Jaminet Leads Porsche Penske 1-2 in Road America Thriller

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Porsche Penske Motorsport claimed a surprise 1-2 finish in an energy-impacted IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America.

Mathieu Jaminet took the No. 6 Porsche 963 to a narrow 0.390-second win over the No. 7 entry of Felipe Nasr after inheriting the lead of the race due to a late-race pit stop for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor.

Taylor, who had led the majority of the two-hour and 40-minute contest along with the sister No. 40 Acura, rejoined the GTP field in ninth and quickly carved his way through the field on the final restart with 16 minutes to go.

The No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ended up finishing third, ahead of the fourth-placed No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani, which was also on a similar strategy to the two Penske Porsches.

The winning No. 6 Porsche of Jaminet and Nick Tandy, which fought back from an early race drive-through penalty for contact with the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac, completed the final 1 hour and 31 minutes on the same tank of energy, following a stop-start race that featured five full-course cautions.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande appeared to be on track for a fifth place finish until Bourdais spun in Turn 5 after possible contact with the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche of Bent Viscaal.

Viscaal and Gianmaria Bruni finished fifth as a result.

Four Porsches finished in the top-six, with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry of Richard Westbrook and Tijmen van der Helm coming home just behind their fellow privater entry.

The No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Jesse Krohn and Philip Eng was seventh after missing qualifying due to a rear-end change following an off-course excursion in Practice 2.

It was again mixed fortunes for BMW, however, with the sister No. 25 car crashing out at the exit of the Carousel in the hands of Nick Yelloly, an incident that also collected Bourdais, who pitted for a new nose on his CGR entry.

The No. 01 Cadillac was classified in 20th overall, ninth in GTP, after his late-race spin.

Louis Deletraz, who drove the majority of the race in the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura after an early-race driver change, was eighth after rebounding from two drive-through penalties and an off-course excursion on the final restart.

LMP2 class honors went to the No. 2 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Ben Hanley and Ben Keating, marking the pairing’s first victory of the season.

It was also the long-awaited first WeatherTech Championship win for the Richard Dean and Zak Brown-owned United squad and came after a rebuild from a crash in practice by Keating.

Hanley finished 6.685 seconds ahead of the No. 79 JDC-Miller Oreca of Scott Andrews and Gerry Kraut, which was making a one-off appearance in the class this weekend.

The class pole-sitting No. 99 AO Racing entry of Paul-Loup Chatin and PJ Hyett completed the class podium in third.

Conquest Stretches Fuel Mileage for Maiden GTD Pro Win

Daniel Serra stretched the fuel mileage of his No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 to claim top honors in GTD Pro, making only a single pit stop over the course of the race.

The Ferrari factory driver, who shared the Prancing Horse with Giacomo Altoe, showed pace in addition to efficiency, leading the majority of the way.

It came in only the second GTD Pro outing for the Eric Bachelart-led squad and was the team’s first top-series IMSA win since 2012.

The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow finished second in class, ahead of the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas, which completed the class podium.

The majority of the GTD Pro/GTD runners ran the final 1 hour and 14 minutes on the same tank of fuel, compared to Serra’s remarkable 1 hour and 29-minute stint.

The win in GTD, meanwhile, went to the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher after the then class-leading No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson pitted for a splash of fuel with less than three minutes to go.

It marked the first class win of the season for the Turner squad and maiden WeatherTech Championship victory for Gallagher.

Frederik Schandorff drove his No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo to a runner-up class finish, ahead of the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Stevan McAleer, who scored a surprise podium result.

RESULTS: IMSA 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