IMSA Road America race report: Wayne Taylor Racing takes victory in mixed weather conditions

Ricky Taylor and Felipe Albuquerque won Sunday’s Fastlane Sportscar Weekend IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America in mixed weather conditions.

IMSA ROAD AMERICA | QUALIFYING REPORT | RACE REPORT

While the Cadillacs were setting the pace during the opening stages of the race, the Acuras came to life towards the end, resulting in a battle for the win between the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing and #60 Meyer Shank Racing cars. Albuquerque came out on top as he was able to squeeze past Oliver Jarvis in #60 Acura ARX-05 during the closing stages of the race.

Albuquerque crossed the finish line first to take the team’s fourth victory of the IMSA season, while Jarvis went on to lose second place in spectacular fashion. While battling with Earl Bamber in the #02 Cadillac, Jarvis went wide coming out of the Kink. He lost control on the wet grass, spun across the track narrowly missing Bamber’s Cadillac before hitting the concrete barrier on the inside of the track. The impact ripped off the front-end of the Acura, brining out the fourth caution of the race.

The race ended under Full Course Yellow and Jarvis was able to limp to the finish line, finishing in fourth place in the end. This left the Chip Ganassi Cadillac of Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn in second place, in front of the sister car of Renger van der Zande and Sébastien Bourdais.

During the first Full Course Yellow period of the race Richard Westbrook in the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsport Cadillac was the only driver in the DPi field to switch to wet-weather tires as the rain started to fall. After the restart the rain intensified and Westbrook was able to build a big gap to the struggling contenders behind. However, the one-plus minute advantage was later on erased by another FCY for debris on the track. Tristan Vautier went on to bring the car home in fifth.

The LMP2 victory went to Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman. Dalziel was able to pass Louis Delétraz late in the race, securing the win for the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 crew.

Delétraz brought the #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca 07, which he was sharing win John Farano, home in second place. Fabio Scherer and Dennis Andersen completed the LMP2 podium in the #20 High Class Racing Oreca.

In LMP3, Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley Motorsport Ligier JS P320 went on to take their third win of the season. Orey Fidani and Matthew Bell in the #13 AWA Duqueine M30 – D08 finished second in class in front of Jon Bennet and Collin Braun in the #54 Core Autosport Ligier.

Maiden victory for Vasser Sullivan in GTD Pro

After a race-long battle with the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 991.2 GT3R, GTD Pro honours went to Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RCF GT3. Stretching his last stint for well over an hour, it was Barnicoat who came across the line first, ahead of the chasing Pfaff Porsche with Mathieu Jaminet – sharing the car with Matt Campbell – behind the wheel. This marked the maiden victory for Vasser Sullivan in IMSA’s GTD Pro category. Third place went to Jordan Taylor and Antonio García in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

GTD class victory went to Winward Racing with Philip Ellis and Russell Ward sharing driving duties in the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Second place was taken by the #39 CarBahn Lamborghini Huracán GT3 with Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz finishing third in the second Vasser Sullivan Lexus.