| May 12, 2020 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s almost time for Round 4 of the IMSA iRacing Pro Invitational Series and 50 drivers are lined up for the WeatherTech Presents IMSA iRacing at Road America on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. Long a fan-favorite circuit, Road America features four sweeping miles of racetrack and some of the most famous turns in sports car racing like the Carousel, the Kink and Canada Corner. While IMSA will be hosting the 90-minute race virtually on Thursday, the Road Race Showcase weekend featuring several IMSA series is still scheduled for July 31 – August 2. Let’s take a look at some of the drivers who have found real-life success at Road America in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Mazda is activating its stable of drivers for Thursday’s iRacing event, with three of the four full-time Mazda Motorsports DPi drivers entered. All three – Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Tristan Nunez – have wins at Road America, but all will be going for an iRacing victory in Ford GTs. Bomarito and Tincknell co-drove to Mazda’s third WeatherTech Championship win last August and Nunez co-drove with Joel Miller, also entered, to victory in 2013 in the GX class. “I’ve finally finished building my sim and am ready to race, excited to finally join my fellow IMSA competitors in a little friendly competition,” said Nunez ahead of his IMSA iRacing debut. “The first three races were so fun to watch, so I’m eager to get on the track myself.” Speaking of Fords, the Ford GT has won at Road America the last three years in the WeatherTech Championship GTLM class and Richard Westbrook was part of two of those winning lineups. Westbrook’s Ford GT will be one of 15 entered in the field and will look to make it three-in-a-row for himself, with his real-life wins coming in 2018 and 2019. Can Jesse Krohn finally break through to the top step of the iRacing podium in his BMW M8 GTE? Road America is a great opportunity for the Finnish driver, as he scored his first WeatherTech Championship win here in 2017 as part of the GTD class in another BMW, the M6 GT3. While Ben Keating will be new to IMSA iRacing, he’s no stranger to victory lane at Road America. Alongside Jeroen Bleekemolen, Keating scored back-to-back wins in the WeatherTech Championship GTD class in 2015 and 2016 with Riley Motorsports. The Texan also has the speed too – his first Motul Pole Award in the series came at Road America in 2019. Three additional winners include Colin Braun (WeatherTech Championship Prototype, 2018); Jeff Segal (GRAND-AM GT, 2012); and Nick Tandy (WeatherTech Championship GTLM, 2015). Thursday’s race will begin at 6 p.m. ET and will be available on the iRacing YouTube and Facebook channels for fans to stream live, with the voice of IMSA Radio, John Hindhaugh, leading the commentary team. The Torque Show will stream a pre-race show once again beginning at 5 p.m. ET on its Facebook page. |
