Detroit Friday Notebook

Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford

***Earl Bamber claimed a new GTP qualifying lap record in leading a front row sweep for Cadillac ahead of tomorrow’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic. It marked the Kiwi’s third career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole and his first since Motul Petit Le Mans in 2015 when he took a Porsche 911 RSR to top qualifying honors in GTTLM.

***Bamber credited Cadillac’s approach to learning Michelin’s new-for-2026 Pilot Sport Endurance tire for the lap, which eclipsed the previous record, held by Nick Tandy in 2024, by 0.077 seconds.

***The Kiwi said: “The whole tire phasing and learning the new Michelin tire has definitely been a tricky thing for all the teams at the start of the year. I think we as an organization, as Cadillac Racing, are benefitting from doing both the IMSA and WEC. We’re working so closely with JOTA over there, and also Wayne Taylor Racing, we’re gathering information really quickly.”

***GTD Pro pole-sitter Alexander Sims believes that improvements have been made to the bumps around the 10-turn, 1.645-mile downtown street circuit, particularly in several key areas, which helped propel Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports to a front row lockout in qualifying.

***He said: “It feels like there’s been some smoothing of the road surface, particularly going down into Turn 5. I remember back in 2024, there was a huge bump there that really upset the car. I loved it, honestly, because it was those unique situations you have at a street track that you don’t have at a permanent race track. But that doesn’t seem to be an issue for any of us.”

***While Porsche Penske Motorsport will have a long night ahead making repairs to the No. 6 Porsche 963 after Kevin Estre’s brush with the wall, which brought GTP qualifying to an early end, Paul Miller Racing made successful repairs to its BMW M4 GT3 EVO following Neil Verhagen’s accident in second practice to qualify sixth. The entire left-front corner of the car was repaired, including a new toe-link and steering rack according to co-driver Connor De Phillippi.

***Prior to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying, Felipe Nasr was on standby in Josef Newgarden’s pit box during the opening NTT IndyCar Series practice session but ultimately did not climb aboard the No. 2 Team Penske entry. Newgarden is nursing an undisclosed left foot injury from the Indianapolis 500 and was wearing a medial boot while outside of the car.

***Ross Gunn, who qualified his Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie in ninth, said this weekend is “damage limitation” as the LMH-based prototype is not well suited to the tight and bumpy nature of the track. “We treated qualifying as an extended test session. These tracks are so unique in terms of the layout but also how bumpy they are. We are struggling a lot for general compliance. This track is by far the bumpiest track I’ve ever driven in my life.”

***Team principal Ian James said the prospects of fielding a second Valkyrie in the GTP class next year is “unlikely” despite what’s understood to have been a strong push from IMSA, given the current grid projections amid Acura’s withdrawal. “I think they’d like five of them, right?” James told Sportscar365. “There’s no change in the plans currently. It’s the fan favorite, so I think there’s more pressure from the fans than from IMSA, to be honest!”

***James reiterated they wouldn’t look to expand its GTP effort until the car is consistently competitive. “We still have work to do there, with the car in general,” he said. “Until we’ve passed that summit, then it’s not really a consideration. We need to be consistently running towards the front in all different conditions, in all types of tracks, then we can consider what that looks like.”

***The Valkyrie’s Balance of Performance has been largely unchanged for the last year, with the V12-powered car running to the minimum 1030 kg weight and at the maximum 520 kW power levels at both stages. It’s understood IMSA has made multiple attempts to balance the LMDh-based cars around the LMH car’s limitations from a technical regulations standpoint.

***Unique to most WeatherTech Championship events, there is significantly more track time than the length of the race itself this weekend in Detroit, with 3.5 hours of practice on Friday alone, not counting qualifying and a final 20-minute practice session tomorrow, prior to the 100-minute race.

***Ford Racing’s Chris Mies told Sportscar365: “I think we need it. Everyone needs it, I would say. It’s a difficult track in terms of getting everything to work. You can’t test here obviously. We were here a year ago but the track was very green this morning. We were the first, and second, on track.”

***Fred Vervisch said the level of pressure racing on Ford’s home turf is no different than any other weekend given how active top-level executives and management are involved in the Blue Oval’s motorsports programs.

***He said: “I think it’s like any race, you always have pressure, you want to do well. But for example, in Laguna, our CEO (Jim Farley) was there as well. He was already there, so we are used to having him on our races. There will be other high members of the Ford family… I think our approach will be like always push as hard as we can and hopefully, we can repeat the sister’s car results [from last year].”

***The Mustang GT3 scored its 50th podium finish in global competition in last weekend’s ADAC GT Masters round at Zandvoort, when Kiano Blum and Niklas Kalus took their Haupt Racing Team entry to a third place result in Race 1 on the famed Dutch circuit.

***There’s been mounting speculation that Laurin Heinrich could end up contesting next month’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen after all, despite the Porsche factory driver currently slated to run the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa that weekend in Schumacher CLRT’s Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, and even took part in the recent Prologue test at the Belgian circuit last week.

***Sportscar365 understands that Heinrich’s position in the GTP points standings following tomorrow’s race will likely dictate his fate for the June 26-28 weekend. The German driver currently leads the championship following JDC-Miller Motorsports’ breakthrough victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with Watkins Glen the only GTP race he was currently slated to miss.

***Should he get the nod for Watkins Glen, Heinrich would be in JDC-Miller’s entry alongside Tijmen van der Helm and Nico Pino.

***It was revealed during the recent Nürburgring 24 weekend that BMW re-homologated the turbochargers on its M4 GT3 EVO at the start of the year, a change that has seen the German manufacturer now have a fully production turbo unit. BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos denied the change was forced upon them by the FIA, which homologates GT3 cars.

***An update is also expected to be made to the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 at some point this year, in a change of brake supplier. This is understood to fall under a clause allowing for reliability and/or safety-related changes, the same measure taken on both the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (diffuser) and Ford Mustang GT3 (rear decklid) in its first season of homologation in 2024.

***Sportscar365 understands that next year’s Detroit race is set to clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans test day. IMSA previously confirmed a June 4-5 date for the event, with the French endurance classic expected to be confirmed for June 12-13. The 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar will be announced next month during the ACO’s annual press conference in Le Mans. Detroit Grand Prix promoters Penske Entertainment, meanwhile, controls the date of its street race.

***The last time the two events clashed was in 2023, although the WeatherTech Championship was not in action in Detroit that year, with 2022, back at Belle Isle, being the last direct overlap, which saw a number of drivers take overnight private or commercial flights to make it to Circuit de la Sarthe in time for the afternoon test session to get their mandatory laps in.

***IMSA President John Doonan said the sanctioning body continues to look at possible future race options in the Pacific Northwest but stressed if they were to have an event in that region, it would be part of the series’ current West Coast swing that includes Long Beach and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

***Doonan told Sportscar365: “If we did that, my commitment to this community, it would either be before, between or after the [current] West Coast swing. I cannot, in my mind and in my heart, tell the teams, ‘Guess what, we’re doing another trip to the West Coast. It’s got to be a time to try and think like them, in that we’re not trying to add costs. We’re trying to continue to add value.”

***Former GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser is helping fuel Detroit Grand Prix fans this weekend, with Klauser’s ‘Cars and Chocolates’ start-up business selling custom chocolate creations in Hart Plaza.

***Drivers will be vying for a newly designed trophy this weekend, replacing last year’s design that consisted of a scaled replica of the Renaissance Center, the iconic tower which GM no longer occupies. The new trophy, designed by GM’s industrial design team, draws inspiration from GM’s new global headquarters at Hudson’s Detroit and the ‘Spirit of Detroit’ monument.

***Additionally, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X will serve as the official pace car this weekend.

***Both Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3s are running ‘Forever Rowdy’ stickers in tribute of Kyle Busch, who died suddenly last week at the age of 41. Busch made a single WeatherTech Championship start, at the wheel of one of the team’s entries in the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona, alongside Jack Hawksworth, Parker Chase and Michael de Quesada.

***A statement from team co-owners Jimmy Vasser and James ‘Sulli’ Sullivan read: “Kyle was one of the gnarliest competitors and a great champion. It didn’t take much convincing to have him join the Vasser Sullivan family to make a run at the Rolex 24… Kyle had an intensity and demand for excellence like none other and he made us all better the minute he walked in the trailer. Kyle left our sport in a better place than he found it and we’ll be cheering Brexton (Kyle’s son) on as he carries the Busch legacy. God Speed KB.”

***Lee Driggers, the creator of IMSA Pit Notes, passed away earlier this month after a brief battle with cancer. Driggers produced pit notes from the first American Le Mans Series race in 1999 and continued his service post-merger into the WeatherTech Championship era, marking a 25-plus year run in providing information such as pit stop data, driver and lead changes, quotes and more to the media and public relations representatives.

***Friday’s first Pit Notes document from Detroit featured a dedication from the the IMSA Teams PR Community. The service is set to continue this weekend by his son, Justin, who has also been a long-standing part of the team.

***The dedication read: “To all of us, you will remain an indelible part of sports car racing history in North America. Your role, while less public, has been as intricate to the success of our sport as the drivers, the cars and the officials. IMSA owes you a debt of gratitude… we all do.”

***The Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic gets underway Saturday at 4 p.m. with live coverage on network NBC, as well as Peacock, with commentary led by Leigh Diffey and Calvin Fish in the NBC Sports booth and Kevin Lee and Brian Till on pit lane. IMSA Radio’s John Hindhaugh and Ryan Myrehn will call the action on the world feed, which includes the international stream on IMSA’s YouTube channel.

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