| What Appeared as Early-Season Runaways Have Since Closed Substantially August 6, 2025By David PhillipsIMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Leaving Road America, it could be said that the “never say die” attitudes of the Pfaff Motorsports and United Autosports USA teams that rebuilt their cars in-weekend served as a metaphor for several other title contenders in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) battle has seen several cars and manufacturers make inroads on early-season leads. The year began with the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell taking a back seat to the No. 7 Porsche 963 of Porsche Penske teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy when the latter won opening three rounds of the campaign. Jaminet and Campbell sat 123 points behind their teammates leaving Round 3 at Long Beach (1,140 to 1,017). But oh, how the table has turned in the past four races. First Jaminet and Campbell broke into the win column at WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway in May, then finished third on the streets of Detroit, one spot ahead of Tandy and Nasr. But it was when then they came home fourth at Watkins Glen International in June while the No. 7 Porsche retired from contact that flipped the championship lead, as Jaminet, Campbell and the No. 6 Porsche procured a narrow 12-point lead heading to Road America (2,028 to 2,016). |
| The No. 6 car ran ahead of its stablemate most of the race, and the crescendo to action came later in the race. A scrap between Tandy and Ricky Taylor saw a stop-plus-60 assessed to Tandy’s No. 7 car following contact entering Turn 6 as a classic two-into-one into the corner move didn’t work cleanly. That dropped the No. 7 car to an unrepresentative 11th place finish while the No. 6 Porsche finished fifth and moved to a healthy, if not entirely comfortable, 75-point lead clear of their teammates (2,314 to 2,239). It’s made for a 198-point swing between the two cars in the past four GTP races. “We’re looking back on the race here in Elkhart Lake with mixed emotions – it didn’t go our way,” Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh, explained. “But we’re still leading the championship with the No. 6 Porsche 963, which is the most important thing. The drivers and pit crews did a great job. We’ve got two races to go and it’s in our own hands. We’ll fight hard!” Similarly close is the GTP Manufacturer’s Championship. Porsche led BMW by 164 points (1,524 to 1,360) leaving WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. After Road America, Porsche now leads Acura by only 45 markers (2,492 to 2,447), as the top-finishing Acura has been ahead of the top-finishing Porsche in each of the last three races. |
| The Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) points can also lean into the “never say die” mindset with the championship-leading No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R and now second-placed No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 both overcoming adversity in the last two races. At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, DragonSpeed came from last to first to win, eschewing speed for strategy to be able to overcome a pace deficit. A race later at Road America, the No. 81 car – perhaps better suited to the picturesque Elkhart Lake road course – started from pole and finished third. For the No. 3 Corvette, despite contact after a restart from another competitor that sent them into the gravel trap, the team recovered to nearly score a podium finish. Fourth place was enough to keep the No. 3 Corvette in the lead of the standings by 30 points over the No. 81 Ferrari (2,254 to 2,224). “It was very difficult to drive because I had no performance,” Garcia explained. “The alignment seemed to be OK but there was definitely something on the aero side. It was difficult to hang on. “I tried to defend and used my experience to place the car wherever I needed to do. In the end I think we have a points advantage that is way better than it could have been. The way the car drove, it wasn’t even fast. So, I’m happy we managed to save some good points. Eventually it will come our way, and we’ll have a good race toward the end of the championship. That’s the way it is this year but I’m happy with the finish we had.” Defending champions AO Racing now sits third in the standings, 97 points behind the leader (on 2,157 points), after a roller coaster run to eighth place in “Rexy” the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R when its own pit stop strategy didn’t fully pay off. |
| After two rough finishes in the past three races, the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3’s early season Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) lead of 124 points (1,372 to 1,248) after their second win at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to second place is reduced slightly. A total of 117 points now cover the top three leaving Road America, with the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 sitting in second and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in third place (2,147 to 2,035 to 2,030). All three cars were involved in incidents Sunday yet all pressed on to the finish, with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin finishing ninth, the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG 10th and the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus 11th. The No. 57 car gained key points from Russell Ward qualifying on pole and finishing ahead of the No. 12 Lexus, and saw a return to leading the championship by more than 100 points for the first time since WeatherTech Raceway. The No. 27 Aston Martin, meanwhile, finished the race battered, bruised and buoyant despite a left side mirror loss, nose damage and left rear quarter panel damage after a wild race. “Never say die” in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)? That’s true, too. After a heartbreaking loss early at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, AO Racing’s “Spike” No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07 sat 100 points behind the Daytona-winning No. 22 United Autosports USA entry (385 to 285). But with back-to-back wins and one other finish ahead of the No. 22 car now leaves the No. 99 AO car 107 points ahead of the No. 22 car (1,682 to 1,575). With only three races remaining for GT classes and two for prototypes, the “never say die” mindset has positioned several unexpected contenders into title contention, starting with the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway on August 24. |
