| September 5, 2020 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service  BRASELTON, Ga. – It was a fairly eventful first half of the TireRack.com Grand Prix for the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi squad of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron, but Montoya led at the halfway point of the six-hour race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Cameron spun just after the green flag dropped to start Saturday’s race – which drew a drive-through penalty for Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Cadillac DPi for incident responsibility – but managed to avoid serious damage and battled back to the front of the field by the end of the first hour. They were embroiled in a battle for the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) lead with the Nos. 10 and 31 Cadillacs, as well as the No. 77 Mazda at the midpoint of the race, but seven of the eight DPis in the field were still on the lead lap. The opening-lap incident may have told the tale in the LMP2 class, as Dwight Merriman also was involved, leaving the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA machine with substantial damage. Merriman managed to limp the car back around to the paddock where lengthy repairs were made, but the car was more than 30 laps behind the class-leading No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA shared by Patrick Kelly, Kyle Tilley and Colin Braun at halfway. After qualifying on the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class pole position Friday night, the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki was still going strong at halfway in the TireRack.com Grand Prix. Makowiecki was 3.748 seconds ahead of Bruno Spengler in the No. 25 BMW M8 GTE. Five GTLM cars were still on the lead lap. Paul Miller Racing’s quest to win the 2020 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup was looking good at halfway, with the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 shared by Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis leading the GT Daytona (GTD) class by 21.545 seconds over the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3. The Rolex 24 At Daytona-winning No. 48 earned the maximum five points toward the Endurance Cup at the three-hour scoring interval to extend its lead. Five GTD teams were on the lead lap. Other IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup leaders with five points-scoring opportunities now in the books are the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R squad of Renger van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe, which was running seventh in the DPi standings at three hours; the No. 52 PR1/Mathaisen team in LMP2 and the No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GTE pairing of John Edwards and Jesse Krohn in GTLM. The Rolex 24 GTLM winners were third at three hours. Friday’s Motul Pole Award winner, Helio Castroneves, led after starting from the pole position in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura, but suffered a pair of pit-lane penalties on his first pit stop – a drive-through for breaking the pit-lane speed limit and a stop-plus-60-seconds penalty for running the red light at pit exit. The No. 7 shared by Castroneves and Ricky Taylor battled back onto the lead lap and was running fifth after three hours. The race was slowed three times by full-course cautions in the first half of the race. Twenty-seven of the 28 cars that started the race were still running. IMSA President John Doonan paid tribute to new all-time wins leader Bill Auberlen in a prerace ceremony. Doonan presented Auberlen with a one-of-a-kind painting depicting his first race-winning car, the No. 19 Auberlen Racing Concepts Mazda RX-7, and the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in which he claimed his historic, 61st victory two weeks ago in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway. NBCSN has live television coverage of the race, which will take the checkered flag shortly after 5:35 p.m. ET. |
