Round seven of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in brief
- Heinrich and Bachler drove ‟Rexy” to a third-place finish
- The podium closes the gap to the championship lead in GTD Pro
- Wright Motorsports drivers Adelson and Skeer battled for 10th place in GTD class
Bowmanville, Canada. The two-hour, 40-minute sprint race at the historic circuit commonly known as ‟Mosport” began on a green track following a morning thunderstorm. The 35-car field was clean through the early stages, running green for the first hour and eight minutes and opening up the strategy options for AO Racing after starting eighth in class. Bachler was the last of the GTD Pro cars to make a first pit stop, driving for more than an hour and moving to the lead of the race by more than 12 seconds in that stint as others stopped for fuel and tires.
Heinrich took over driving duties during that stop, dropping back to ninth on the track. When the first full course caution came out just two minutes later, the full GTD Pro field came back to pit lane and AO Racing took the lead thanks to a quick stop.
Each car needed to make one more pit stop in the race to have enough fuel to reach the finish. Heinrich gave up an 18 second lead with 51 minutes remaining to make his final stop of the race, rejoining in third place. He was in third place with 32 minutes remaining when the safety car deployed once again.
The race went green for less than one lap before an incident with an LMP2 car brought out the final full course caution of the day with just over 15 minutes remaining. The field followed the safety car for the remaining time on the clock, ending under yellow with Heinrich in third.
Wright Motorsports attempted an unconventional strategy of their own in an effort to find speed in the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Elliott Skeer started the race, climbing the standings from seventh on the GTD grid during the first 47 minutes of the race before handing the car to Adelson. The team’s owner/driver dropped to 10th during that cycle, and gave the car back to Skeer with just over an hour to go.
With the multiple safety car periods in the final hour, Skeer was relegated to a hard-fought 10th place in class.
Porsche remains second in the GTD Pro manufacturer standings in addition to its lead in the GTP manufacturer standings.
The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will take place at Road America on August 3, when the GTP class returns to action in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Porsche drivers and teams continue season success in support series standings
Porsche drivers and teams continue to find success in IMSA support championships and lead the championship in both Michelin Pilot Challenge and the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. Luca Mars and Jan Heylen finished a hard-fought ninth at CTMP in Saturday’s two-hour race, the first time the duo has finished outside the podium this season in the RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
Adelson, pulling double duty in VP Racing SportsCar Challenge in addition to his run in the Weathertech Championship, finished second in the GTDX class in Saturday’s sprint race to take sole possession of the championship lead. Chris Walsh was the GSX Bronze category winner in his TWOth Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and currently sits second in the GSX Bronze points. Porsche leads the way in the manufacturer championship in both Pilot Challenge and the GTDX class of the VP SportsCar Challenge.
Sunday’s VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race was slated to run late in the morning, but was cancelled due to weather.
Driver comments after the race
Laurin Heinrich (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): ‟P3 here in Canada once again, the same result as last year. We’re extremely happy with third. To be honest, it feels like a win because we weren’t really in the game on pace so we had to do it with strategy. I’m on the best team for that with AO Racing, I have to give credit to them. I just had to hit my fuel numbers when I was leading and we had the last splash and dash.”
Adam Adelson (Porsche 911 GT3 R #120): ‟First things first, I’m sad I didn’t get to race in the rain the VP Challenge race. There’s no better car in the car in the rain than a Porsche but we can’t race with lightning. In the WeatherTech race, we did have a bit of a gamble on strategy, and it didn’t pay off. We didn’t have the pace today to be fighting for the positions we wanted to be. It was a tough weekend but all we can do now is focus forward and try to learn based on what went on this weekend.”
Race result
GTD-Pro class:
1. Costa/Altoe (ESP/ITA), Ferrari #81, 108 laps
2. Milner/Catsburg (USA/NLD), Corvette #4, + 3.373 seconds behind
3. Bachler/Heinrich (AUT/DEU), Porsche 911 GT3 R #77, + 3.962 seconds
GTD class:
1. Formal/Hindman (CRI/USA), Lamborghni #45, 108 laps
2. Ward/Ellis (USA/GBR), Mercedes #57, + 5.548 seconds behind
3. Lucas/Koch/Morad (USA/USA/CDN), Mercedes-AMG #32, + 7.096 seconds
10. Adelson/Skeer (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, + 13.907 seconds
All results and championship standings are available at results.imsa.com.
Motorsport
