Welcome, everyone, to "America's National Park of Speed", Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The weather is our first talking point. Rain is in the area at Elkhart Lake and hence, we are starting earlier than expected for the race today. Drive times have been affected as you may have just seen in a Sportscar365 article posted before the motor race. We will definitely encounter raindrops during the motor race. On the pole for today's race, it is the #10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. This is the penultimate round of the championship for DPi and the next to last event in the history of Daytona Prototype International, before the new rebirth of Grand Touring Prototype and the Le Mans Daytona Hypercars come next year.
That is very exciting to be sure. For now though, this is the final sprint event of the DPi season and the points battle is really down to the Acura teams of Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing with the Ganassi Racing Cadillac's in the fight. Action Express Racing, have been knocking on the door all season, and a podium last time out at Mosport Park was no fluke. The red and white Whelen Engineering Cadillac is not in championship contention as they were last year when they won, but you know that a victory, a repeat victory is what they are hoping for. Olivier Pla and Pipo Derani, want it. We saw a blinding lap from Olivier Pla in qualifying that was eventually eclipsed. But for a while, Pla was second on the time sheets.
We also know how competitive the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura is for Tom Blomqvist and and Oliver Jarvis. The #01 and #02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac's will be in the fight. it will be a six-way scrap for DPi honors. We are going to see hotly contested races in all five classes today at Road America. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. Acura are at the top in DPi. Pfaff Motorsports in GTD Pro, they are the leaders. Four brands scrapping for GTD. The points battles in LMP2 and LMP3 are equally hot. Sports car racing started in 1950 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
We join NBC Sports with Brian Till, and Calvin Fish, in the booth. Hannah Newhouse and Matt Yocum in the pit lane. Two races left for prototypes and three for GT cars. #60 is 51 points ahead of the #10 team. #01 and #02 are in there as well. Less so for a couple other teams. IN 2020, monsoon conditions at low speed. We have seen domination this year from Acura between #10 and #60. Last time out of course, it was the #01 Ganassi Cadillac that won. Who will be in victory lane today? It has been a game of whack a mole between the Acura teams.
Again, two races left. Today, at Road America, and then, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. In GTD Pro and GTD there was another race just for them at Lime Rock Park, and yours truly still needs to write about that one. You will hear more about that race maybe in the coming weeks if not the coming days. Right now though, Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen scored pole here in GTD at Road America while Pfaff Motorsports have been flying and the Vasser Sullivan #14 Lexus team want to push for their first win of the 2022 season.
In LMP2 and LMP3, Steven Thomas has pole in LMP2 and the first pole ever for Malthe Jakobsen and the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports team. Cooper MacNeil and his dog Oliver will take us around the track. OK. Come down the long fronstretch, watch the access road, and into turn one. Use all the road. Through the Carousel, car is a tad squirrely. Early to power as we head for The Kink, touch the brakes, and then watch for the final turn, turn 14, all the way uphill. It seems like Oliver, Cooper MacNeil's yellow lab, enjoyed that trip! Tee hee!
There are keys to winning the race and the title. Uphill climb to the lane. Big tire loads. Don't a cheese grater. The track is green. Pack your raincoat and your wellies. Wellies are rainboots. The rain we saw earlier has moved away and the track is dry in places, damp offline. There will be a split start with the prototypes ahead of the GT's. Good, large deltas, and we won't see any scrambling between the GT3 cars and the prototypes. So we might stay dry today. Gosh, I hope so. We are ready to go. Safety car lights off. Filipe Albuquerque leads the field. Big pressure on our championship teams. Go! Green flag! Albuquerque gets the jump on Alex Lynn.
Richard Westbrook moves past Alex Lynn and Olivier Pla gets squeezed by Sebastien Bourdais. Lexus vs. Porsche for GTD. Bourdais goes side by side with Blomqvist and Olivier Pla has a bird's eye view. Goodness gracious me. Blomqvist's car is not up to snuff yet with tire pressures. Scrapping into turn five in GTD Pro. Antonio Garcia has dropped down the order in the Corvette and Frankie Montecalvo loses a tad of bodywork in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Robby Foley and Alex Riberas are both moving up, BMW M4 GT3 and Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Damp offline. Acura leading the Cadillac's and then the #60 and #31 are also back there.
Westbrook is a monster in the wet. He loves it. Here comes Bourdais into five past Westbrook. Bish, bash, bosh. He squeaks right past. Bourdais chasing Alex Lynn, making his debut at Road America. Trouble for the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M4 GT3. He is off the pace, is John Edwards. Deary me. That's not good. There is moisture in the air. Teams have spotters at different parts of the road. Here at Road America, it can rain on one side and be bone dry on the other. Watkins Glen and Road America are two of those circuits. Oh dear. The BMW is stuck in the mud. He is doing a Control, Alt, Delete, just like a computer.
They are getting ready for the GTP/LMDh season for next year and we have talked so much about that. Leaders are coming to turn seven and we shall have a Full Course Yellow, maybe. They have. Criminy! The BMW is dead stick? Wait a minute. Now we are back under green. Well, well, well. The BMW M4 GT3 has fire in the hole. So, Pfaff Motorsports are going for the hat trick as they are chasing the Lexus boys right now. Pfaff Motorsports have been nearly perfect in 2022. Matt Campbell and Matthieu Jaminet will be on the Porsche GTP team with Roger Penske next year. Power down and power up for the BMW. They are running through the systems.
What on earth happened to carburetors and manual transmissions? These cars are being driven by computers now. In the meantime, with seven minutes on the board, we are clean and green. Matty Campbell won here last year with the WeatherTech team when they ran the awesome GT Le Mans Porsche 911 RSR. Jack Hawksworth protecting the inside line and makes the pass, taking the road away from Matt Campbell. Hawksworth missed two races with an injury from a motocross crash. He is in no mood to ride a motorbike. That's for dead sure. Mother nature toying with strategist's emotions. Everyone starting on Michelin slick tires. Guess what? It is misting now. Break out the rain tires! Play the waiting game.
If the rain gets worse, get to the lane and bolt on the rain tires. But the length of the track here at Road America, there is so much load, those wet weather Michelin's and the tread blocks, they will be ruined. Heat in the rain tire, is an enemy, because the blocks come off the carcass of the tire. Three different places around Road America, have speeds of 180+ miles an hour. Tom Blomqvist aiming for Richard estbrook, through the trees as Filipe Albuquerque leads the race. He had a perfect lap and a perfectly exceptional race car. It is a joy to drive a good handling car at this track. Road America is one of those tracks that is a speed palace.
Alex Lynn on his debut, he was just a tenth of a second off Albuquerque. Now, GTD Pro/GTD traffic ahead. You hope the ladies and gentlemen in the GT3 cars see you. The GT cars are identical specs and they have ABS brakes. The prototypes do not have antilock brakes. Frankie Montecalvo being chased by Roman De Angelis. Lexus #12 vs. Aston Martin #27. But the prototypes are right there and the GTD boys did not see them coming! Oh my gosh! Wow! Fill the hole. Westbrook, Jarvis, and Pla trying to play through. Richard Westbrook was right on their six.
You can see that the prototypes are still shuffling their way through the GTD/GTD Pro traffic. The prototype downforce will help. The GT3 cars do not have the same downforce level but they are far more softly sprung than the prototypes are. Although, the Cadillac's have good suspension. Now then, Westrbook and others are scything past the GTD and GTD Pro traffic. You are looking for any opportunity to get through traffic. The speeds are amazing for the prototypes and the speed delta is 25-30 miles an hour. Unbelievable. I remember a time when prototypes were 50-60 miles an hour faster than the GT cars. Westbrook has Blomqvist and Pla right behind. This is a true scrap. Desperation is setting in. Yikes!
Pla wants past Blomqvist as well, look. Fans on their toes indeed. The #74 LMP3 car from Riley Motorsports is out there. Gar Robinson, fourth in LMP3. Patrick Kelly leads LMP2. GTD Pro led by Jack Hawksworth while Robby Foley and Robert Megennis run 1-2 in GTD. BMW Team RLL are very busy with prepping the new BMW M LMDh in addition to running the M4 GT3 program. Very, very busy. So, Olivier Pla has gone past Tom Blomqvist. Pla now chases Richard Westbrook. Our broadcast team on Peacock is also doing a simulcast-on USA Network. So, watch the race on TV or if you have the Peacock app. There's a long way to go yet.
Filipe Albuquerque is leading the motor race, still. Get your raincoat and your wellies as we said earlier. Again, this is a whack a mole game between the two Acura teams. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque believe the pressure is on their Acura rival. Again, in GTD Pro, the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus has been the one car that has been at the top. Pfaff Motorsports though, too, they want it. Losing control, in the rain, is something these teams do not want. It is early doors yet. But man oh man, the rain is coming. In some spots it is heavy and other places not so much. But the traffic is unreal.
Argy bargy already in LMP2 between Dwight Merriman and Stephen Thomas! Wow! Keep your wits about you as we go onboard the #1 BMW M4 GT3 of Madison Snow for Paul Miller Racing sharing with Bryan Sellers. The prototypes are all over the GTD cars as the battle is on between Frankie Montecalvo and the #42 NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Jaden Conwright. Oh dear. Thomas spun the car #11 and now he has high sided it in the gravel trap! Oh my! He is not going anyplace! Game over for Steven Thomas and co-driver Tristan Nunez. He was on hot tires and hot tires on wet greass, a recipe for disaster. You could almost see it coming.
Dennis Andersen, the Dane, maybe made contact with the American driver. Full Course Yellow, now. Full Course Yellow. Fans hoping to stay dry as they enjoy the racing at Road America. No grandstands. Sit on the hillside and enjoy the action. We talked about the variety of food that Road America offers from bratwurst to corn on the cob to soft serve ice cream. Believe me, you will probably eat a bunch, but then have an opportunity walking the inside of the four-mile circuit to burn off the calories and carbs, guaranteed. Again, have your raincoat and wellies handy though because we could see rain as Steven Thomas is rescued by the marshals.
We have a hardy bunch of fans who are sitting through this rain. In 1950, the sports car races ran through the town, and in 1955, the track opened. The magic is here. This is one of the greatest tracks in the world, and no disrespect to the other great tracks like Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Mosport. But Road America is amazing. IMSA have hosted races here since 2000, and even before that, back in the '70s and '80s. The original GTP cars raced here. IMSA racing... the tracks, the cars, the racing. It's wonderful. Take it from me. Yours truly has been to one race already and would like to attend more.
Ah. Spinning under yellow, the #20 High Class Racing Oreca down the hill under the bridge. He just got in a wee bit hot there and looped it. That is the High Class Racing Oreca shared by Fabio Scherer and Dennis Andersen, the Swiss and the Dane. In DPi, the Cadillac's are in an Acura sandwich. The field, single file behind the safety car. What an awesome car, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 which is the C8. The street going Corvette is just as amazing as the race car. Now then, pit stop time as the DPi's are in the lane. Everyone in. WTR, MSR, Action Express, Ganassi. Who can do a fast stop and leapfrog the #10?
Routine service for #01 with Sebastien Bourdais doing a double stint before changing to Renger van der Zande. Alex Lynn in the lane, too. Slippery conditions. The #10 Acura swaps to Ricky Taylor. Olivier Pla stays in in the #31. #60 is in and they missed the queue. They are making a major chassis adjustment on the car taking the nose and the tail off. Maybe they need to put the car back in contention. They will get waved around and get back on the lead lap as they button up the car. Maybe the #60 can get back in the game as Oliver Jarvis takes over from Tom Blomqvist.
Pipo Derani takes over from Olivier Pla in the Whelen Cadillac at Action Express as well. Some teams are on an early driver change strategy in the hopes of gaining track position. There is an advertisement for wrestling on TV. Believe me, sometimes, these IMSA races can be wrestling matches. But usually, the drivers keep a cool head and will have to in these wet conditions. Wrestling and racing are both for show, but racing is far more serious. Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Cadillac, onboard, getting set to go back to racing soon. Adjust your seatbelts so they fit right. Pit stop time now for the GTD Pro and GTD cars, the production based GT3 cars.
Everyone is in. Vasser Sullivan Lexus, Pfaff Porsche, Corvette, Turner Motorsports BMW, Paul Miller Racing BMW, both of the Lexus cars, and the Aston Martin's too. Pfaff Motorsports putting Matthieu Jaminet into the car. They go to rain tires. Ditto for the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, swapping to Aaron Telitz. Wet weather Michelin's onto the cars. The strategies between the prototypes and the GTD cars are surely different. So, we are under two hours to go here at Road America as the cars rumble slowly through the moraine, through the forest. So, we have seen driver changes. Corvette #3 has moved to the GTD Pro lead.
The rain is changing the complexion of this motor race. We lost a lot of race time at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen in June. Minimum drive time changed to 30 minutes as the #60 Acura for Meyer Shank Racing is being topped off with petrol. They are off sequence because of the handling changes. This is thinking it through and making changes on the fly. Think ahead as you are not losing track position. You have the option of dry weather and rain tires and right now, we need the rain tires. Road America really allows the cars to stretch their legs. The rolling resistance accounts for 20% of the energy used when a race car or any vehicle is in motion.
Automakers, consumers, and truck fleets rely on rolling resistance to improve fuel economy and racer's use it for speed. The process of developing tires that are perfectly round, helps the rolling ability of the tire and the consistency of the tires is a major deal. So, Tom Blomqvist says the #60 team has been struggling and trying to improve but the performance is not there for them. Blomqvist trying hard to hang on. Green flag! Big scrap at the top of the shop here between Taylor and Bourdais. Sebastien Bourdais makes the move. Taylor is losing places. Lynn and Derani are coming. Richard Westbrook now makes the move for the lead in the #5 Mustang Sampling JDC-Miller Cadillac.
Most of the prototypes are still on slicks while GTD Pro cars are definitely on wets. The GTD cars have ABS brakes. Scrappy stuff between Jordan Taylor and Ben Barnicoat. Corvette vs. Lexus. Barnicoat is in his first race at Road America. This is the first lap after a restart as the track surface holds the moisture. Ricky Taylor is dropping like a stone down the order. The #02 Cadillac on slicks and Pipo Derani has spun and water spills out of the tail of the Cadillac! Oh dear! Argy bargy in LMP3 too! Wow! Derani twitches in the braking zone and he went off the road and back on. Wet tires for the #60. Mos of the prototypes are on slicks and the #5 Cadillac team declared putting wets on the car. So, Westbrook is good now but will struggle later.
A scrap between Ben Barnicoat and Matty Jaminet and Jaminet moves off the road in turn five. So, Westbrook is boatloads faster than everyone else. Wet weather tires might be a good plan. The #60 of Oliver Jarvis has moved to the lane for wets. Ricky Taylor has his hands full on slicks and here comes the #02 of Alex Lynn threading the needle between the LMP3 entries. Yikes! The LMP3's have rain tires, I think all of themn. Everyone is choosing different lines. Do not go out on the racing line, look for more abrasive surfaces to find more traction. That is what you want.
Felipe Fraga, Joao Barbosa, Matt Bell, Scott Andrews, Cameron Shields, Garrett Grist, Dakota Dickerson, and Colin Braun, the top order in LMP3. Watch the painted curbs in turn five. It is like stepping on ice in the winter and no one is at home and you fall down. Ricky Taylor working with the traction control and they keep him on the track! Taylor's tires are going to be stone cold with no grip. Load the energy and get the heat in the tires. Holy cow. This race has already had the most unbelievable twists and turns. Tiptoeing around, the GTD Pro battle. It is still Barnicoat being harried by Jaminet, look.
There are other prototypes in the way. LMP3 cars all over the shop. #10 and #02 back in the lane. What's happening here? Tire strategy I think. #01 in the lane, too. Tires, fuel, and a driver change to Renger van der Zande. Ditto for #10? I think Taylor will stay in. Tires and fuel the order of the day. Same for the #02. Not sure if Alex Lynn handed to Earl Bamber. Road America getting soggy. A long, flowing, fast track. GTD stops as well for rain tires. This is the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. Look at the pace and see how your lap times are because Richard Westbrook is a rocket right now, 14-16 seconds ahead of everybody else. Westbrook is ready to lap other DPi cars including the #31 Whelen Cadillac for Action Express.
The weather is changing again. Wayne Taylor said the track might be kept in order, but Ricky Taylor started feeling where the rain was so that is why they came in. Other drivers came in as well. In the championship, we saw Blomqvist's woes and the need for setup changes and rain tires. #60 has leapfrogged to second and the #10 now fourth. We can see more scrapping between Barnicoat and Jaminet in GTD Pro. The #9 Porsche team, if they run well, all they'd have to do is start at VIR and Road Atlanta. van der Zande does the Scandinavian flick! Yikes! He is on rain tires in the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac.
We are already an hour and five minutes in and in 15 minutes it will be the halfway mark. These conditions are unreal. Mercedes vs. Mercedes scrap for the GT Daytona lead. Mike Skeen vs. Daniel Juncadella, the Spaniard, making his first start. Juncadella won the Spa 24 Hours with Mercedes last weekend in SRO racing where GT3 cars rule the roost. Juncadella right on Skeen's six. Juncadella had another racing opportunity, but he chose to help Cooper MacNeil out as he has never raced at Road America before. WeatherTech's home base is in Wisconsin, the sponsor of this AMG Mercedes team for #79 and home of WeatherTech. Hopefully Cooper MacNeil's dog Oliver is holding out and is not too nervous.
Juncadella makes the move on Skeen in turn six. He made that move look easy on the normal line. Skeen was to driver's right. That worked out, as we are over an hour into the race. Skeen is not tied with co-driver Stevan McAleer. He missed a race while recovering from the blasted virus. Korthoff Racing wants a win but they also want the title. You want race wins but the title is so huge. Some teams can win the title without winning a race. It is possible but not ideal. Juncadella dives to the inside. Skeen is told a real pro is behind the wheel of the other car. Daniel Juncadella has passed Jordan Taylor in a Pro rated Corvette C8.R. Off and on for the #20 High Class Motorsports car with a new nose in bare carbon fiber.
Fabio Scherer at the wheel of it. Richard Westbrook leads in the Minnesota based JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac. So, they are essentially at a home race since IMSA has not raced at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota for four decades. There were races there in the old Camel GT days with the Porsche 935's and other great cars of the past that raced in this championship. So, Westbrook motors on in the gray #5 Cadillac having things all his own way at the moment. Daniel Juncadella passes the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. That is the Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas car.
We are so ready for the new GTP cars. The Cadillac and the Porsche, different sounds of the cars, different shapes and designs. This is ging to be very special. Cadillac and Porsche want to grow with each other. Global sports car prototype racing, seeing both cars test on the same day. How special. GTP is going to be FiYah! Working on the new hybrid system. Acura and BMW, Porsche and Cadillac, working to a common goal for reliability and performance. In 2024, Lamborghini is coming. Now then, a cheese wedge has fallen off the #90 LMP3 entry for JDC-Miller Motorsports in Canada Corner. That is Gerry Kraut sharing with Scott Andrews, the American and the Australian.
Pipo Derani is currently tenth. Action Express are having to claw their way back through the field as we can see a mishmash of DPi and LMP2 entries. Drivers like Louis Deletraz, Josh Pierson, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Fabio Scherer are making inroads. Maybe this shuffling is truly due to the Full Course Yellow. Things might reorder themselves once the safety car scramble is done and dusted. Jarvis, Taylor, Lynn, and Derani are all playing catch up right now. #5 to the lane for xervice. This is Richard Westbrook coming to the attention of the JDC-Miller team.
Slicks on the wall ready to go as the track surface dries up. Tristan Vautier will hop into the #5 entry. He has not seen action yet today and will have damp conditions on sticker Michelin tires. #01 to the lane as well. You need heat to get rid of the mold release on the trie. Tire changes for the #60 and the #10 and #31 also in. Filipe Albuquerque back in. #31 completes their service as well. That is Pipo Derani. We have seen the GTD Pro battle between Porsche #9 and Lexus #14. Jack Hawksworth sayus the race start was difficult. The race has gone very well for the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team and fighting for the victory.
Jack has been going through rigorous rehabilitation. He is feeling good right now and being careful. He feels good about what is happening for the Lexus team right now in GTD Pro. The rain has now stopped. So, with that, will the conditions get better? It could be. GTD cars now in the lane all going to slicks. An hour and 18 minutes left. You will not make it to the end. We have just passed the halfway mark in the race. GTD cars run to an hour, maybe 65 minutes on full fuel save. We could see yellows. We are not sure. It is a land rush off pit lane, but if you overlap with another car, you have to let them in and let the cars have the right of way, just like traffic on the street. No difference.
We should be going back to green flag conditions shortly. LMP3 and GTD cars have more of a window for attack and fuel save than do the DPi and LMP2 cars. If you are watching on Peacock or NBC you saw that graphic with all the numbers for fuel calculations. Strategists will be the hardest working people in the pit lane now if another stop is needed before the race is over. We are readying for green flag racing. #5 was magic during the wet conditions. The mental exertion in the rain is a huge deal. Take a gamble and go for it.
The worst thing you can do at Road America is pit twice in one stint. The #01 Ganassi Cadillac has to win to gap the #60 Meyer Shank Acura. We still see Pipo Derani in tenth place. Can he move up. Pipo Derani was forced off the road and into a sign board. Goodness gracious. Not a smooth weekend for defending race champions at Action Express. Let's hope tey can get back. He has to come in and get the sign board removed. Dear me. Derani trundles to the lane to get rid of the signboard. So, we can see that the #5 and #01 are 1-2 right now and the other players are in this. van der Zande wants by Vautier. Vautier not going to give it up. Ollie Jarvis might be able to take advantage of this.
Bamber and Albuquerque almost touching! Yikes! Albuquerque is clear. Jeez! That was a scary moment! Jarvis under attack from Earl Bamber. Through turn 13, contact between van der Zande and Fautier and into tur one, Albuquerque defending from Bamber. Wow! Bamber and Albuquerque touch. Vautier and company want a win. They have the track position to try and win at their home track as we talked about earlier on. Jarvis is dropping back. Maybe the team went for higher downforce.
Trouble with the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 with loose bodywork for Aaron Telitz at his home track. The strakes for the diffuser are bent and one is missing, went straight across Philip Ellis in the #57 Winward Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Pipo Derani slicing and dicing his way through GTD traffic. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow could seal the deal in the GT Daytona Sprint Cup today before their next event at Virginia International Raceway. Bamber is trying to take a spot away from Jarvis. The MSR Acura does not have the speed they want today after qualifying third. Jarvis locks the brakes as Bamber wants to make a move. Jarvis is being monstered by Bamber.
The Cadillac is far more compliant than the Acura. The Oreca chassis which is the carcass the Acura is based on is very stiff. Road America is going to be resurfaced and come next year could be the fastest track IMSA races at. Vautier, van der Zande, Bamber, Jarvis the top four. Vautier still leads van der Zande right now. The GTD Pro battle remains between Lexus and Porsche at the sharp end. The dry line forms from The Kink to Canada Corner now. Passing is not an issue. The weather has moved out. Ben Barnicoat still running ahead of Jaminet. That is the GTD Pro battle. Barnicoat wants to defend but blocks van der Zande in the #01 Ganassi Cadillac with a 35-40 mile an hour closing rate. van der Zande now just 3/10ths of a second behind Vautier as van der Zande passes the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Ryan Hardwick and Jan Heylen.
In the big picture, #01 has to win to cut into the championship lead for the Acura team. #5 also is in a must win situation to settle down the silly season for the GTP cars. JDC-Miller Motorsports will be the customer Porsche team next year. Oliver Jarvis, loose through The Carousel. He is having handling woes on that car. He has his hands full indeed. Dig deep to gain the points to go for the title. Meyer Shank won the Rolex 24 at the start of the year. GTD cars in for their final stops. #9 Pfaff Porsche is the first to blink. Will the weather change any? Ben Barnicoat has to put in a banker lap. He has to uncork something as #9 is doing the undercut. Two LMP3 cars off the road. This is turn three. Damage to the #36 Andretti Autosport car of Gabby Chaves. Malthe Jakobsen had no place to go and also crunched a sign!
Full Course Yellow. Wrong place and wrong time. Jakobsen had the pole in LMP3 but his race has gone pear shaped and he is out. Not a good day for the Dane and his experienced Portuguese co-driver Joao Barbosa. Not good either for Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves in the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier either. The drivers are OK but it is game over for both #33 and #36. Excited for next year when IMSA makes it's return to "The Brickyard", to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! It will be the next to last race of the year. We have a great calendar set up for 2023. IMSA President John Doonan says that it is great to be back at Road America.
Next year's schedule will be great. We look forward to the traditional races and the new venue like Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For sustainability, GTP will use renewable fuel from VP Racing fuel and will use hybrid technology for the GTP cars. Plus, 18 automakers racing in IMSA along with their sponsors for marketing their brands and doing business with one another. IMSA is the cool kids' table in the cafeteria. IMSA has more automakers involved than any other series in the world. Brand showcasing and engine showcasing. Cost effective, entertainment driven auto industry marketing tool. That is the name of the game with IMSA. 2023 will be FiYah! I said it before and I'll say it again.
Hello, to local native Wisconsinite and motor racing legend David Hobbs. An Englishman with a long racing and broadcasting career. We are outside full fuel save at 41 minutes and so, attack mode will be a big deal. Pit stop time now for the GTD cars. Prototypes in the lane now. Never mnd the GTD cars. This will be the final stop of the day more than likely. 5, 01, 10, 02, 60. These five teams are in it for the victory. It has been a rough go of it today for Action Express, still in tenth place. Maybe they can gain a few more spots before the race ends.
60 beats everyone out! Holy cow! They need handling and this is going to be a scrap of the Acura's. That is for dead sure. The drama continues. What will we see at Petit Le Mans at the end of the year? That is another major question on everyone's minds because that is where everyone is headed from here. The fans are having a great time, some, with their pets, like we saw Cooper MacNeil with his dog Oliver, earlier. GTD cars to the lane now. A few of them are in for service it looks like. Yes. Tires and fuel for the WeatherTech Mercedes AMG GT3. Down and away. Red light on at the end of the lane. If you run the red light, you are toast, mate.
Do not sail through that red light. Again, just like on the street, don't run the red light. Green flag. 35 minutes remaining. Oliver Jarvis in the pound seats, in front of the #10 Acura. Vautier and van der Zande next up. #79 ran the red light. Stop and hold for 60 seconds. Same for #36 and #90 in LMP3 for working in a closed pit lane. van der Zande slides past Vautier and Vautier says "oh no you don't." Earl Bamber also pressing on. Acura 1-2. That is a strange deal because Road America usually favors the Cadillac's. In GTD, Ben Barnicoat leads the GTD Pro class and in GTD, Philip Ellis deep on the brakes, screams into the braking zone and biffs Bill Auberlen. Filipe Albuqerque wants to make the move on Karvis!
At the exit of turn one, there are white lines and Albuquerque was way off the road! He did not gain anything. Drama on the road. Jarvis a tenth ahead. They short pitted and do not have as much gas in the tank as the #10. This will be a fight. Half an hour to go. If the #60 fluffs it, the way will drop down and the championship will be turned on it's head. Go fast and save fuel. #10 and #60 both flying. In LMP2, the scrap is between Louis Deletraz and Ryan Dalziel. Tower Motorsports vs. Era Motorsports. Dalziel won't let Deletraz get away. Felipe Fraga leads Matty Bell in LMP3 by over four seconds.
#96 BMW just got dumped by the Lexus. What was that shemozzle all about? You could almsot see that coming. Meanwhile, top of the shop, Acura v Acura. LMP2 still hot between the #8 and #18. Deletraz v Dalziel. Dalziel wants to pop out and make a move. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Meyer Shank and their team had bet on rain. But now in the dry it has come alive. Can they make it on petrol? They need another yellow, perhaps. Ledaers in traffic and the #10 takes the lead. Albuquerque slices by Jarvis! Wow! That was close! Jarvis gets hung out to dry in traffic and Albuquerque can now be the rabbit.
This is mano e mano between Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing now. Huge scrap between Vautier and van der Zande in the Cadillac scrap. Bamber out inside the Pfaff Porsche. Pipo Derani starting to work his way back into it but how far can he climb? The two Acura's split the #51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3! Wow! That's Ryan Eversley and Aidan Read sharing that car. Keep it together, for the #60. Side by side between Vautier and van der Zande and they run off the road! Bamber up to third! Vautier takes van der Zande to the wall. Pipo Derani is now in the fight trying to move in on van der Zande!
Deletraz and Dalziel screaming past the GTD cars for the LMP2 lead fight. Deletraz vs. Dalziel and the Scotsman is not letting the Frenchman get away. Deletraz has the GTD cars as the cork in the bottle. Damp spots on the road. Dalziel is not letting Deletraz get away. Jarvis is being reeled in by Bamber. The last time a team had half a deozen sixth place finishes, the #2 Audi R8 LMP900 factory car in the American Le Mans Series days. Jarvis has Bamber right on his six. Jarvis has to stay close to Albuquerque. He cannot let Bamber get past. The battle is also on among the GTD Pro and GTD cars. Lexus, Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Lamborghini, Mercedes, I mean, they are all in it.
#60 balked by LMP3 traffic. #02 is coming in a hurry. 13 minutes now remaining at Road America. This one is intriguing as Oliver Jarvis is reeling in the #10. Acura v Acura. Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn won at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Wayne Taylor Racing have never won a race at Road America. Pfaff Motorsports continuing to chase the Vasser Sullivan Lexus. Barnicoat leading Jaminet. Barnicoat could hit an almost two-hour driving stint. These drivers will be mentally drained at the end. Just over ten minutes left to play. Ryan Dalziel makes contact with Louis Deletraz into Canada Corner! That was scrappy! Albuquerque and Jarvis continue fighting. Albuquerque had a head of steam. I don't think Jarvis even knew he was there.
Meyer Shank Racing are looking at their sixth consecutive runner up finish. Filipe Albuquerque has a string of GTD cars ahead. Can Jarvis hone in? Albuquerque stalls in traffic and here comes Jarvids. Bamber in the fight. Wow! Bamber on the power almost right up Jarvis' tail! Jarvis off the road and he has crashed! Whoa! Jarvis has damage to the front! Holy mackerel! Jarvis will stay on the road. Yellow flag. Bamber putting on the pressure. Jarvis in the dirt, spears off... and... smash! Straight into the wall. Onboard, look. Smash! Running all over the road he had junk on his tires and lost all grip. So, the championship picture is turned on it's head.
Getting close to the end. Will we see the race go green before the time expires? The safety crews out there, doing track cleanup. I don't think there will be enough time to get cleaned up and restart the motor race. This thing might as well end under safety car conditions. White flag. We are going to end this motor race. Drama on the road because of the #60's accident which is back under way and has a tire going down. Goodness me. #10 will win Road America and take the championship lead. The #60 will finish this race with a points loss.
It will come down to the 60 and the 10 for the finale at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on the 1st of October. The tire pressures are falling in the #60 Acura. #60 drops to fourth place being passed by Bamber and van der Zande. Unreal. #60 are on the back foot and give the #10 team the advantage before the finale at Petit Le Mans. #10 will go in, 19 points ahead of the #60 as Wayne Taylor Racing win at Road America.
Overall/DPi: #10 Albuquerque/Taylor Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05
LMP2: #18 Merriman/Dalziel Era Motorsport Oreca 07
LMP3: #74 Robinson/Fraga Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT Daytona Pro: #14 Barnicoat/Hawksworth Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3
GT Daytona: #57 Ellis/Ward Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3
Redemption in GTD for Winward Racing after losing the race at Watkins Glen due to a drive time penalty. You see all the other class winners. Two more races. One remains for the prototypes. All five classes will be at the finale at Petit Le Mans on Saturday, October 1st, with Acura and Acura, Wayne Taylor Racing vs. Meyer Shank Racing, going for the title. The penultimate event of the series will be the all-GTD race at Virginia International Raceway coming up in three weeks. Between now and then, we also have the Pilot Challenge and all-GTD races from Lime Rock Park to talk about. So, lots more to cover before we get to the finale.
So long from "America's National Park of Speed" in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Bye bye.
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