Sunday 8 August 2021 by Philippe Brasseur
Eighth event of the 2021 season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar series, and the first since the 6 hours of Watkins Glen at the end of June to bring together all the categories (DPi, LMP2, LMP3, GTLM and GTD) that make up the series, the 2h40 race ‘disputed this Sunday, August 8 at the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, turned into a duel between Cadillac and Acura prototypes for the victory.
A duel to say the least predictable, although the only Mazda DPi entered, has long been in a position to compete with Pipo Derani, at the controls of the Cadillac of Action Express Racing qualified on pole and wide favorite.
If Derani and his teammate Felipe Nasr seemed in control, it was however the Acura DPi of Dane Cameron and Olivier Pla who led the last hour and up to 3 minutes from the finish, thanks to a different strategy. ‘pit stops. But there was one final refueling to do for this car, which thus lost control in favor of Derani and Nasr, logical winners of this race.
Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis (Mazda Dpi) finished second, ahead of the Cadillac of Chip Ganassi Racing, run by Kevin Magnussen and Renger Van der Zande.
In LMP2, victory for Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman (Oreca of Era Motorsport), imitated by Colin Braun and Jon Bennett (Ligier of Core Autosport) in LMP3.
In GTLM, the WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR, driven by Matt Campbell and Cooper MacNeil, surprised the widely favorite Corvette C8.Rs. The Porsche won ahead of the Corvettes No.3 and 4 relegated to 17 and 53 seconds, respectively.
In the GTD class, after the Lexus of Aaron Telitz (No.14) qualified on pole was penalized for changing position behind the GTLMs before the green flag, young Canadian hopeful Zach Robichon took the matter on his own. . At the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by the Ontario Pfaff Motorsports team, Zach completely dominated the start of the race. Subsequently, his teammate Laurens Vanthoor completed a clear stint to maintain the lead and when Robichon took over the wheel for the last stint, he managed to keep nearly 10 seconds ahead of his closest pursuers to clinch. a fully deserved victory which seemed almost easy as the domination of the Robichon / Vanthoor duo was evident.
Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley (BMW M6 GT3 from Turner Motorsports) and Patrick Long / Trent Hindman (Porsche 911 GT3 R / Wright Motorsports) completed the podium.
Championship leaders in this category, Ontarian Roman de Angelis and Briton Ross Gunn lead the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to 4th place, ahead of the two Lexus, Jack Hawksworth’s No.14 and No.12 by Zach Veach.
For the complete classification, click here… the next event will take place on September 12 in California, on the Laguna Seca circuit.
Finally, it should be noted that the second race of the weekend of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series, presented this morning, was won by the Albertan Parker Thompson, ahead of Seb Priaulx and Leh Keen.
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