The GT-Only Race Should Be Ferociously Tight between the ClassesJuly 20, 2023By David PhillipsIMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s annual summer tour of North America’s most iconic road courses continues this weekend with the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix presented by Liqui Moly at Lime Rock Park. The first of the WeatherTech Championship’s two events featuring only the GT classes, Saturday’s two-hour, 40-minute race around the historic 1.474-mile circuit guarantees the winning marque (or marques) a year’s worth of bragging rights throughout the Northeast from Albany to the Tappan Zee, the Berkshires to Beantown, the Catskills to Mt. Katahdin.For the past 12 months, BMW and Porsche have shared those bragging rights. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 copped GT Daytona (GTD) honors in 2022 and Pfaff Motorsports’ No. 9 Porsche 911 GT3 R captured the GTD PRO contest, while Corvette and Aston Martin were the class winners in 2021. To date, the 2023 season has featured a similar diversity in winners with six manufacturers (Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche) winning at least once in either class, and two more (Ferrari and McLaren) finishing on the podium.The Ones to BeatIf there is a car to beat in GTD, it has to be Paul Miller Racing’s No. 1 BMW. Not only is it the defending winner at Lime Rock, the Bimmer enjoys a handy lead in the GTD points race, courtesy of three wins in the hands of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, most recently in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park earlier this month. On a similar note, the Heart of Racing Team’s No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 not only finished runner-up in the 2022 Lime Rock race, Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorensen have guided it to second in the standings this year after taking a win in the Rolex 24 At Daytona to open the ’23 season. What’s more, De Angelis piloted the Heart of Racing Aston Martin to a class win at Lime Rock in 2021.Pro FormaComing off their first “W” of the 2023 campaign, Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD will be gunning for a second straight GTD PRO win. And given that Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor won at Lime Rock in 2021, that certainly rates as a distinct possibility. However, they’ll have their work cut out to best Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 which finished off the podium just once in the first six races of the season, with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat taking wins at Long Beach and Watkins Glen. In contrast, Pfaff Motorsports is still searching for its first win after two consecutive season titles (GTD in ’21, GTD PRO in ’22). On the bright side, Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet scored a season-best second place on the team’s home turf at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Needless to say, they would like nothing better than to notch their first win for the plaid No. 9 Porsche this weekend.Pro vs. Pro-AmThe sole difference between the GTD and GTD PRO categories is the ranking of the drivers, at least in theory. As the name implies, the rules allow GTD PRO teams to field lineups of exclusively professional drivers (rated Platinum or Gold by the FIA Driver Categorization), where it’s mandatory for GTD teams to have at least one Silver- or Bronze-rated driver in the mix. The interclass GT battle has been intriguing this year, with a GTD PRO car taking the “overall” win three times so far and a GTD car three times as well.If last year’s lap times (where the fastest race laps for all but two competitors were within a second of one another) are any indication, there will be precious little to choose between the speed of the GTD and GTD PRO cars and drivers again this weekend. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top Saturday. |
