Taylor, Castroneves Claims Third Straight Win

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves have claimed their third straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win following a commanding run in Sunday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio.

The Acura Team Penske duo kept their DPi championship hopes alive by scoring maximum points, with Taylor finishing 0.607 seconds ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Felipe Nasr.

It marked the third consecutive win for Acura Team Penske at Mid-Ohio.

Juan Pablo Montoya muscled his way from fifth to third following the final restart until spinning in dramatic fashion with less than ten minutes to go.

It promoted the DPi championship-leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Renger van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe to third with the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell finishing fourth.

This came despite two drive-through penalties for pit lane infringements for the Mazda.

A late pass by Tristan Nunez made it two Mazdas in the top-five, demoting the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais to sixth.

The No. 77 Mazda also overcame a penalty but for incident responsibility after contact with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley.

Montoya and co-driver Dane Cameron were classified seventh after not taking the checkered flag.

The No. 85 JDC-Miller Cadillac was one of two retirements on Sunday, with the car having ground to a halt with suspected engine issues with 38 minutes to go.

Garcia, Taylor Lead Corvette 1-2 in GTLM

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor have scored their third GT Le Mans class victory in the last four races with a dominant run in class.

Garcia in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R finished 1.472 seconds ahead of teammate Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette.

The two Pratt & Miller-run Corvettes dominated the race with the pair of Team RLL BMW M8 GTEs unable to match the pace of the mid-engined entries.

Garcia and Taylor have extended their championship lead as a result of their fourth class win of the season.

The Road America class-winning No. 25 BMW of Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler completed the podium in third on Sunday.

AVS Lexus Back to Winning Ways in GTD

AIM Vasser Sullivan scored back-to-back victories at Mid-Ohio with Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz taking top class honors in their No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3.

Hawksworth finished 0.858 seconds ahead of the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lawson Aschenbach, in what proved to be a big points day for AVS after trouble for the championship-leading No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

Multiple side-to-side contact between the No. 76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S of Paul Holton and Mario Farnbacher resulted in a punctured right-front tire to the Acura that dropped the German to eighth at the time.

Holton was handed a stop-and-hold plus 30-second penalty for “unsportsmanlike conduct.”

The No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long and Ryan Hardwick recorded their second consecutive class podium finish, with the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 scoring a season-best fourth place result.

Farnbacher rebounded to finish sixth in his No. 86 Acura to keep his and Matt McMurry’s class championship lead going into next month’s GT-only race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

RESULTS: Acura Sports Car Challenge

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