Lime Rock Friday Notebook

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

***The No. 25 Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 has been moved to the rear of the starting field due to a ride height infraction discovered in post-qualifying technical inspection. Connor De Philippi had initially qualified the car third overall and in GTD Pro.

***This weekend’s FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix comes 50 years after the first IMSA-sanctioned event held at Lime Rock Park. The first IMSA race at the Connecticut bullring took place on Memorial Day 1972 and featured four classes: GTO, GTU, TO and TU. 

***The Porsche 911S driven by Bob Bailey and Jim Locke took the overall and GTU class win by three laps. Bailey will be serving as grand marshal of Saturday’s FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix.

***CarBahn with Peregrine Racing is back in action after having to build up a car around a “rental” Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo chassis from another customer team since last month’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The No. 39 entry of Jeff Westphal and Robert Megennis was forced to miss Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as a result of an accident at Watkins Glen International that was triggered by a pair of LMP2 cars.

***Jack Hawksworth, who has returned to the cockpit of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 this weekend, has revealed the extent of his injuries sustained in a motocross accident in May. The Briton sustained a burst fracture of his T12 vertebrae and a bimalleolar fracture of his right ankle, both of which needed surgery and left him in the hospital for five days.

***WeatherTech Racing’s switch to the GTD class for the remainder of the season has been partially made to help Mercedes-AMG’s quest for the manufacturers’ championship as well as a few other “internal” reasons according to Cooper MacNeil.

***Mercedes-AMG enters the weekend third in the GTD manufacturers standings, 69 points behind leaders BMW. Aston Martin sits second. Porsche, meanwhile, leads the GTD Pro manufacturer standings over Chevrolet.

***Jules Gounon, who is making his first start with the Proton Competition-run team since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, is borrowing the majority of his gear this weekend after his baggage was lost en route to New York. The Frenchman is using Dani Juncadella’s firesuit, Alex Riberas’ racing boots and fireproof underwear from a guy named “Max.”

***IMSA has clarified that its standard full course caution procedure will include both GTD Pro and GTD cars pitting on the same lap, designated as the “GT” lap. The pit opening will be delayed by one lap prior to opening, according to a bulletin sent to teams on Friday afternoon. The short full course caution procedure remains unchanged, meanwhile.

***A total of four drivers: Mike Skeen, Stevan McAleer, Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley are pulling double-duty this weekend between the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race and two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge round that will be held earlier in the day on Saturday. While not sharing the same cars in Pilot Challenge, both pairings are co-drivers in the WeatherTech Championship for Team Korthoff Motorsports and Turner Motorsport, respectively. 

***Pfaff Motorsports is also entered at this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto event in the FEL Sports Car Championship Canada presented by Michelin. Zachary Vanier will contest Rounds 5 and 6 on the Toronto street course after competing at the Calabogie Spring Classic last month.

***This will be the first split weekend for Pfaff since its inception, balancing the No. 9 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet and Vanier’s No. 9 McLaren 570S GT4. Both cars currently lead their respective class championships.

***Paul Miller Racing is hosting more than 200 guests from the Paul Miller Auto Group this weekend. The team made a stop at its BMW dealership on Tuesday, showing off the Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow-driven BMW M4 GT3 as well as performing pit stop demonstrations.

***Sportscar365 understands that Friday’s shakedown of the Acura ARX-06 on the Paul Ricard airport was initially undertaken by two-time IMSA class champion Matt McMurry, who is a vehicle dynamics engineer at Honda Performance Development. Ricky Taylor was also on-site and got time in the car ahead of tomorrow’s first track test at Magny-Cours.

***McMurry, who has been engineering the control systems of Acura’s LMDh project, has so far completed all of the sim development of the ORECA-chassied car, which is understood to be in the range of 5,000 virtual miles.

***The five-day group LMDh test involving cars from Porsche and Cadillac is scheduled to conclude on Saturday. A number of drivers have been on hand including Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor, all with Porsche, and Cadillac pilots Earl Bamber, Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn.

***Indianapolis Motor Speedway is poised to replace Mid-Ohio on next year’s WeatherTech Championship schedule according to multiple paddock sources. The race, likely to occur in the second half of the year, is understood to be 2 hours and 40 minutes in length before potentially expanding into a fifth Michelin Endurance Cup round in 2024.

***A formal announcement is set to come at IMSA’s ‘State of the Sport’ address at Road America next month, which will see confirmation of the 2023 calendar among other announcements.

***Jordan Taylor made the cover of Sports Illustrated’s ‘Strength Issue’ which is now on newsstands. The Corvette Racing driver was selected by reader Anthony, who won a contest to share part of the cover with his favorite athlete. 

***Taylor told Sportscar365: “It was really cool. He said he could have picked anyone like Michael Jordan, Shaq, anyone… but figured those guys always have a chance to be on the cover of SI, so he also wanted to give me that opportunity which was really cool.”

***Further upgrade plans to Lime Rock Park are being finalized, including construction of an on-site hotel that would also be accessible via public roads. It’s unclear when the hotel is scheduled to open.

***IMSA Fastlane, a digital fan engagement platform being developed by Minti Labs, has entered into a multi-year agreement with Road America to serve as the title sponsor for the IMSA weekend. The newly titled “IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend” will feature the four-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race on Saturday and the WeatherTech Championship round on Sunday. 

***USA Network will carry flag-to-flag coverage of the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be seen on Peacock starting at 3 p.m., with the team of Brian Till and Calvin Fish in the booth and Parker Kligermann and Hannah Newhouse reporting on pit lane.

***Kligermann, who holds a minority stake in Lime Rock Park, will be pulling double duty for NBC Sports in working the NASCAR Cup Series pit lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday.

***IMSA Radio’s coverage, led by John Hindhaugh, Jeremy Shaw and Shea Adam, will be available on IMSA.tv for international viewers.

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