Acura, Corvette, Lexus Take IMSA Class Wins at Road America
Helio Castroneves had no idea where he was going, but he knew he was fast.
Castroneves passed Renger van der Zande in the pouring rain with 5 minutes, 15 seconds left Sunday to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class of the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America.
Castroneves trailed van der Zande when the race in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, restarted with under eight minutes left following a 21-minute red flag and 22-minute full-course caution, as leader Oliver Jarvis went to the pits for rain tires. Covered by plumes of water from van der Zande’s car and slower traffic in front, Castroneves chased down the leader and eventually passed him when his car bobbled on the exit of Turn 14.
“I couldn’t see a thing,” Castroneves said. “I noticed a little gap, and every time you have a little gap when there’s a few laps to go, you go for it.”
The victory with teammate Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 DPi was the team’s first this season in its first race after Acura announced that it would part ways with Penske’s WeatherTech Championship effort at the end of the 2020 season. Acura Team Penske first competed in the DPi class in 2018 and won the driver, team and manufacturer championships in 2019.
The team had been off to a rough start to the 2020 season, not finishing better than fourth in the first three races. Taylor and Castroneves hadn’t won since 2018.
“We don’t even know where we are in points because it’s pointless to look at them when we finish last every weekend,” Taylor said. “There’s always some bad luck or something going on, but this win definitely gives us some momentum. We’ll keep fighting.”
Van der Zande, who teamed with Ryan Briscoe in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, held on to finish second. The No. 31 Action Express Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R shared by Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani finished third.
In LMP2 Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman, who were at one point more than 45 seconds behind the leaders in the class during Sunday’s main, but caught a break when Simon Trummer went off course under yellow with 46 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 40-minute race.
Hanley, piloting the No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA LMP2 07, made a timely change from slick tires to wets and pulled off a surprising victory with help from Hedman’s opening effort.
In GTLM even the drenching wrath of Mother Nature couldn’t prevent the hottest team in the GTLM class competition from continuing its winning ways.
Corvette Racing collected a 1-2 finish. Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia drove to victory in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner bringing the sister No. 4 Corvette home in second place.
It marked the third straight Corvette win in 2020 competition and second straight 1-2 finish, though the positions were reversed two weeks ago at Sebring International Raceway.
After the rain and red-flag, John Edwards led GTLM in the No. 24 BMW, with Garcia in the No. 3 and Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche on his heels.
But amid the skirmish in the wet with limited visibility on the white-flag lap, both Edwards and Tandy went off course and Garcia snuck through to take the checkered flag. It marked IMSA win No. 18 for the Spaniard.
“It was a very, very intense (last) three laps,” admitted Garcia, who notched his first Road America triumph. “I knew from Sebring practice that the C8.R was really, really good in the wet, even if today was more than wet. I had Tandy all over me; we had many, many times where we were alongside and kind of sailing together instead of racing together.
“I knew the Carousel and the Kink was really bad, like going into a swimming pool. I took the line I took on the previous lap and it seemed to work while defending from Tandy. … At some point while I was full off to the left, I saw the 24 (Edwards) spinning by himself very, very slowly.
“I was probably one of the few cars that made it through and luckily enough Tommy did the same, so another 1-2 for Corvette Racing, which is amazing. My first victory at Road America, finally!”
You know it’s a strange day in when the winning car in a race limps home with damage sustained after the checkered flag. That’s the kind of race it was for the GT Daytona class (GTD) on Sunday. Frankie Montecalvo and Townsend Bell delivered AIM Vasser Sullivan its third win in as many IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races, coming after teammates Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth captured the previous two events.
It was the fourth IMSA win for Bell and maiden victory for Montecalvo. Farnbacher and Matt McMurry finished second in the No. 86, with Telitz and Hawksworth rounding out the podium in the No. 14.
The WeatherTech Championship resumes Aug. 21-23 with the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway for the GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes. The DPi and LMP2 classes return to competition in a six-hour race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Sept. 6.
