Wayne Taylor Racing wins in force at Mid-Ohio

Accustomed to perfect flights, Filipe Albuquerque was quicker than Sébastien Bourdais to get the better of the pole sitter from the start of this fifth round of the season, contested at Mid-Ohio. The Frenchman took advantage of the traffic to regain his possession a little less than a quarter of an hour later, at the cost of a muscular overtaking of the Portuguese. Le Manceau managed his lead at the head of the race perfectly before handing over the wheel to his teammate Renger van der Zande. 

RETWEET if you're watching @IMSA!

We're getting started at @Mid_Ohio! #IMSAatMO

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Bourdais unrolls, van der Zande bites the dust

A Full Course Yellow, however, put the Cadillac and Acura wheel to wheel and Ricky Taylor was offensive on the restart, a little over an hour from the end of the event. The two drivers passed several turns side by side on the tortuous Troy Township circuit. The American put two wheels on the grass against his opponent's defense, but it was ultimately the latter who lost control a little further on after being forced, in turn, to bite off the track.

Sébastien Bourdais, disappointed, left the stands following this action. The commissioners did not consider it necessary to take action and Ricky Taylor could continue his victorious path towards the checkered flag. Van der Zande left in last position in the DPi, more than fifteen seconds from first place. Fanny after the last three races of the year, Wayne Taylor scored a second victory in a row after the one acquired at Laguna Seca.

The Acuras even scored a double since the No. 60 of Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis came in second position. Pipo Derani and Tristan Nunez took third place in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi.

Renger van der Zande did NOT want to give up the lead!

Ricky Taylor gets by him and the No. 01 spins #IMSAatMO

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Juan Pablo Montoya, all finesse

It was also tough in LM P2, since Juan Pablo Montoya, after having retired from the Indianapolis GP the day before in IndyCar following a crash, sent Jonathan Bomarito into a spin less than half an hour from the goal. A maneuver which quickly earned him a drive through, allowing his opposite number to regain control of the category at the wheel of the No. 07 Oreca 11 from PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports with his teammate Steven Thomas.

The Colombian had not said his last word, because he came back on the leader and seized first place ten minutes from the end, not without knocking on the door in passing, to win with the no. 81 of DragonSpeed ​​USA and his teammate Henrik Hedman. Third place was for the #20 High Class Racing duo of Anders Fjordbach and Dennis Andersen.

BMWs taken over in the last ten minutes

The BMWs were close to scoring a double in GTD with the No. 4 Turner Motorsport M3 GT96 driven by Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen ahead of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. It was without counting on Jordan Pepper. The South African overtook the German manufacturer's two cars in the last ten at the wheel of his McLaren 720S GT3 to deliver a victory down to the wire for inception racing and his teammate Brendan Iribe.

In LM P3, Colin Braun and Jon Bennett won in the #320 Ligier JS P54. The French manufacturer scored a hat-trick in this category with the No. 30 of Ari Balogh and Garett Grist (Jr III Racing) as well as the No. 74 of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson (Riley Motorspors).

Ranking to come…