Castroneves/taylor bag treble as Montoya runs out of road
IMSA SPORTSCAR MID-OHIO (USA) 27 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/11
The Team Penske duo of Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor clinched their third straight IMSA Sportscar win aboard the #7 Acura ARX-05, catapulting into the heart of the championship battle, although that looked an unlikely situation at the start of the race at Mid-ohio.
Their team-mate Dane Cameron had narrowly beaten Castroneves to pole position by 0.016 seconds and at the start he retained the advantage, while the Brazilian was jumped by the Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani and the Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito.
However, soon after taking over the #6 Acura from Cameron, just past the one-hour mark of this 2h40m race, Juan Pablo Montoya drove off the circuit at
Turn 6 while lapping a GT Daytona car and then pitted off-strategy as a precautionary measure, falling to the back of the class.
Castroneves, who had jumped ahead of Bomarito at the first round of pitstops, kept up the pressure on Derani. The latter handed over to Felipe Nasr on lap 62 of 115, but Castroneves stayed out two tours longer. When he handed over to Taylor, the #7 Acura emerged comfortably ahead.
Montoya relinquished the lead to Taylor soon after a restart, and once he made his final scheduled stop, carved his way past Harry Tincknell who had taken over from Bomarito in the #55 Mazda (which twice suffered penalties) and then passed Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac to grab third before spinning at Turn 1 and down to last in class. Renger van der Zande then successfully held off Tincknell to the checkered flag to claim the final podium spot and retain a narrow three-point standings lead.