After missing the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Mosport, GTP is back in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship in all its glory for a 2 hour and 40 minute battle on one of my personal favourite racetracks. With all classes in action for the first time since June, it’s sure to be a spectacle! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the third consecutive weekend the GTP pole was taken by Meyer Shank Racing, with Nick Yelloly placing the #93 on the front row alongside a great effort from RLL’s BMWs as they enter their last stretch as the German marque’s service provider in IMSA. Sheldon Van Der Linde’s #25 was alongside the Acura heading into turn one while the sister #24 car of Dries Vanthoor looked eager off the rolling start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drama occured immediately as in the opening corner the #22 United Autosports LMP2 of Dan Goldberg found himself spun round and into the barriers after contact with the #04 of George Kurtz as though everyone else made it through cleanly the full course yellow was brought out to deal with the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So after a fifteen minute pause Nick Yelloly led the field away back to green flag running while the stewards ruled that no further action would be taken on the LMP2 incident. But not halfway through the first lap we’d be straight back to full course yellow conditions. Brendan Iribe went wide and clattered the barriers into turn seven and the #70 Inception Ferrari suffered significant suspension and bodywork damage. There was no change amongst the GTP runners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the yellow flag period crossing over with the first pit stops for GTP, the field began to pit. Both Porsches, the #31 Whelen Cadillac and MSR’s #60 Acura both all pitted while BMW split their strategy. The #24 of Dries Vanthoor pitted early with the aforementioned cars while Nick Yelloly and the sister #25 were amongst those extending their stints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then came the GT cars for a virtual energy stop, while Adam Adelson pitted his #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche with radio issues rendering him unable to communicate with his team. Only Pfaff Motorsports changed drivers, with their #9 car swapping Marco Mapelli out for Andrea Caldarelli. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So with green flag running back with only half the GTP cars pitting strategy was suddenly poised to play a huge role in proceedings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yelloly led the field away once again with Sheldon Van Der Linde once more on his tail and Filipe Albuquerqe’s #10 Cadillac in third with both Porsches straggling at the tail of the field for the moment. Forty minutes in and a full lap of green flag running had finally been completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With 2 hours to go, Nick Yelloly extended his lead to nearly 2 seconds with the LMP2 leader now the #99 of AO Racing and PJ Hyett, while GTD Pro was in the hands of Tommy Milner’s #4 Corvette. Russel Ward of perennial winners Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes held the lead of GTD as both classes had battles everywhere you looked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Canada corner the #65 Ford of Chrisopher Mies made contact with AO Racing’s #77 ‘Rexy’ incurring damage on its left rear bodywork, though not enough to render a black flag. Dries Vanthoor meanwhile was the best placed of the GTP cars who’d already made their first pit stop having climbed to fourth and just over 1 second back from the third placed #10 of Albuqeurque. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Corvette’s #4 of Tommy Milner was the next drive to pit, with a top up of virtual energy and a change of driver with Nicky Catsburg being installed for his stint, with Madison Snow now inheriting the GTD Pro leader in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW. He also pitted from the lead of GTD Pro shortly after, handing it over to Corvette’s other GTD Pro entry of the #3 with Alexander Sims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But just before green flag pit stops came in to spice up the strategy, they were given a helping hand by the #52 of PR1 Matheson Motorsports found the barriers with Naveen Rao’s incident bringing out the full course yellow once again. The big winners here were the aforementioned #3 of Alexander Sims who snuck in and out before the pits closed and emerged as the leaders with a full tank of virtual energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The entire field of GTP cars then came in for a pit stop as incredibly the race lead swapped from Acura to Porsche as the #6 snatched the lead at the last second thanks to a quicker stop. BMW lost out massively as both their cars had slow stops, plummeting them down to the back of the field. The crucial outcome was that the championship leading GTP was now in the lead of the race. Also, everyone in GTP was now effectively reset to the same fuel strategy meaning it really would be a hectic last 90 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the other classes, Dane Cameron was still leading in LMP2 with the #99 as after another set of GT pit stops the Pro field was headed by AO Racing’s Rexy and GTD itself was now led by Gradient Racing’s #66 Ford of Jenson Altzman. This for a team that hasn’t finished higher than 6th all year and currently stand 13th in the points standings. Incredible, but the question was could they hold it as the field went back to green for the third time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it was Mathieu Jaminet who now led the jumbled GTP field away with just under 90 minutes to go ahead of Earl Bamber and Ricky Taylor’s Cadillacs. But it was a nightmare restart for the other side of the GM camp, as the #3 GTD Pro Corvette of Nicky Catsburg found himself around and in the barriers in turn one while the sister #4 was turned round at turn two. Not only had they lost the lead, both their cars were now in considerable strife with another full course yellow being called out. Aston Martin’s #27 Heart of Racing of Tom Gamble also found themselves with damage after taking avoiding action and colliding with an advertising board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The GTD Pro championship leading #3 did find its way back to the track and elected to continue running on track despite smoke leaking from the rear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A short full course yellow was then cleared meaning Jaminet could hit the throttle pedal and begin to establish a healthy lead from Bamber’s #31 and the #10 Cadillac of Ricky Taylor, while Nick Tandy fought hard for fourth place with the #40 and #93 Acura. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The #60 and #48 both pitted for drive through penalties picked up after breaching pit stop procedure, knocking them both back down the order as an amazing story emerged in GTD Pro. Thanks to the full course yellow periods, the #14 Lexus had managed to do the opening half of the race without pitting, placing them in huge contention should the yellow flag fly in their favour again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite their earlier drama, it wasn’t all over for Corvette. The #4 of Nicky Catsburg was running a competitive fourth just 1.5 seconds off the leading #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Neil Verhagen while the #3 of Alex Sims was seventh in class despite the damage it picked up during the earlier turn one drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GTD Pro meanwhile continued to show exactly why its my personal favourite category of GT Racing in the world as the battle for the lead was now seperated by just two seconds with an amazing intense battle between five cars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both BMW GTPs then came in for tyre changes and a virtual fuel top up with an hour to go, attempting a bold strategy that if successful had the potential to net them a great result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While battling for fourth, Nick Tandy and Ricky Taylor made contact on the run up to turn six, leaving Taylor’s #10 Cadillac spinning round and round up the grass runoff and losing considerable time. Another full course yellow was called out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then came the final GTP pit stops for everyone except the BMW duo with Jaminet leading the field in with 50 minutes to go in proceedings. Porsche improved again in the pit stops and managed to get both their cars out 1-2 ahead of the X. After an extensive 2 hour rebuild, the #22 of Paul Di Resta and United Autosports returned to the race albeit 43 laps down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Phillip Eng in the #24 BMW led the sister #25 car of Marco Wittman as the RLL crew’s cars led 1-2 overall, the consequences for Nick Tandy’s #7 were revealed. A 60 second stop ang go penalty was handed for the earlier contact with Ricky Taylor’s #10, effectively ruining its chances at overall victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So with just half an hour remaining as Tandy served his penalty the other classes were as follows: LMP2 was still led by AO Racing’s #99 with the team’s GTD Pro #77 Porsche of Laurin Heinrich also in charge of its class in a tight battle with the #1 of Paul Miller Racing and Seb Priaulx’s #64 Ford Mustang. GTD was now led by the DXDT Corvette #36 of Alec Udell ahead of Mario Farnbacher’s #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini and Daniel Serra’s #34 Ferrari. Even so, it was to close to call for any of the four classes competing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fifteen minutes to go, and the drama arrived in GTD Pro, Rexy pitting with bodywork damage after contact from the Paul Miller #1 BMW, the Porsche needing a splash of fuel to make the end and handing the lead to said Paul Miller BMW. The other classes remained unchanged in terms of leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And even then the GTD Pro drama was unfinished, as Nicky Catsburg pulled his #4 Corvette to the side of the track and stopped, bringing out another full course yellow as Kenton Koch snatched the GTD lead from the DXDT #36 Corvette. It was absolutely frenetic racing with 8 minutes to go. Even in GTP traffic was becoming a factor was Renger Van De Zande threatened a dream 1-2 for Team RLL’s factory prototypes, the lead battle now stretched between three cars and barely a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was BMW Team RLL who held on to take only their third ever win in the programme’s 3 year history with a 1-2, the #24 of Phillip Eng and Dries Vanthoor taking victory, for the latter it was his first ever in the top class. The sister #25 came home second, with Renger Van Der Zande settling for third with the #93 Acura. LMP2 was taken by the #99 of Dane Cameron ahead of Connor Di Phillipi’s #43 Inter Europol and Mikkel Jensen’s TDS Racing #11. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
GTD Pro was clinched by Paul Miller Racing’s #1 of Neil Verhagen and Madison Snow ahead of Seb Priaulx’s #64 Ford Mustang and the #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari of Albert Costa coming home third. And finally in GTD it was the #021 of Triarsi Competition and Kenton Kock and Onofrio Triarsi who took victory ahead of Forte Racing’s #78 Lamborghini of Mario Farnbacher and the third placed Daniel Serra’s #34 of Conquest Racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So BMW take a brilliant victory with a strategy gamble in a race best described as hectic. It’s the perfect response to being dropped as the service provider from RLL, who’ve had the momentum to take a win all year. I’m also going to give kudos to Heart of Racing’s GTP crew, as Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis who piloted the Valkryrie to its best finish to date in 6th place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But now it’s another lengthy wait for the top class of prototypes to return, in which time I’ll be taking a holiday of my own in the Netherlands. But I’ll be back just in time for the next round of the World Endurance Championship in Fuji, Japan. I’ll see you then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n