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WeatherTech Championship

Action Express Clinches Fourth Straight TPNAEC Title

No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi clinches TPNAEC title…

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

The No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R team is now four-time champions of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

The team of Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque was running second at the four-hour mark of the Motul Petit Le Mans, and that result coupled with the early retirement of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Jordan and Ricky Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay brought the team its fourth straight Patrón Endurance Cup.

By starting the 10-hour race at Road Atlanta, the No. 10 team clinched the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype title.

“Four times in a row,” Fittipaldi said. “It is a huge accomplishment and it came from a massive effort from the whole team.

“For the drivers to make sure they keep it on the black stuff, and obviously for the team and all the preparation—it boils down to Action Express doing an awesome job.

“If the car doesn’t finish, we don’t get points so we would never be in this position.”

Cadillac also clinched the Patrón Endurance Cup manufacturer title, leading Nissan by nine points, 48-39, with a maximum of six points that can be gained.

The No. 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi of Johannes van Overbeek, Pipo Derani and Bruno Senna led the race at the four-hour mark.

The No. 5 team, drivers and Cadillac join No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 and its trio of co-drivers, James French, Patricio O’Ward and Kyle Masson as Patrón Endurance Cup champions.

The No. 38 teammates clinched the Prototype Challenge title at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in July.

While the Prototype titles have already been wrapped up, it’s still wide open in the chase for the Patrón Endurance Cup in both GT classes.

In GT Le Mans, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR co-drivers Dirk Werner and Patrick Pilet doubled their lead in the standings, but only from two points to four, 36-32, over No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT co-drivers Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand.

The No. 911 was second at the four-hour mark in GTLM, while the No. 66 was sixth.

The No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW trio of Bill Auberlen, Alexander Sims and Kuno Wittmer were third. In the manufacturer race for the Patrón Endurance Cup in GTLM, Ford leads Porsche by a single point, 38-37.

In GT Daytona, there was a tie at the top of the Patrón Endurance Cup standings at the four-hour mark in the Motul Petit Le Mans between the No. 33 Riley Motorsports-Team AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 trio of Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Mario Farnbacher and the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Matteo Cressoni and full-season co-drivers Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen, who clinched their second straight WeatherTech Championship GTD title by starting the race.

Both cars had 32 points, with the No. 33 running third in class at four hours and the No. 63 one lap down in 14th. The No. 96 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 shared by Andy Lally, Katherine Legge and Mark Wilkins led at the four-hour mark, which has them just four points out of the class lead in the Patrón Endurance Cup standings.

Mercedes-AMG has a one-point lead, 36-25, over Acura in the GTD manufacturer standings for the Patrón Endurance Cup.

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