Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy of Porsche secured their second win of the season at the IMSA SportsCar Championship round held at Road America on Sunday, overcoming a penalty to do so.
In a strategic duel during a chaotic 2h40m race on the four-mile course—dubbed ‘America’s National Park of Speed’—Jaminet and Tandy outpaced their championship-leading teammates Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, as well as Acura drivers Felipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor, in a field featuring 47 cars.
#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, #01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963: Gianmaria Bruni, Bent Viscaal
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
Albuquerque, the pole winner, led the pack from the start in his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, with Jordan Taylor in the No. 40 sister car following closely. However, Taylor took the lead at the exit of the opening corner, holding off Albuquerque, an assertive Gianmaria Bruni (Proton Porsche 963), and Renger van der Zande (No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R).
In the meantime, Tandy’s No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 caused Pipo Derani’s Cadillac, run by Action Express, to spin at Turn 6, resulting in a penalty for Tandy. This allowed Connor De Phillippi’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 to advance to fifth place, despite having a spin during the warm-up lap.
Two early yellow flags emerged due to incidents involving GTD cars; Alexander Sims was spun out on the first lap, while Danny Formal’s WTR Lamborghini caught fire and was abandoned in the Carousel gravel.
The second caution prompted WTR to adjust their strategy, with Jordan Taylor pitting the No. 40 car for fresh tires and transferring driving duties to Louis Deletraz, causing the team to drop from first to ninth in the standings. Albuquerque, meanwhile, remained on the track and took the lead over Phillipp Eng’s No. 24 BMW, which had missed qualifying after Jesse Krohn crashed in practice.
Bruni pitted and re-emerged ahead of the GTP cars that had made stops, resuming in third place ahead of De Phillippi and Cameron in the points-leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. Van der Zande initially dropped to sixth but quickly passed Cameron.
Deletraz struggled on the restart and engaged in a wheel-banging contest with the recovering Tandy. His stint deteriorated further when he collided with Richard Westbrook’s JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche 963 at Canada Corner, resulting in a drive-through penalty. He would later incur another penalty for work done on the car outside of the pit box.
Eng pitted the No. 24 BMW to switch drivers to Krohn just before the one-hour mark, while Albuquerque stayed out past the hour but eventually made a pit stop to hand off to Ricky Taylor after an LMP2 car stalled at the Kink. The remaining GTP competitors followed suit, though the stalled car was able to move again under its own power without a yellow flag being waved.
Sebastien Bourdais spun the No. 01 Cadillac at Turn 2 shortly after taking over from van der Zande. Bruni remained on track for an extended period before giving the wheel to Bent Viscaal, who returned in the lead.
The third full-course yellow came when Nick Yelloly, just out of the No. 25 BMW after replacing De Phillippi, crashed hard leaving the Carousel, forcing him to retire. Bourdais required a new nose after running off behind Yelloly.
With just over an hour remaining, Ricky Taylor surged past Viscaal for the lead after the restart, and Mathieu Jaminet, driving for Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche, followed suit to take second at Turn 2, with Jack Aitken (substituting for Derani in No. 31 Caddy) moving into third at Turn 4.
Taylor quickly established a significant lead over Jaminet, while Felipe Nasr advanced past Viscaal to take fourth place in the No. 7 factory Porsche. A final yellow flag was required to clear debris resulting from some GTD altercations, which wiped out Taylor’s 7-second lead over Jaminet and necessitated a fuel stop that dropped him to ninth with 26 minutes remaining.
The race resumed green with 16 minutes left, with Jaminet leading Aitken and Nasr. Bourdais challenged Viscaal for fourth place and succeeded before Turn 5 as Deletraz made a mistake at Turn 2. Taylor accelerated on fresh tires and gained several positions at the restart.
Aitken tried to overtake Jaminet for the lead at Canada Corner, but was repelled. Meanwhile, Nasr executed an impressive move on Aitken, sweeping past him on the front stretch, while Taylor moved up to fourth past Bourdais at Turn 1.
Nasr immediately latched onto Jaminet’s rear as they approached the white flag. Taylor passed Aitken for third place and nudged the back of Nasr at Turn 4. The top four cars were within 1.4 seconds of each other at the finish line.
Bourdais spun down to the last position in GTP as Viscaal overtook him on the outside for fifth.
#2 United Autosports ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Ben Keating, Ben Hanley
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Victory for United Autosports in LMP2
In the LMP2 race, Ben Keating took an early lead in United Autosports’ No. 2 Oreca, as pole sitter PJ Hyett of AO Racing slipped to third at Turn 5, falling behind Nick Boulle (Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen), who had previously won overall at Mosport.
Daniel Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca received a drive-through penalty for a red light violation during the initial pit stops. Hyett managed to reclaim second position after the stops but then collided with Goldburg, who was a lap down, at Turn 1.
Tom Dillmann, taking over from Boulle, exited the pits with equipment still attached to the car, leading to a drive-through penalty that relegated them to seventh position.
This set up a direct battle between Keating’s No. 2 Oreca and Paul-Loup Chatin’s No. 99 AO car. A strategically timed late caution favored United, allowing Hanley to pull ahead of Gerry Kraut and Scott Andrews (JDC-Miller), while Chatin faded to the third spot.
#35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Giacomo Altoe
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Stunning Win for Conquest Ferrari in GTD Pro
In the GTD Pro category, Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R led his teammate Alexander Sims from the start. However, Sims was taken out at Turn 5 by Mike Rockenfeller’s No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang, which sustained damage and forced both cars out of contention.
Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F capitalized on the situation, moving up to second position ahead of Oliver Jarvis driving Pfaff Motorsports’ McLaren 720S. At the restart, Madison Snow surged into second place in the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4.
During the first round of pit stops, Catsburg fell back in the standings as Giacomo Altoe continued leading in the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296, ahead of Julien Andlauer, who replaced Seb Priaulx in the top-ranking AO Racing Porsche 911.
Altoe and Daniel Serra conserved just enough fuel to secure victory by a margin of 1.8 seconds over the BMW of Snow and Bryan Sellers. Ross Gunn, who shared the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin with Alex Riberas, finished third, narrowing the points gap to the AO Porsche that came in fourth.
The No. 14 Lexus was handed a costly drive-through penalty for a pit violation during Ben Barnicoat’s stint after taking over from Hawksworth.
In the pro-am GTD class, Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher triumphed in their Turner Motorsport BMW M4 after Parker Thompson was forced to abandon his fuel strategy gamble in his Lexus.
