Albuquerque, Taylor Take Mixed Condition Road America Win

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

A gutsy late-race pass from Filipe Albuquerque has given Wayne Taylor Racing victory in Sunday’s IMSA Fastlane Sportscar Weekend at Road America, which has seen the No. 10 Acura team retake the DPi championship lead at the same time.

Albuquerque and co-driver Ricky Taylor notched their fourth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season following a duel with fellow Acura DPi runner Oliver Jarvis.

Jarvis, who jumped from fourth into the lead in the final round of pit stops during the race’s third full course caution, lost the top spot to the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 with 24 minutes to go with a battle through traffic.

The Portuguese ace would go onto take the win over the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn after Jarvis suffered an accident at The Kink with eight minutes to go.

It brought out the race’s fourth full course caution, which saw the two-hour and 40-minute race end under caution.

Jarvis and co-driver Tom Blomqvist were classified fourth after the Englishman elected to stay circulating on the track despite having heavy front-end damage from the impact.

The late-race drama came after an eventful start to the mixed-condition race, with a damp-turned-wet track catching out the majority of the prototype runners at the end of the opening hour.

The No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R of Richard Westbrook, which took on wet-weather Michelin tires during the first round of pit stops, had a one-plus minute class lead until a yellow for debris from the sister JDC Duqueine D08 Nissan erased that advantage.

Tristan Vautier brought the car home in fifth, with the No. 01 CGR Cadillac of Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais completing the DPi podium.

LMP2 class honors went to the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson, thanks to a late-race pass by Ryan Dalziel on the then-leading No. 8 Tower Motorsport entry of Louis Deletraz.

Deletraz ran as high as second overall during the opening stages of the race after being one of the only prototypes to take on wet tires, prior to settling in the class lead until Dalziel’s move at Canada Corner with less than 15 minutes to go.

The No. 20 High Class Racing entry of Dennis Anderson and Fabio Scherer completed the class podium despite having multiple offs in the race.

Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson controlled the LMP3 class in their Ligier JS P320 Nissan to take their third victory of the season.

The No. 13 AWA Duqueine of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani finished second, giving the Canadian team its first series podium finish, with class points leaders Jon Bennett and Colin Braun finishing third in the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier.

Vasser Sullivan Scores Breakthrough GTD Pro Win

Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat gave Vasser Sullivan and Lexus its maiden GTD Pro class victory, thanks in part to a strategic fuel-saving race.

Barnicoat brought the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 across the line ahead of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mathieu Jaminet, which made its final scheduled pit stop prior to the third yellow.

The two cars enjoyed a race-long battle in the top production-based class, swapping the class lead, although the No. 14 Lexus had the upper hand, particularly in strategy.

The Lexus as well as the third place class-finishing No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia stetched their fuel to more than 1 hour and 17 minutes amid two late-race yellows.

GTD class honors went to the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward, which broke its near season-long streak of bad luck.

It marked the team’s first WeatherTech Championship class win since last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Jeff Westphal and Robert Megennis came home second, ahead of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo in third.

Telitz finished on the podium despite an incident with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen, which resulted in no further action by race control.

The top five finishing GTD cars all elected to stretch their fuel to the end, with the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin the highest-placed car that ended up on an effective three-stop strategy.

RESULTS: IMSA Fastlane Sportscar Weekend

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John