📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. Start of Road America race

What a race this Sunday at Road America with Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acuras dominated the seventh round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship during the first 49 laps (34 for #10 and 10 for #40) until Mathieu Jaminet (co-driven by Nick Tandy) emerged in the lead with #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963 to clinch its second win this season.

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy winning Road America with #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963.

Double triumph for Porsche Motorsport.

Not less than five safety car phases enabled both factory Porsche 963 to remain with the pack and execute a perfect strategy saving fuel in the second half of the race, so that Jaminet with #6 Porsche 963 emerged in the lead after the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor pitted for energy on the final yellow with 13 laps to go. Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 car and Felipe Nasr in the #7 car kept their cool and fended off all attacks from strong competitors.

Starting from seventh position on the grid, the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 had to serve a drive-through penalty due to an early collision with a competitor, initially losing contact with the front. Thanks to clever tactics, the team’s strategists brought both hybrid cars to the front for the grand finale. In one lap, Nick Tandy brought his #6 car from 33rd to 10th overall. Entering the pit in P6, Tandy was handing over the Porsche 963 to Mathieu Jaminet who ended his first lap in P3. Seven laps later he was second behind the #10 Acura who had to pit while Jaminet had saved enough fuel to stay on track.

Thanks to this second win this season the Anglo-French duo is now second in the driver standing, 100 points behind Nasr-Cameron in sister car #7.

Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 963 #6): “Fortune favours the brave, as they say. That was certainly true for us today. We calculated that we could challenge for the win at the end if we saved as much fuel as possible in the second half of the race. I adhered to that. We also got lucky with the yellow flags. Had the safety car come in a lap earlier, I probably wouldn’t have made it to the finish – but it worked out perfectly. The last laps were wild, with lots of contact in the lapped traffic. It was a spectacle, but one with a perfect ending for us.”

Nick Tandy (Porsche 963 #6): “After the disappointing qualifying, we knew we had one of the slowest GTP cars at Road America. With that in mind, we went into the race on Sunday. Just over two hours later, we’re on the podium with both crews celebrating a one-two finish. It’s incredible! But that’s what the IMSA series is all about. We love it and look forward to every single race. Today’s success is a testament to the fact that we never give up and always pull together as a team.”

Nasr - Cameron and Porsche extend their lead

Despite an unscheduled pit stop shortly after the halfway mark to replace a damaged rear section, Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr brought their #7 Porsche 963 from ninth on the grid to second thereby extending their lead in the drivers standing.

With #6 win, Porsche now leads with a margin of 89 points in the manufacturers’ championship, .

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron

Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #7): “The last laps under green were eventful, to put it mildly. When we hit the lapped GT traffic with the leading cars, it was chaotic. But we somehow survived. Today’s result is perfect for Porsche and the Porsche Penske Motorsport team. At one point, I thought it was all over: After being hit from behind by a competitor, we had to make an extra stop. After that, we just aimed to maximise our points haul. We achieved that optimally.” Source: Porsche

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 third

A late race pit stop – followed by a charge through the field in the closing laps of today's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America – saw the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque finish third.

The #10 Acura lead 34 of the 62-lap run but the two-stop strategy required them to pit in the final 30 minutes, with Ricky Taylor emerging in ninth. A determined effort at the restart, with just nine laps remaining, saw him bring the #10 Acura home third.

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Acura ARX-06, Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Finished 3rd : "After such strong pace we had in the car, the win was what we wanted. Strategy was a bit crazy chaotic with yellows. It seemed like we had to pit for fuel to go to the end, and Ricky did a monster job to go from last to P3 after that. He had the advantage of new tires, but he was last and made it happen. Great pace from our Acura ARX-06. It's just a shame we didn't come home with a win."

Ricky Taylor (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Finished 3rd: "We had a great car today. Both Acura's were fantastic, locking up the front row [in qualifying]. I think it's just a shame not to come away with a win with the fastest car. Hats off to the guys for the test we did improving the car. I think between HRC and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, we developed some really good processes that helped us during the race – they gave us a lot of performance. But, at the end of the day, it's still not the result we wanted." Source: Acura

#31 Cadillac Racing GTP entry finishes fourth

After qualifying fifth, Pipo Derani found himself sitting backward in Turn 6 on the initial race lap when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R was bumped and spun, which dropped the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) entry to the rear of the 10-car field. Derani climbed to eighth and ceded the seat to Jack Aitken after 25 minutes of driving time.

Aitken, competing at Road America for the first time, continued to weave through the 47-car field covering four classes to be running third under yellow with 37 minutes left. He moved to second on the restart with 16 minutes, 20 seconds left and looked to challenge the leading No. 6 Porsche 963.

In the final 8 minutes, the #7 Porsche 963 overtook Aitken for second and the #10 Acura AXR-06 slipped past the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in traffic on the white flag lap for the final podium spot.

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing, Cadillac V-Series.R, Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken

Jack Aitken: “A tough Lap 1, but we did what we had to do to work our way back into it. The race came to us a little bit with the way the cautions played out. For most of the races played it simple and worked our way through the pack by picking people off and with good strategy and found ourselves in position to win the race at the end. It was an interesting race with fuel, different tire strategies. I tried to go for the lead and just had a bit of rubber and ended up wide in Canada Corner and that was the impetus to lose second place to the other Porsche. They were strong today, so take my hat off to them. Then I just couldn’t get back on terms with them through the traffic that quite intense. Then I made a small mistake and Ricky Taylor managed to get past as well. It was a bit frustrating that we came here to win and we put ourselves in that position, so that’s positive.”

Pipo Derani: “This race was all about strategy, getting the yellows right. We came back to put ourselves in position to fight for the win and it was tight at the end. It was really close in fighting for the win so that’s a positive today. Let’s see how it goes the last two races and more points in the bag today. The championship keeps getting harder and harder, but it’s part of the game. You give all you have and sometimes you come out with the win and sometimes you come out with P4.” Source: Cadillac Racing

Both Porsche GTP customer team fifth and sixth

The two Porsche 963 cars from Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports finished in fifth and sixth positions, respectively. The customer team Proton Competition underlined their strong form after a good qualifying session on race day. In the first half of the race, works driver Gianmaria Bruni in the #5 car particularly shone. The Italian improved to third position at the start and even led the race behind the wheel of the German team’s Porsche 963 at times by the race’s midpoint. Proton Competition eventually finished fifth, followed by the identical car of JDC-Miller MotorSports.

#24 BMW M Team RLL ends seventh.

BMW M Team RLL’s two BMW M Hybrid V8s did not achieve the hoped-for first podium of the season. Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn missed qualifying due to an accident in practice but fought their way from the back of the GTP class field to seventh place in the race. Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly were in contention for podium positions in the first hour of the race, but then Yelloly lost control of the car, slid into the track barrier, and retired. Fortunately, Yelloly was uninjured.

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. #24 BMW M Team RLL, BMW M Hybrid V8, Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn

Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, 7th place): “After missing qualifying, we were obviously on the backfoot and tried a strategy that would move us forward. Unfortunately, the yellow phases came at times when we couldn't benefit from them so in the end, seventh place was the maximum, even though we could show good pace on a clear track.”

Nick Yelloly (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, DNF): “There's not much to say about my accident. I went a bit too far on the curb on cold tyres, the underbody hit the curb, and I slid into the tyre barrier. Luckily, I wasn't hurt.” Source: BMW Group

#40 WTRAndretti Acura eight

Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor lead at the front for 10 laps. A three-stop strategy, a pair of drive-through penalties – for contact and working on the car outside of its designated pit box – dropped the #40 down the order. Jordan Taylor and Deletraz would come home eighth.

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Acura ARX-06, Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz.

Jordan Taylor (#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Finished 8th: "Not the day we wanted overall. Starting 1-2 was great, and we led some laps at the beginning which was nice. I felt like we had a great car in clean air. But once we lost track position after our first pit stop, it was so tough to make passes that we were kind of stuck from that point on. The GTP field is so competitive these days, we didn't have the opportunities we needed to make passes again. It was good to see the #10 car kind of bounce back and get a podium, but I think it was a day of woulda, coulda, shoulda's for us." Source: Acura

#01 Cadillac Racing ninth

The #01 Cadillac V-Series.R found itself the object of contact and an off-course excursion that required an unscheduled stop to change the nose assembly and front-right tire. Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais, who started third, finished ninth after a service stop for tires with 2 minutes left.

📷 © Courtesy of IMSA. #01 Cadillac Racing, Cadillac V-Series.R, Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais

Renger van der Zande: “I think today wasn’t our day. We were in a great position after the first stop. It was one of those days in IMSA where there’s a lot of yellows, and a big lottery. But, obviously, we had a crash, which hurt the car quite a bit and that put us at the back of the field. After that the recovery worked out pretty smoothly but there was a tire that didn’t hold on for the last five minutes to the end. I think P5 was going to be a good recovery from all the drama that we had on the way. But it’s not a good day, also hurts for the championship. The Porsche extended its lead with two of its cars. It’s one of those days that you want to forget quickly. And on top of it I think we had a really fast car. We didn’t have a car to fight with because we’re still struggling with top speed quite a lot, but at least we maximized the setup and performance out of our car, so I’m proud of the team."

Sebastien Bourdais: "The GT Porsche making contact on the outlap with me, just gave me no chance. I was down on the inside, he knew I was going to go by him in the straight, and I understeered a tiny little bit, but he just turned in and turned me around. And after that I washed out pretty severely behind (Nick) Yelloly in the Carousel, and he was washing out behind the No. 10 really bad too and drove himself off the road. And I was going to run myself off the road a little bit, but I had backed off already and I was going to be fine. But then when I ended up in the cloud of dust I didn’t know where I was, and then I lost it. And then our fate was sealed at that point. The rear tires were squared, and the car was very difficult to drive. And then just went from bad to worse at that point. We delaminated a tire with three laps to go there. So, we just move on." Source: Cadillac Racing