CTMP Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Mazda

***Oliver Jarvis scored his third career IMSA victory and second overall, his last coming in the 2013 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, in the final LMP1 win for Audi in American Le Mans Series competition. Ironically, both wins came with cars run by Joest Racing.

***Jarvis took over the lead following an airjack issue for the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Harry Tincknell during its final stop, when the two cars came into the pits with 48 minutes to go.

“We had a countdown and I noticed they were still up on their jacks,” he told Sportscar365. “That’s when I realized there was a problem. At the same time, it’s a strange feeling because you feel sorry for them but that was our moment to get the win.”

***The Englishman revealed they found a small aero imbalance in warmup, which they were able to correct in time for the race which put the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P on pace with the sister No. 55 car of Ticknell and Jonathan Bomarito.

***IMSA stopped the clock during a red flag for what’s believed to be the first time in series history. Race director Beaux Barfield told Sportscar365 that the sporting regulations were previously amended to allow IMSA the option of either continuing to let the clock to run or to halt the time elapsed in an effort to not let the race end under a full-course caution.

***The red flag, to clean p the accident by the No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Victor Franzoni, lasted 7 minutes and 54 seconds.

***During the red flag, Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan went to the infield medical center to check on the status of Mazda Road to Indy alum Franzoni, who was later transported to a hospital for further evaluation and was cleared of any serious injury. The team’s Cadillac DPi, however, is believed to be a write-off.

***A planned three-stop strategy for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi went awry with the late-race yellow and red, with Renger van der Zande and Jordan Taylor settling for a sixth place result.

***The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi of Filipe Albuquerque failed to finish after sustaining clutch issues in the final ten minutes of the race. Albuquerque, who began to feel issues during his second stint, was forced to abandon the car in the grass near a run-off.

“I thought we could hold out until the end, but stopping due to the red flag and then starting again with increased heat on the car, that did not help the issue,” he explained. “The last eight laps were incredibly hard. I tried to do everything in my power to keep the car going.”

***The Action Express Racing-run sister No. 31 Cadillac DPi of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr, which finished fourth on Sunday, faced clutch issues on Friday.

***Colin Braun says he was hit from behind to cause his spin into Moss Corner while battling for a top-five position in his CORE autosport Nissan DPi. Braun was forced to settle for a seventh place result after his late-race charge.

***Porsche achieved a new WeatherTech Championship record of five consecutive class wins in GT Le Mans. Both Corvette Racing (2014) and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing (2018) held four-race win streaks, along with the CORE-run Porsche squad in 2015.

***It marked Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor’s third win of the season, and enough for the self-proclaimed #Bamthor to retake the class championship lead, four points ahead of teammates Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet.

***Bamber credited the team’s alternative strategy, which saw the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR jump out ahead of the class pole-sitting No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTE following the first round of pit stops, in being the key to the class win.

***The Kiwi said the BMW was a “big challenger” all race long, after expecting the front-engined car to have worse tire degradation.

***Meyer Shank Racing’s Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher have expanded their GTD championship lead to 19 points over AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo, following a second place class finish.

***Acura has also leapfrogged Lamborghini to take over the lead of the GTD manufacturers’ championship, in part due to the Italian manufacturers’ reduced entry following the withdrawal of Paul Miller Racing’s entry following final practice due to an accident.

***Tommy Milner told IMSA Radio that it will be a “bit of a stretch” to see him return to the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R for the next WeatherTech Championship race at Lime Rock Park in two weeks’ time, having revealed he broke a bone in his left hand. Milner was replaced by Marcel Fassler in Sunday’s race but expressed optimism of being ready for Road America in August.

***BMW Team RLL has begun receiving spares from the now-defunct FIA World Endurance Championship BMW Team MTEK program according to technical director Brandon Fry. A larger stock of spares, including bodywork, suspension and gearboxes, are due to arrive via sea freight in time for the Motul Petit Le Mans.

***Fry said they will not take possession of MTEK’s two BMW M8 GTE chassis due to RLL’s current surplus in race cars, with no fewer than four M8 GTE race cars and four additional chassis shells currently in its Ohio workshop.

***Honda Performance Development has been in discussions with two “very serious” prospective customers to run Acura NSX GT3 Evos in the GTD class next year according to Acura NSX GT3 program manager Lee Niffenegger, who confirmed increased interest in the car following Meyer Shank Racing’s class victory at Watkins Glen.

***PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports driver Matt McMurry started his internship with HPD last month. The 21-year-old UC Irvine engineering student has been working in the company’s performance engineering and aerodynamics division, the same team that developed the NSX GT3 Evo that McMurry drives in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup with Jenson Team Rocket RJN.

***It’s been revealed that the recently announced Ford GT Mk. II track-only supercar was disguised in the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GTLM race livery for its on-track tests at Sebring International Raceway and Calabogie Motorsports Park earlier this year.

***Scott Maxwell is understood to have completed the majority of the on-track development of the Multimatic-built car, which has been priced at $1.2 million each.

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