Weekend Recap: Champions Crowned in IMSA, GTWC Europe
Catch up on season-ending races from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya...
MSR Captures DPi Title With Drama-Filled Victory
Meyer Shank Racing secured the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi title at Motul Petit Le Mans during a dramatic race that saw both Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs take each other out and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 sustain race-ending damage in the final hour.
Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Helio Castroneves took victory over Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla and Mike Conway in the ten-hour contest at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta that ended under a full course caution.
The No. 60 Acura ARX-05 started the race from pole position, but Blomqvist lost the lead to the No. 02 CGR Cadillac DPi-V.R. of Earl Bamber in the opening laps.
As the race progressed, MSR’s main title rivals, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Brendon Hartley, captured the lead due to a well-timed pitstop mere moments before a caution triggered by a heavy crash by the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
At nightfall, the two Acuras at the head of the field began to fall behind the rival Cadillacs, with Earl Bamber and Renger van der Zande assuming a 1-2 position as the final hour of the race commenced.
The race then took a turn when the two Ganassi teammates collided into Turn 1, leaving both cars in the gravel.
This promoted Albuquerque to the lead, with Blomqvist closely behind in second position.
When the two drivers then pitted under the subsequent position, MSR executed a quicker pitstop and Blomqvist beat the No. 10 car off pit road to assume the lead.
Blomqvist held off the Portuguese ace until Albuquerque, who came in for a second late-race stop under the yellow, clipped the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo while battling for the lead.
This resulted in suspension damage to the No. 10 Acura, allowing MSR to secure its second overall Petit Le Mans victory and clinch its first DPi title in the process.
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Gradient Scores Breakthrough Win; De Angelis Claims GTD Title
Gradient Racing has claimed a breakthrough first GTD class victory in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans, with the team’s Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 finishing ahead of the GTD Pro competition on the road in the ten-hour contest at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The Heart of Racing’s Roman De Angelis, meanwhile, won the GTD drivers’ championship with a seventh place class finish in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.
Mario Farnbacher drove the No. 66 Acura the win under full course caution over the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Jordan Pepper, which saw the top five GTD cars all place ahead of the GTD Pro class-winning Ferrari, which was later stripped of its class victory due to a drive time infraction.
The unique finishing order was because of a wave-by procedure during the race’s fourth full course caution that gave cars in between the then-leading No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 and the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 a lap lead over the majority of the GTD Pro runners by virtue of the BMW’s position.
Farnbacher got around Pepper as the South African dashed into the pits moments before the eighth full course caution period, with the HPD factory driver holding off the Inception McLaren in a closely fought battle prior to the race-ending yellow.
The German shared top honors with Till Bechtolsheimer and Kyffin Simpson in the first major endurance win for the Acura NSX GT3 in global sports car racing competition.
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Akkodis ASP Wins Endurance Cup Title at Barcelona Finale
Akkodis ASP drivers Raffaele Marciello, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella sealed the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup title by finishing fifth in a dramatic Barcelona season finale that Dinamic Motorsport won overall.
Despite not having the pace to challenge for the win, the No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo scored enough points for its crew of factory drivers to beat Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco — who finished second in the race — by a slim two-point margin in the final standings.
Fuoco needed to take victory in the face of an Akkodis ASP fifth, but the No. 71 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 that the Italian shared with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera came up 0.873 seconds short behind Dinamic’s winning Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Klaus Bachler, Alessio Picariello and Matteo Cairoli.
At times during Sunday’s three-hour race, it looked as though Iron Lynx would manage to overcome Fuoco’s 10-point post-qualifying deficit to Akkodis ASP.
Pier Guidi started from pole and made an excellent start, building a substantial advantage over the No. 63 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Jack Aitken, who overtook Bachler for second at the first turn.
After the opening round of pit stops, Rovera held a seven-second lead over Aitken’s co-driver Albert Costa, while Gounon sat sixth in the No. 88 Mercedes-AMG following Juncadella’s opening stint.
Akkodis ASP lost touch with the front-runners after Juncadella getting caught up behind two McLaren 720S GT3s, with Gounon eventually overtaking Manuel Maldonado for fifth 20 minutes into his middle stint.
Leader Fuoco still had the upper hand in the championship stakes at that stage, however Costa and Picariello jointly erased Rovera’s advantage until the latter overtook the No. 71 Ferrari with a smart braking move into Turn 1.
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Turner Wins Race; VOLT Aston Crew Takes GS Title
Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern claimed victory in Friday’s Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, with a sixth place finish good enough to give VOLT Racing’s Trent Hindman and Alan Brynjolfsson the GS class title.
Auberlen took his No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 to a 2.081-second win over the No. 55 FCP Euro by Ricca Autosport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Mike Skeen and Trevor Andrusko, thanks to a late charge by Skeen.
Having started on pole, Machavern lost the position to the No. 93 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Tom Dyer at the start.
However, the positions swapped on Lap 15 after contact between the two cars entering Turn 10a that led to Machavern to retake the lead.
The Turner BMW held control for the remainder of the race to claim the duo’s second GS class victory of the season.
Hindman and Brynjolfsson, meanwhile, ran a trouble-free race, needing to only finish in the top-ten no matter where title contender Eric Foss ended up.
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Thompson Crowned Carrera Cup North America Champion
Laurin Heinrich controlled the second race of the weekend to win at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, while Parker Thompson clinched the Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands Pro class title.
Heinrich started on pole and immediately opened up a gap to the rest of the field, which he would maintain to the checkered flag of the final 40-minute contest of the season.
Thompson, meanwhile, secured his first series championship in his No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup after title rival and points-leader, Kay van Berlo retired from the race early on.
After the opening laps, van Berlo began to drop back in the field after starting the race in fifth position.
The Dutch driver later crawled to pit lane with fluid pouring out of his radiator. With his car retired, Thompson’s third place finish was enough to award him the Al Holbert Cup.
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Cadillac Announces WEC Lineup
IMSA GS Champs Set for Move to GTD
New GT3 Corvette Completes Shakedown
Risi Evaluating Ferrari LMH Effort
WRT Testing BMW M4 GT3s