Entry List Notebook: IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America

July 22, 2020
Staff Report
IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

IMSA SportsCar Weekend

Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

July 31 – August 2, 2020 

Fast Facts

Race Day/Time: Sunday, August 2 – 12:05 p.m. ET

U.S. Television Coverage (All Times ET): LIVE – NBC Network, NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com

TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 12 p.m.

IMSA.com Live Qualifying Stream: Saturday, August 1 – 2:50 p.m. ET; Link here.

IMSA Radio: All sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage begins Sunday at 12 p.m. ET (Sirius channel 219, XM 202, Internet 972)

Tickets: RoadAmerica.com

Circuit Type: 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course

Race Length: Two hours, 40 minutes

Track Social Media: Twitter/Instagram: @RoadAmerica; Facebook: RoadAmerica

Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #RoadAmerica  

WeatherTech Championship Track Records Qualifying: DPi:      Dane Cameron, Acura DPi, 1:48.715 / 134.0 mph, August 2019 LMP2:   James French, ORECA LMP2, 1:52.037 / 130.1 mph, August 2019 GTLM   Oliver Gavin, Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, 2:00.663 / 121.1 mph, August 19 GTD      Ben Keating, Mercedes-AMG GT3, 2:05.250 / 116.4 mph, August 2019  

2019 IMSA Road Race Showcase Race Winners: DPi:      Jonathan Bomarito/Harry Tincknell, No. 55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi LMP2:  Matt McMurry/Patrick Kelly, No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 GTLM:  Ryan Briscoe/Richard Westbrook, No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT GTD:    Matt Campbell/Zacharie Robichon, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R

Storylines

  • Nasr’s Feel Good Story: Brazilian driver Felipe Nasr did not let his COVID-19 diagnosis and subsequent absence from the IMSA WeatherTech 240 At Daytona on July 4 keep his spirits down. In his racing return last weekend at the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring, Nasr combined with fellow Brazilian Pipo Derani to score a dominant overall victory in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.
  • Heart of Racing Back on the Grid: After a two-race hiatus, the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is back on the grid in GTD. Canadian Roman De Angelis is scheduled to co-drive with team owner Ian James, who takes the spot of the second original full-time co-driver, Alex Riberas. Following an incident in Hour 5 of the Rolex 24 At Daytona that relegated the team to a last-place finish in class, the team is ready for redemption at Road America.
  • Shank Entries Further Bolster GTD: Meyer Shank Racing did not compete in the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring as the race did not award points towards the full-season WeatherTech Championship in the GTD class, only the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Points will be awarded for both at Road America, bringing back the No. 57 Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Racing and No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3s. Alvaro Parente and Misha Goikhberg, and Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry will pilot the respective cars.
  • Trummer Slides Back into LMP2: The winning LMP2 race car from Sebring finds Patrick Kelly back in the driver seat, but now alongside teammate Simon Trummer. IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot made his successful LMP2 debut in Trummer’s place due to a scheduling conflict. With Sebring kicking off the full-season LMP2 championship, Kelly and the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA enter Road America as points leaders.   

Who’s Hot?

  • Cadillac: Two of the three DPi class victories so far in 2020 have gone to Cadillac. Mazda took the IMSA WeatherTech 240 At Daytona victory on July 4, with Cadillac winning January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring last weekend. Mazda is three points in arrears of Cadillac in the manufacturer standings, 102-99.
  • AIM Vasser Sullivan: There has not been a more dominant team in GTD since IMSA’s return to racing than that of AIM Vasser Sullivan. The Nos. 12 and 14 Lexus RC F GT3s, each have scored Motul Pole Awards and the No. 14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz won both races.
  • Corvette Racing: With its new C8.R race car, Corvette Racing has already hit its stride in the GTLM class. Both the Nos. 3 and 4 Corvette C8.Rs have scored a pole position and victory in the last two races, proving the new car to be incredibly competitive.
  • JDC-Miller MotorSports / Mustang Sampling: It’s been three races and three podiums for Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports / Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi. But even they would have to admit the podium at the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring was a surprise. Running fifth on the penultimate lap, Bourdais catapulted to third after both Mazda DPis running ahead of them ran out of fuel on the final lap.

 Who’s Good Here?

  • Oliver Gavin: The co-driver of the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R should be at the top of the “Who to Watch for” list. Coming off a victory at the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring with Tommy Milner – the first victory for the No. 4 duo in more than two years – Gavin holds the most wins (four) and pole positions (five) of drivers in the field.
  • Corvette Racing and Chevrolet: Speaking of Gavin, let’s just include the two-car GTLM team and Chevrolet on this list. Corvette Racing is the winningest active team at Road America with seven wins – four more than second place Action Express Racing – and Chevrolet is tied with Porsche as the winningest active manufacturer with 13 victories.
  • Porsche: With 13 wins at Road America, Porsche and Chevrolet are four ahead of BMW with nine victories. However, while Chevrolet hasn’t won at Road America since 2016, Porsche has taken back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019 in the GTD class. Defending winner Pfaff Motorsports isn’t on the grid this year, but 2018 GTD winners Wright Motorsports is entered with Ryan Hardwick and Patrick Long.
  • Patrick Kelly: Road America was the site of the LMP2 driver’s first career IMSA victory last year alongside Matt McMurry. Kelly will be behind the same ORECA LMP2 this year with Simon Trummer and carries momentum from his second career win at the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring last weekend.

Previous IMSA Winning Drivers Since 2000 in 2020 Field (18)

Oliver Gavin (4) – ALMS GTS – 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005; ALMS GT1 – 2007; GTLM – 2016

Bill Auberlen (3) – ALMS GT2 – 2009; ALMS GT – 2012; ROLEX GT – 2013 Dane Cameron (3) – GTD – 2014; P/Overall – 2015; P/Overall – 2016

Patrick Long (3) – ALMS GT2 – 2005; ALMS GT2 – 2006; GTD – 2018

Ryan Briscoe (2) – GTLM – 2018, 2019

Joao Barbosa (1) – P/Overall – 2014

Jonathan Bomarito (1) – DPi/Overall – 2019

Luis Felipe “Pipo” Derani (1) – P/Overall – 2017

Patrick Kelly (1) – LMP2 – 2019

Jesse Krohn (1) – GTD – 2017

Cooper MacNeil (1) – ALMS GTC – 2012

Matt McMurry (1) – LMP2 – 2019

Tommy Milner (1) – GTLM – 2016

Tristan Nunez (1) – ROLEX GX – 2013

Nick Tandy (1) – GTLM – 2015

Harry Tincknell (1) – DPi/Overall – 2019

Renger Van Der Zande (1) – PC – 2014

Toni Vilander (1) – ALMS GT – 2011


Previous IMSA Pole Winning Drivers Since 2000 in 2020 Field (9)

Oliver Gavin (5) – ALMS GTS – 2003; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2008; ALMS GT – 2010; GTLM – 2019

Jonathan Bomarito (2) – ALMS GT – 2013; P/Overall – 2016

Dane Cameron (2) – DPi/Overall – 2019; ROLEX DP – 2013

Ricky Taylor (2) – ROLEX DP – 2011; P/Overall – 2017

Earl Bamber (1) – GTLM 2015

Ryan Dalziel (1) – P/Overall – 2014

John Edwards (1) – GTLM – 2014

Patrick Kelly (1) – LMP2 – 2019

Patrick Long (1) – GTD – 2018


Previous IMSA Winning Teams Since 2000 in 2020 Field (12)

Corvette Racing – 7

Action Express – 3 PR1

Mathiasen Motorsports – 3

Team RLL – 3

Turner Motorsport – 3

Team Penske – 2

Riley Motorsports – 2

Starworks Motorsport – 2

AIM Vasser Sullivan – 1

Multimatic Motorsports – 1

Performance Tech Motorsports – 1

Wright Motorsports – 1


Previous IMSA Winning Manufacturers Since 2000 in 2020 Field (7) Chevrolet – 13

Porsche – 13

BMW – 9

Audi – 7

Ferrari – 5

Acura – 3

Mazda – 3