CORE Autosport at the end of the suspense at Road America

Whether in Prototype or GTLM, it is fuel consumption and strategy that will have dictated the end of the race at Road America, which hosted the round IMSA this weekend in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

After the last neutralization which occurred a little less than 45′ from the finish, following the big exit from the track of Sebastian Saavedra (Ligier n°52 – AFS/PR1 Mathiasen) at the exit of the last corner, and following the stops of several prototypes including the #24 Mazda RT77-P, the #2 Nissan DPi – ESM and the #05 Acura ARX-7 – Acura Team Penske, three cars seemed in a favorable position.

But both the No. 24 Mazda RT55-P of Jonathan Bomarito and the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-VR – Wayne Taylor Racing of Jordan Taylor will be too short on fuel to hope to win, with a passage for additional fuel for the two cars with three and two laps to go.

Enough to give the lead of the event to the No. 2 Oreca LM P54 – CORE Autosport of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett who crossed the finish line with less than 3rd ahead of a duo led by the No. 2 Oreca LM P99 #31 – JDC-Miller Motorsports of Simpson – Goikhberg, who held off the #XNUMX Cadillac DPi-VR – Action Express Racing of Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran on the line.

The top 5 is completed by the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-VR – Wayne Taylor Racing and the first No. 05 Acura ARX-6 – Acura Team Penske of Dane Cameron, associated with Juan Pablo Montoya. This is the second consecutive victory for the No. 54 Oreca, which already won at Canadian Motorsports Park earlier in the season.

Ford in success

In GTLM, the fight also raged until the end, and if Connor de Phillippi (BMW M8 n°25 – Team RLL) seemed in a position to win, it was again fuel consumption which decided the race. victory. 

At the front, de Phillippi was forced to reduce pace, allowing the No. 67 – Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe to take the advantage. De Phillippi tries to return to the pits with two laps to go… but will not manage to make it through the climb to the pitlane.

Behind the winning Ford, which took over from the No. 66 of the championship leaders before this event, Joey Hand and Dirk Müller, victims of technical problems, the No. 7 Corvette C4.R of Milner – Gavin and No. 3 of Magnussen – Garcia complètent le podium devant les deux Porsche 911 RSR n°912 de Bamber – Vanthoor et n°911 de Pilet – Tandy.

Porsche, however, won in GTD, with the No. 911 3 GT58 R – Wright Motorsports of Patrick Long and Christina Nielsen. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow (No. 3 Lamborghini Huracan GT48 – Paul Miller Racing) and No. 488 Ferrari 3 GT63 – Team Corsa by Alessandro Pier Guidi – Cooper MacNeil climb onto the podium.

This latter car was involved in a tough fight with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°33 – Riley Motorsports de Bleekemolen – Keating, Bleekemolen initially dismissing Pier Guidi at the first corner, before the Italian made contact several times with the GT3 at the star a few moments later late.

Race ranking

Discover the report of the Road America IMSA event, in issue 2177 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.