IMSA: Penske Porsche dominates at Road America

At the IMSA Sportscar Weekend at Road America, the #7 Penske Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr led the race, virtually from lights to flag, for the win.

Nasr withstood a late press from the #60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 (Tom Blomqvist/Colin Braun) to secure the victory by just 4.6 seconds.

Acura took second and third place, with the #60 of Blomqvist and Braun finishing 30 seconds ahead of the #10 Konica Minolta Acura (Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque), which took advantage of a difficult day for several title contenders in the GTP class and gained the championship lead with just two races left in the 2023 season for IMSA’s top category.

The two incoming points leaders in the GTP standings, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, encountered trouble before the green flag even flew for Sunday’s 2-hour, 40-minute race. That was of little concern to Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell, who drove Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 7 Porsche 963 to a commanding victory in front of the largest IMSA crowd at Road America since the sanctioning body’s debut race at the venue in 1979.

Campbell built a 10-second lead during his opening stint in the winning car, and Nasr managed the gap during his double-stint to cross the line 4.635 seconds ahead of the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 shared by Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist.

The path to the first win of the season for the No. 7 Porsche, the 11th in IMSA competition for Campbell and the ninth for Nasr, was made easier when the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 31 Cadillac was forced to start from the back of the GTP field due to Alexander Sims’ crash in the morning warm-up, less than two hours before the race. Sims and Pipo Derani finished sixth Sunday, dropping to second in the standings.

“Obviously, we got a little bit lucky with the No. 31 having an incident in the warm-up,” said Campbell, who claimed his third career victory at Road America – the first in a prototype. “I had such an incredible lack of traffic at the beginning and that’s why the gap got as big as it was at times.

“We’ve been fast on quite a few occasions, but luck has never been on our side. Today we just executed perfectly and it’s nice to get a win on the board after a tough year.”

“I’m just happy everything finally came together this weekend,” added Nasr. “We came close several times this year; the speed was always there, but we had a couple reliability issues, a couple mistakes, and some bad luck. It’s a big relief for the whole team. I know how much work the No. 7 crew has put in, and it was about time, I would say.”

Blomqvist threw all he had into catching the No. 7 Porsche in the closing stages, getting within 1.7 seconds of the leader with eight minutes remaining. But Nasr had a smoother run through traffic in the final laps.

“It was difficult to pass, but the car was working really well, and I was happy that the gap came down,” Blomqvist said. “I chipped away, but obviously they had that gap and were kind of controlling things. Traffic always ebbs and flows, and I guess he got through a little better at the end. But it’s one thing getting close and passing is a completely different matter.”

“Congratulations to the team and our drivers: That was a flawless team effort,” says a delighted Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport. “After a difficult first day of practice, we consolidated our efforts to turn things around and tapped the huge potential of the Porsche 963 in qualifying and the race. This was possible thanks to the perfect synergy between the crew at the track and the team back in Weissach. Everyone puts in a strong performance. The pace of our number 6 was great too. Unfortunately, a puncture destroyed all hopes – that’s how it goes in motor racing sometimes. I take my hat off to our customer teams in the GTP class, who put in a clean performance and fast lap times here.”

“Everyone did an excellent job,” states Jonathan Diuguid. The Managing Director of Porsche Penske Motorsport adds: “We didn’t have the pace on Friday, but we saw today that the team worked together to perform well in the race. Both cars had great pace. Unfortunately, our number 6 entry lost positions due to a puncture early in the race, but at least it managed to get back into the same lap as the leader. Matt and Felipe did a perfect job in the No. 7 car – and that effort earned us our victory. Now we’ve won one race each with both cars. That’s fantastic. We also closed the gap in the manufacturers’ championship.”

Ben Keating is usually a Motul Pole Award contender anytime he qualifies a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) car. But a rare off session Saturday left the 13-time polesitter fourth on the grid in the No. 52 ORECA LMP2 07 he shares with Paul-Loup Chatin, needing to charge forward in Sunday’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend race at Road America.

Mission accomplished.

Keating produced a storming first stint where he gained two spots by the second lap, took the lead by Lap 4 and placed the car in a strong position. With a lead of nearly half a minute before turning over the car to Chatin, Keating put the No. 52 car in excellent position to bring home a win.

Once Chatin took over past the halfway point of the 2-hour, 40-minute race, he was able to cruise with a 20-plus second lead the majority of the race. He took the checkered flag by 9.517 seconds to deliver his second and Keating’s 20th WeatherTech Championship victory.

Surprisingly, these wins are the first in IMSA for Chatin and Keating since the 2021 Rolex 24 At Daytona and 2022 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, respectively.

“I had a really good start, didn’t make mistakes, got up to the front,” said Keating. “Our car was better in the race than it was in qualifying. I think I did a lap close to my quali lap with a lot of fuel and on used tires. A great day for the championship.”

In LMP3, the #74 Riley Ligier JS P320 of Gar Robinson and Josh Burdon won its fourth straight race of the season. Robinson now has a virtually unassailable 251-point lead with two races remaining.

No. 23 Aston Martin Team Goes Back-to-Back in GTD PRO

After a season marked by struggles, the Heart of Racing Team has found its stride in the GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class.

Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas combined for their second consecutive class victory with an impressive victory from the pole position Sunday in the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America.

It came two weeks after the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 won at Lime Rock Park, ending a run of six races without finishing better than fourth.

“We seem to have found something that’s working very well for us,” Gunn said. “But to be honest, throughout the whole season we’ve had a package that has been quick enough and competitive enough to be at the front, but it just hasn’t clicked. Now things are starting to work.”

Victory happened in part because of another team’s mistake. Gunn took the lead with 24 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 40-minute race when Antonio Garcia’s No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD had to serve a drive-through penalty for exceeding the minimum refueling time on its final pit stop.

“We obviously benefited from the Corvette getting that penalty,” Riberas said. “Today it was definitely very hard to beat them on track. You’ve got to be there to capitalize on these opportunities.”

Prior to Lime Rock, the No. 23 Aston Martin had struggled with its best finish of fourth coming at Long Beach in April. But in recent weeks the program has come to life, with Motul Pole Awards and race wins in two events.

“I feel so proud for this team,” Riberas said. “Things are starting to click for our side. It just feels like everything is starting to feel a bit more natural. Everything is a little bit more enjoyable. The weekends are just fun.”

Riberas started from the No. 1 spot but surrendered the lead to Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette with the Aston’s first pit stop 38 minutes into the race. Gunn regained the lead from Daniel Juncadella and the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with 1 hour 10 minutes left.

Gunn and Garcia battled closely from there, with Garcia regaining the lead shortly before the penalty was issued. When Garcia pitted, Gunn had the No. 23 back in the lead.

The back and forth between Gunn and Garcia proved intense.

“We had a big fight for a few laps, which was very enjoyable,” Gunn said. “Lots of respect. Hopefully that’s not the last battle we have with those guys this year.”

A runner-up finish by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat helped the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 maintain its lead in the class championship standings. Garcia and Taylor are second in points, while Juncadella and Jules Gounon are third in the No. 79 WeatherTech Mercedes.

No. 1 Paul Miller BMW Team Gets Fourth Win of Season at Road America

The new pavement at Road America created challenges for some teams Sunday. Paul Miller Racing wasn’t among them.

Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers improved their lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) standings with their fourth victory of the season in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3.

“We came out of the gate strong,” said Snow, who won the Motul Pole Award on Saturday and started Sunday’s race just as strong. “This repave was difficult for a lot of people. Fortunately, it seemed like it really suited the BMW well. It was strong out of the gate.”

Snow and Sellers weathered a stout challenge from the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO co-driven by Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe, but Sellers was able to cross the line 2.261 seconds ahead of Schandorff for the 18th victory of Sellers’ career and 13th of Snow’s.

“The biggest challenge was certainly the racetrack,” Sellers said. “The evolution from practice to qualifying and the race was that everybody gained quite a bit of respect for the track and what needed to be done.”

Mikael Grenier co-drove the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 to a third-place finish with Mike Skeen.

Snow and Sellers, who won earlier this year at Sebring, Long Beach and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, lead the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 co-driven by Marco Sorensen and Roman De Angelis in the GTD championship standings.

The key to the dominating performance by Snow and Sellers may have been taking it easy. By not trying to do too much on the track’s new surface, they were able to let the race come to them.

“After qualifying, we felt like we would probably be our own worst enemy should we ask too much or try too hard,” Sellers said. “I have to say in my career, it was one of the races I had to manage the most in terms of pace and comfort and being on-line.”

Race Results