Road America IMSA: Nasr/Derani win in Action Express Cadillac

Nasr led from pole but had to run Ricky Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing Acura) way wide at Turn 1 to keep his lead. Taylor held second from the sole Mazda of Oliver Jarvis.

The rough and tumble continued at Turn 5, as Kevin Magnussen (Ganassi Cadillac) was elbowed wide – first by Olivier Pla’s Meyer Shank Acura and then Tristan Vautier (JDC-Miller Cadillac) a corner later – dropping him to last in class.

Magnussen appeared to pay back Vautier at The Kink just before half distance, worrying him on to the grass with a bold move down the inside.

In the second half of the race, Derani took over from Nasr, while Albuquerque did likewise to relay from Taylor as they continued to run first and second with five seconds between them.

In the final stint, Albuquerque fell into the clutches of the chasing Mazda of Harry Tincknell, who pulled alongside on the approach to the Carousel and they made contact.

That sent Albuquerque to the pits for a fresh left-rear tyre, promoting Renger van der Zande (in for Magnussen) to third, and dropped the WTR Acura down to fifth.

Derani held off any late ambitions that Tincknell had of victory, taking the flag by 1.594s.

Dane Cameron went for an ambitious fuel gamble in the Meyer Shank Acura, and led until 3m33s to go before pitting for a splash and dash, that dropped the car to fourth, but he allowed the WTR Acura to pass to take fourth on the final lap. Loic Duval (who took over from Vautier) also needed a late fuel stop and finished last in class.

In LMP2, Ben Keating/Mikkel Jensen (PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports) led the first half of the race, until Ryan Dalziel surged ahead in the ERA Motorsport Oreca he shared with Dwight Merriman. Dalziel even led the race overall during the DPi pitstop sequence and won his class ahead of the Tower Motorsport car of Gabriel Aubry and John Farano.

In LMP3, Jarrett Andretti leapt into the early lead, ahead of Gar Robinson, but it was the CORE Autosport machine of John Bennett and Colin Braun that won with ease.

#79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR - 19, GTLM: Cooper MacNeil, Matt Campbell

Photo by: Bill Gulker

GT classes

In GT Le Mans, Jordan Taylor led Nick Tandy in their Corvettes early on, ahead of the WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR of Cooper MacNeil. Tandy caught a break when he pitted before the race’s first caution period, for a stranded LMP3 car, which gifted him the lead at the restart. In response, Taylor took the chance to hand over to Antonio Garcia in an attempt to redress the strategic advantage.

The race took a big twist when Tommy Milner took over from Tandy and spun the wheels on the jacks, resulting in a drive-through penalty.

But the real story that developed was the incredible performance of Matt Campbell, who defeated both Corvettes after an amazing two-hour stint in the WeatherTech Porsche and winning the class by a country mile after a splendid mix of charging and fuel saving at various points when required.

In GT Daytona, pole-sitter Aaron Telitz made a disastrous error at the start in his Vasser-Sullivan Lexus as he picked up a drive-through penalty for changing lanes before the start line, dropping him to last – the issue complicated by the three GTLM cars that started with him.

That handed the lead to Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsport BMW M6, who jumped past Trent Hindman in his Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R at the first corner.

Hindman went off strategy compared the majority by pitting for fuel before the first caution inside the opening 30 minutes. Foley lost places when he stopped under yellow, while another pre-caution stopper Zacharie Robichon (Pfaff Motorsports Porsche) rocketed into the class lead. Telitz passed Hindman to claim second, a remarkable comeback from his penalty in the opening hour.

Robichon handed over to Laurens Vanthoor, who cruised home to win by a huge margin over Bill Auberlen, who shared the Turner BMW with Foley. Patrick Long (in for Hindman) took third.

Race results:

Cla	Class	Num	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Gap
1	DPi	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani	Cadillac DPi	76
2	DPi	55	Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell	Mazda DPi	76	1.594
3	DPi	01	Renger van der Zande Kevin Magnussen	Cadillac DPi	76	5.770
4	DPi	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque	Acura DPi	76	46.781
5	DPi	60	Dane Cameron Olivier Pla	Acura DPi	76	49.018
6	DPi	5	Tristan Vautier Loic Duval	Cadillac DPi	76
7	LMP2	18	Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel	ORECA LMP2 07	75	1 Lap
8	LMP2	8	John Farano Gabriel Aubry	ORECA LMP2 07	75	1 Lap
9	LMP2	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen	ORECA LMP2 07	75	1 Lap
10	LMP2	11	Thomas Steven Tristan Nunez	ORECA LMP2 07	74	2 Laps
11	LMP3	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	Ligier JS P320	73	3 Laps
12	GTLM	79	Cooper MacNeil Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	73	3 Laps
13	LMP3	38	Dan Goldburg Rasmus Lindh	Ligier JS P320	73	3 Laps
14	GTLM	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	Corvette C8.R	73	3 Laps
15	LMP3	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga	Ligier JS P320	72	4 Laps
16	LMP3	91	Jim Cox Dylan Murry	Ligier JS P320	72	4 Laps
17	GTLM	4	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Corvette C8.R	72	4 Laps
18	LMP3	36	Jarett Andretti Oliver Askew	Ligier JS P320	72	4 Laps
19	LMP3	61	Augie Pabst Tonis Kasemets	Ligier JS P320	71	5 Laps
20	GTD	9	Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 GT3 R	69	7 Laps
21	GTD	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	BMW M6 GT3	69	7 Laps
22	GTD	16	Trent Hindman Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3 R	69	7 Laps
23	GTD	23	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	69	7 Laps
24	GTD	14	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth	Lexus RC F GT3	68	8 Laps
25	GTD	12	Frankie Montecalvo Zach Veach	Lexus RC F GT3	68	8 Laps
26	GTD	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	68	8 Laps
27	GTD	88	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge	Porsche 911 GT3 R	68	8 Laps
28	GTD	66	Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	Acura NSX GT3	68	8 Laps
29	GTD	39	Richard Heistand Jeff Westphal	Audi R8 LMS GT3	68	8 Laps
30	GTD	42	Don Yount J.R. Hildebrand	Audi R8 LMS GT3	68	8 Laps
31	GTD	76	Jeff Kingsley Mario Farnbacher	Acura NSX GT3	67	9 Laps
	GTD	44	John Potter Andy Lally	Acura NSX GT3	62	14 Laps
	GTD	32	Shane Lewis Guy Cosmo	Mercedes-AMG GT3	46	30 Laps
	GTD	19	Mikhail Goikhberg Franck Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	24	52 Laps
	LMP3	30	Terry Olson Mike Skeen	Ligier JS P320	8	68 Laps
View full results