitting during the second full course yellow of the race. After staying in the top five for the vast majority of the rest of the race, Nielsen took advantage ofRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott will return to NASCAR competition at Road America, competing in the Johnsonville 180 in GMS Racing’s No. 23 ISM Connect Chevrolet Camaro SS. Bill Elliott, father of current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott, will compete in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race since Memphis Motorsports Park in 2006. He will also join Chase as one of several drivers that have climbed behind the wheel of the No. 23 this season. Four of Chase’s five Xfinity SeriesRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — On Friday, IMSA had their annual State of the Series event at Road America ahead of the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase. I found that it was a home run of an event and shows the strength that the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now has in American motorsports. IMSA announced the WTSCC schedule and although a date or two was shifted a week, the calendar remained virtually identical to the 2018 calendar. Some championships have changed venues and others are shifting others aroundRead More

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. – Robichon Takes Pole for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Race #1 at Road America Canadian driver Zacharie Robichon, who just was added as the driver of the No. 19 Moorespeed Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in place of the sidelined Will Hardeman, proved a quick study in his first visit to Road America, putting the car on pole position for Saturday’s first race of the weekend at Road America. Robichon – who currently leads the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by YokohamaRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Magnus Racing has been on a roll lately in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship and rolled into Road America by setting the fastest class time in the first practice session ahead of Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase. Andy Lally managed to bring the Audi R8 LMS GT3 around the 4.048 mile natural terrain road course with a GT Daytona (GTD) class-leading lap of 2 minutes, 7.048 seconds for an average speed of 114.702 mph. For Magnus Racing, this part ofRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A year ago at this time, the sports car racing world was buzzing with the recently announced news that Mazda would be teaming up with Joest Racing for the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to be run under the Mazda Team Joest banner. It was a big deal. Joest Racing is one of the most storied teams in sports car racing history, and it had most recently fielded the extremely successful Audi LMP1 program in the FIA World Endurance Championship. As partRead More