Lally, Legge Score Maiden GTD Victory for Acura at Detroit

Andy Lally and Katherine Legge teamed to bring the Acura NSX GT3 to victory lane for the first time in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition at the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit.

The Michael Shank Racing duo started second in the GT Daytona field on the strength of Legge’s qualifying run and jumped to the lead in the pit sequence, then held off the rest of the field to claim victory in the No. 93 machine.

Team owner Michael Shank made the call to take just two tires in the race’s lone pit stop, and the time saved by doing so was more than enough to put the Acura out in front of its rivals.

Lally held off Alessandro Balzan in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 that he shares with Christina Nielsen, meaning both female drivers in the race scored podium finishes. Lally’s margin of victory 2.441 seconds.

Madison Snow put in a strong run to third in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Co-driver Bryan Sellers started the car, but the team lost some ground in the pits. Snow managed to drive his way back into a podium position in the final 30 minutes.

The Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 took fourth, followed by the second MSR Acura of Ozz Negri and Jeff Segal that rolled off from the final spot on the grid.

There was one yellow flag in the race just over 25 minutes into the 100-minute race, which came when the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kenny Habul suffered a brake problem and collided with Renger Van Der Zande in the No. 90 Visit Florida Riley Mk. 30 Gibson. Both cars were eliminated from the race with damage.

Trouble also found GTD championship leader Ben Keating in the Riley Team AMG Mercedes on the same lap in a separate incident when he clouted the wall and was also forced to retire.

The class pole-sitting Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS of Lawson Aschenbach and Andrew Davis controlled the early stages of the race but slowed on track with under 30 minutes remaining after reportedly suffering an issue with the axle, ultimately slipping to 13th in class.

RESULTS: Chevrolet Sports Car Classic