Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy from Porsche secured their second victory of the season in the IMSA SportsCar Championship round at Road America on Sunday, overcoming a penalty to emerge victorious.
The duo triumphed over their championship-leading team-mates at Penske, Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, along with Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor, in a strategic showdown during an action-filled 2h40m race at the picturesque four-mile course known as ‘America’s National Park of Speed,’ which featured an impressive 47-car grid.
#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque lead the field to green
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
Albuquerque, the pole sitter, led the pack to the start in his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, closely followed by the No. 40 sibling car driven by Jordan Taylor. However, Jordan quickly seized the lead exiting the first corner, ahead of Albuquerque, Gianmaria Bruni (Proton Porsche 963), and Renger van der Zande (No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R).
Tandy’s No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 collided with Pipo Derani’s Action Express-run Cadillac at Turn 5, causing a spin, for which Tandy received a penalty. This incident elevated Connor De Phillippi’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 to fifth place, even after surviving a spin on the warm-up lap.
Two early cautions were triggered by GTD cars: the first occurred when Alexander Sims was knocked off on the opening lap, and the second happened when Danny Formal parked his Lamborghini from WTR in the Carousel gravel due to a sudden fire.
The second yellow flag prompted WTR to modify their strategy, with Jordan Taylor in the No. 40 pitting for fresh tires and handing over to Louis Deletraz, which dropped them from first to ninth in the GTP order. In contrast, Albuquerque remained out to lead, with Phillipp Eng’s No. 24 BMW trailing, as it had missed qualifying due to a shunt by Jesse Krohn in practice.
After Bruni pitted, he rejoined at the front of the GTP cars that had previously stopped, restarting in third ahead of De Phillippi and Cameron in the leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. Van der Zande had slipped to sixth but quickly passed Cameron.
Deletraz struggled at the restart and engaged in a wheel-banging duel with the recovering Tandy. His stint worsened as he spun Richard Westbrook’s JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche 963 at Canada Corner, receiving a drive-through penalty for his trouble. He later incurred another penalty for the team working on the car outside the designated area.
Eng brought the No. 24 BMW in for a driver change to Krohn just before the one-hour mark, while Albuquerque extended his stay before diving into the pits to exchange with Ricky Taylor after an LMP2 vehicle halted at the Kink. The rest of the GTP field followed suit, even though the stalled car managed to resume on its own before any anticipated yellow flag was deployed.
Sebastien Bourdais spun in the No. 01 Cadillac shortly after taking over from van der Zande. Bruni remained out the longest before handing the reins to Bent Viscaal, who rejoined in the lead.
The third full course caution was necessitated when Nick Yelloly, who had just taken over the No. 25 BMW from De Phillippi, crashed heavily exiting the Carousel. Yelloly was forced to retire his vehicle on the spot, while Bourdais also required a new front end after going off behind him at the corner.
With just over an hour remaining, Taylor quickly surpassed Viscaal for the lead at the restart, while Jaminet, who replaced Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche, followed suit to claim second place by Turn 2. Jack Aitken, standing in for Derani in the No. 31 Cadillac, also moved ahead at Turn 4.
Taylor built a substantial lead over Jaminet, while Nasr managed to navigate past Viscaal to take fourth in the No. 7 factory Porsche. A final caution was called to clear debris resulting from some GTD skirmishes, which not only nullified Taylor’s 7-second lead over Jaminet but also necessitated a pit stop for fuel, relegating him to ninth as he pitted with 26 minutes to go.
With 16 minutes left, the race resumed, featuring Jaminet in the lead with Aitken and Nasr right behind him. Bourdais launched an attack on Viscaal for fourth and successfully passed him before Turn 5, while Deletraz went off at Turn 2. Taylor was on a charge with fresh tires, rapidly gaining on the cluster of cars ahead at the restart.
Aitken attempted to overtake Jaminet for the lead at Canada Corner but was thwarted. Nasr had a strong run on Aitken, sweeping past him on the front straight, while Taylor made strides up to fourth, overtaking Bourdais at Turn 1.
As they approached the white flag, Nasr closely tailed Jaminet through traffic. Taylor passed Aitken for third, lightly tagging Nasr at Turn 4. The top four crossed the finish line within 1.4 seconds of each other.
Bourdais found himself spun to the back of the GTP field as Viscaal passed him around the outside for fifth.
#2 United Autosports ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Ben Keating, Ben Hanley
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
United Autosports claims victory in LMP2
United Autosports’ Ben Keating took the early lead in the No. 2 Oreca, while pole winner PJ Hyett (AO Racing) slipped to third at Turn 5, trailing overall Mosport winner Nick Boulle (Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen).
Daniel Goldburg from the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca received a drive-through penalty for running a red light during the first round of pit stops. After the initial pit sequence, Hyett reclaimed second but collided with Goldburg, who was a lap down, at Turn 1.
Tom Dillmann, taking over from Boulle, left the pits with equipment still attached, which led to a drive-through penalty, dropping them to seventh place.
This set the stage for a head-to-head battle between Ben Hanley in the No. 2 and Paul-Loup Chatin’s No. 99 AO car. A well-timed late yellow flag worked in United’s favor, allowing Hanley to pull away from Gerry Kraut/Scott Andrews (JDC-Miller), while Chatin ended up third.
#35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Giacomo Altoe
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Conquest Ferrari achieves an unexpected victory in GTD Pro
In the GTD Pro category, Nicky Catsburg’s No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R led the charge, with Sims’s No. 3 sister car from Pratt Miller Motorsports following closely. However, Sims was sidelined at Turn 5 by Mike Rockenfeller’s No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang, which also incurred damage to its right-front corner, eliminating them both from contention.
Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F took advantage of the situation, moving up to second place ahead of Oliver Jarvis in the Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S. At the restart, Madison Snow surged to second in Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4.
As Catsburg began to lose ground during the first round of pit stops, Giacomo Altoe managed to maintain his lead in the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296, ahead of incoming Julien Andlauer, who replaced Seb Priaulx in the AO Racing Porsche 911, currently leading in points.
Altoe and Daniel Serra conserved just enough fuel to secure victory by 1.8 seconds over the Snow/Bryan Sellers BMW. Ross Gunn, who shared his No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin with Alex Riberas, clinched third, closing in on the AO Porsche in points, which ultimately finished in fourth.
The No. 14 Lexus encountered a costly drive-through penalty for a pit violation as Ben Barnicoat took over from Hawksworth.
In the pro-am GTD class, Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher triumphed in their Turner Motorsport BMW M4, while Parker Thompson was forced to abandon a risky fuel strategy with his Lexus.
