AXR’s Nasr, Derani Claim Road America Win

Photo: IMSA

Action Express Racing claimed victory in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America, with Pipo Derani capitalizing on a late-race splash of fuel for the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05.

Derani took his No. 5 Whelen Engineering-sponsored Cadillac DPi-V.R to a 1.594-second win over the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Harry Tincknell in a two-hour and 40-minute contest that came down to a fuel mileage race.

Dane Cameron, who led the second half of the race in the MSR Acura after undercutting the DPi field early, was forced to pit with three-and-a-half minutes to go, handing the win to Derani and co-driver Felipe Nasr.

It marked the Brazilian duo’s second consecutive victory after breaking through for their first win in nearly two years in last month’s WeatherTech 240 at Watkins Glen.

Renger van der Zande and Kevin Magnussen completed the podium in third after a sloppy race for the Cadillac duo with multiple off-course excursions.

The Chip Ganassi Racing pairing capitalized on a left-rear puncture for the championship-leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi with 24 minutes to go after Filipe Albuquerque had contact with Tincknell while battling for third at the time.

It relegated Albuquerque and co-driver Ricky Taylor to a fourth place finish, thanks to a last-lap pass on the sister Acura of Cameron, who was classified in fifth.

The WTR duo saw their championship lead cut in half, to 41 points ahead of AXR’s Derani and Nasr.

Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman came out on top in LMP2 for Era Motorsport, the team’s first since the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona. 

Dalziel finished 5.641-seconds ahead of the No. 8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks Oreca 07 Gibson of Gabriel Aubry.

Class pole-sitter Ben Keating led early in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry and enjoyed a fierce battle with the No. 11 WIN Autosport Oreca of Steven Thomas for the lead until Dalziel rose to the fore in the second hour once the pro drivers took the wheel.

CORE autosport, meanwhile, claimed top class honors in LMP3, breaking Riley Motorsports’ three-race win streak. 

Colin Braun drove the team’s No. 54 Ligier JS P320 Nissan to a 22.243-second win over the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier of Rasmus Lindh, who finished second with co-driver Dan Goldburg.

Braun shared top class honors with team owner/driver Jon Bennett, marking the duo’s second class win of the season.

Campbell Holds on For WeatherTech’s First Sprint Race Win in GTLM

A fuel mileage run by Matt Campbell was rewarded with GT Le Mans class victory for WeatherTech Racing. 

Campbell finished 15.855 seconds ahead of the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia, after stretching the fuel to a 60-minute final stint in his Proton Competition-run Porsche 911 RSR-19.

It marked the team’s second victory of the season after taking a surprise win at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.

The No. 4 Corvette was knocked out of contention in the second hour after Tommy Milner was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for the car spinning its tires while on the air jacks during its stop.

Co-driver Nick Tandy held command of the early stages of the race after getting by pole-sitter Jordan Taylor, who along with Garcia finished second in class.

Vanthoor, Robichon Claim Win for Pfaff in GTD

Pfaff Motorsports claimed a commanding class win in GT Daytona, with Laurens Vanthoor and Zach Robichon coming out on top in their Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Robichon took over the lead shortly after the first yellow, getting around the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo after Montecalvo’s teammate, pole-sitter Aaron Telitz, was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for changing lanes at the start.

The Canadian driver pitted with 56 minutes to go, which saw Vanthoor take over and cruise to a 11.876-second win.

The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley retook the points lead with a second place finish, ahead of the Patrick Long and Trent Hindman-driven No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, which completed the class podium.

Ross Gunn made a late-race pass on Jack Hawksworth to finish fourth in the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, demoting Hawksworth and Telitz to fifth after the early-race penalty.

RESULTS: Road America

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