Nasr and Derani earn Road America spoils
IMSA SPORTSCAR ROAD AMERICA (USA) 8 AUGUST
ROUND 8/12
Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani combined to score an emphatic IMSA Sportscar victory last Sunday aboard their Action Express Racing Cadillac DPI-V.R at the classic Road America venue in rural Wisconsin.
Nasr made light work of treacherous wet conditions in qualifying to claim pole by 0.8 seconds, and stamped his authority on the 2h40m race.
A strategic ploy by the Meyer Shank Racing Acura team meant Olivier Pla and Dane Cameron were out in front for much of the second half of the race. But their hopes were pinned on the arrival of more inclement weather, which had been forecast to strike during the final stages. When that failed to materialise, Cameron required an extra pitstop for a splash of fuel with just seven minutes remaining.
The American was able to resume in fourth, ahead of Wayne Taylor Racing’s similar Acura ARX-05, driven by Rick Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, but Cameron slowed on the final lap to allow the Portuguese past and ensure he was able to gain an extra 20 points for WTR in the team’s quest for the championship.
The late switch means that Taylor/ Albuquerque now lead Nasr/derani by 41 points (2380 plays 2339) in the revised-for-2021 scoring system, with just three Daytona Prototype international races remaining.
Nasr/derani took the chequered flag 1.6s clear of the Multimatic Motorsports Mazda RT24-P of Oliver Jarvis/harry Tincknell, who slipped to third in the points table, just two behind Nasr/derani.
“The race started pretty well,” said Nasr. “It was great to get the pole position yesterday. We know how important it is at this place to drive in clean air. It helps the whole set-up of the car. You can look after your tyres and [it helps] with fuel economy. At the start, I had a lot of pressure from [Taylor/albuquerque] going into Turn 1. After that, it was all about hitting the marks and that proves the car was good enough to stay in the lead. We knew it was going to be a fuel-saving race to make it to the end.”
Kevin Magnussen/renger van der Zande finished third in Chip Ganassi’s Cadillac.
Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell teamed with Cooper Macneil to score a well-judged second GTLM victory of the season for the Proton Competition team. Campbell made what was to be his final pitstop with just over an hour remaining and was able to eke out the fuel to finish well clear of the two favoured Chevrolet Corvettes of Jordan Taylor/antonio Garcia and Nick Tandy/tommy Milner.
Dwight Merriman and Ryan
Dalziel took the LMP2 spoils for
Era Motorsport, while Jon Bennett and Colin Braun emerged comfortably ahead of the LMP3 field for Bennett’s CORE Autosport operation.
For the second time in three years, the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R swept up in GTD. Zach Robichon/ Laurens Vanthoor led home the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen, who regained a narrow championship lead over Roman De Angelis/ross Gunn. The Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin duo came home fourth in the 15-car GTD field.