Mid-Ohio Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***Acura Team Penske earned its third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win and third straight at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, maintaining the program’s undefeated record at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit in the final season of Team Penske’s partnership with Acura.

***Renger van der Zande said it felt like the “race of my life” with the Dutchman bringing the DPi championship-leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R home in third, courtesy of Juan Pablo Montoya’s late-race spin.

***”Severe handling issues” after Montoya’s incident resulted in the No. 6 car’s retirement, three laps from the finish.

***Van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe have seen their points lead reduced to three over Pipo Derani and a two-way tie for third between Ricky Taylor/Castroneves and the JDC-Miller Motorsports duo of Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais.

***Barbosa and Bourdais recorded their worst finish of the year in sixth after placing in the top-four in each of the opening five races this season.

***The pair of Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-Ps collected a total of three drive-through penalties in the race, with two pit lane infractions for the No. 55 car (leaving pit with items still attached and speeding upon entry) and incident responsibility for the No. 77 car after Oliver Jarvis and the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley made contact.

***The No. 85 JDC-Miller Cadillac retired with a loss of drive late in the race.

***Corvette Racing returned to victory lane at Mid-Ohio for the first time since 2012, marking one of the longest droughts in team history. Joran Taylor and Antonio Garcia collected their fourth GT Le Mans class win of the year, extending their championship lead to 17 points over teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.

***Sunday’s race marked the second time this year that both Ricky and Jordan Taylor scored victories in their respective classes following their feat at Road America last month.

***Mario Farnbacher was left questioning the driving tactics of McLaren Automotive factory driver Paul Holton, who made side-to-side contact with the German’s No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo three times on the front straight, which led to Farnbacher cutting down a right-front tire.

***The incident dropped the GTD points-leading team to eighth in class at the time although Farnbacher rallied to finish fifth. Holton, meanwhile, was given a stop-and-hold plus 30-second penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior”.

***Farnbacher and McMurry saw their 12-point lead reduced to just three points over AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Aaron Telitz. “We tried to recover after we had our front right tire destroyed from someone else,” said Farnbacher. “When I got back out on track, I think the car was pushed to the maximum and we really gave it our all.”

***Five different GT3 manufacturers finished in the top five in GTD, led by Telitz and Jack Hawksworth’s Lexus RC F GT3, which picked up its third class win of the year. Mercedes-AMG, Porsche and Aston Martin all recorded or equaled their best GTD finishes of the season while the top Acura finished fifth.

***The No. 12 AVS Lexus took a hit in its championship hopes when contact early between Frankie Montecalvo and Foley resulted in left-front damage that ultimately forced the car to go behind the wall for repairs.

***The No. 76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S of Holton and Corey Fergus started from the rear of the 24-car field due to a ride height infringement found in post-qualifying tech.

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