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WeatherTech Championship

Porsche Takes Third Straight GTLM Win

Laurens Vanthoor, Earl Bamber claim GTLM honors at Mid-Ohio…

Photo: Porsche

Porsche has claimed its third straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win in GT Le Mans, with Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor taking top class honors in Sunday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. 

Quick pit work and a rapid in and out lap by Bamber put the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR out ahead of the then-race leading No. 3 Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia following the final round of pit stops.

Bamber held the lead through the race’s one-and-only full-course caution and restart with 23 minutes to go, finishing 2.340-seconds ahead of Garcia.

It marked back-to-back wins for Bamber and Vanthoor, who have extended their points lead in the process.

Garcia and Jan Magnussen came home second, with Nick Tandy charging to a third place class finish after contact between his No. 911 Porsche and the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTE of Tom Blomqvist in the closing laps.

The No. 911 Porsche rebounded from a drive-through penalty for co-driver Patrick Pilet jumping the start.

Blomqvist recovered to finish fourth, ahead of the fifth-placed No. 67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe, whose fuel conservation run did not pay off.

The No. 66 Ford, meanwhile, fought multiple issues, including left-rear damage that led to a collapsed wheel arch in the final hour, while the No. 4 Corvette spent time behind the wall with a left-rear axle failure.

Both cars, however, finished the race albeit delayed.

Hawksworth Holds Off Farnbacher for GTD Victory for AIM Vasser Sullivan, Lexus

Jack Hawksworth delivered AIM Vasser Sullivan’s maiden GT Daytona class victory after a late-race pass on Mario Farnbacher.

The Englishman got around Farnbacher’s No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo on the restart and managed to hold off the German to claim back-to-back class wins at Mid-Ohio for the Lexus RC F GT3.

Hawksworth shared the class win with pole-sitter Richard Heistand, who ran second in his opening stint to the MSR Acura of Trent Hindman.

The MSR Acura enjoyed a commanding run until the yellow, which saw the German’s class lead eliminated.

The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Bryan Sellers and Ryan Hardwick completed the class podium following a race-ending accident for the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Scott Hargrove.

Hargrove, who was running third in class at the time, went off in Turn 1 with seven minutes to go, resulting in a local yellow for the remainder of the race.

RESULTS: Acura Sports Car Challenge

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

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