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

Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani scored a gritty IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win at Road America after seeing off multiple challengers for victory.

Race winner #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani

Race winner #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani

Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

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

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

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