Cameron, Curran Go Back-to-Back at Road America

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Action Express Racing’s Dane Cameron and Eric Curran have gone back-to-back at Road America, having claimed victory in Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase.

Cameron edged out the sister No. 5 Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa for their second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season, and second consecutive at the four-mile circuit.

It came after another flawless run for the pair of Action Express Corvette DPs, in a race that saw the pole-sitting and pace-setting No. 55 Mazda Prototype falter yet again.

Jonathan Bomarito led from the green and dominated the early stages, but an off-sequence pit strategy compared to the leading DP machinery ultimately took the Mazda out of contention.

Co-driver Tristan Nunez relinquished a 30-second lead with its final stop with 36 minutes to go, opting for fuel and tires, and dropping the No. 55 Mazda to fifth, where it ended up finishing.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Jordan and Ricky Taylor came home third, ahead of the Ozz Negri and John Pew’s No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda in fourth.

It was a tough day for the SpeedSource-run Mazda team, with its No. 70 entry dropping out of the race on the sixth lap with engine issues.

Tom Kimber-Smith gave PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports its second Prototype Challenge class victory of the season, in a strong championship-turning run for he and co-driver Robert Alon.

The Englishman took over the lead on Lap 34, after an early race battle between Alon and the class pole-sitting No. 38 Performance Tech Oreca FM09 of James French.

A late-race accident between the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport entry of Renger van der Zande and Stephen Simpson’s No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports car while battling for second gave Kimber-Smith clear sailing to the end.

It was a big points day for the PR1/Mathiasen duo, following the race-ending accident for championship leaders Van der Zande and co-driver Alex Popow, who were seeking their fourth class win in the last five races.

Instead, they were classified sixth in class, with their class lead reduced to just seven points ahead of Kimber-Smith and Alon heading into the next PC round at Circuit of The Americas.

The No. 54 CORE autosport car of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett finished second, ahead of Performance Tech’s French and Kyle Marcelli, who completed the class podium in third.

RESULTS: Continental Tire Road Race Showcase

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