DETROIT, Mich. – One of the key storylines coming into the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fact that General Motors has won every IMSA-sanctioned race at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park dating all the way back to the first American Le Mans Series event in 2007.
And while that streak may have been in doubt at times throughout Saturday’s 100-minute race at the 2.3-mile street circuit, in the end, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R co-driven by Brazilian Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran kept it alive.
Benefitting from masterful race strategy by the Action Express Racing team, Nasr took the lead with 35 minutes remaining when Ricky Taylor made his final pit stop of the race in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 DPi. He then managed to hold off a late run by the hard-charging Taylor to win by 1.016 seconds.
It was Nasr’s first career victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and was Curran’s eighth win in IMSA competition (six in the WeatherTech Championship, two in GRAND-AM).
“It took a few races to come, but I’ll take it,” Nasr said. “The way we made it this weekend, Eric, the whole Action Express team did an amazing job, especially after our free practice. I had a little mistake that put us on the back foot, the guys put the car back together, Eric put on an amazing qualifying and a mega start.
“The race itself was about getting the right calls. We took the Continental Tires to the end. They hung on amazing and I was able to drive the car pretty fast until the end. It came and I couldn’t ask for a better day, to be honest. I’m super happy.”
For Curran, it was a second win in Detroit, having also won back in 2015, and it moved the No. 31 duo into a tie with their No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V-R teammates, Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque, for the WeatherTech Championship Prototype points lead with five of 10 races now in the books.
“If you’re in a Cadillac, this is a good place to win,” said Curran, who pointed out in victory lane that it also was Whelen Engineering owner Sonny Whelen’s birthday. “I mean, all the guys and all the support from Cadillac and all the guys from GM, they’re all here. This is the place to be and the place to win in our Whelen Cadillac. I’m so excited. This is my second win in the last number of years.”
Taylor and Castroneves backed up their victory last time out in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio with a runner-up result in Detroit. After leading a 1-2 sweep at Mid-Ohio last month, the No. 7 teammates led a 2-3 sweep for Acura Team Penske in Detroit.
Dane Cameron – who shared the Detroit victory with Curran in 2015 – came home third in the No. 6 Acura DPi alongside co-driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel came home fourth in the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi.
Five-time Detroit race winner Jordan Taylor and co-driver Renger van der Zande – who has two career wins on Belle Isle – finished fifth in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Legge, Farnbacher Score Victory For Acura In Detroit
Katherine Legge had a lot going on in the last week.
It was only a week ago that Legge got the word that her No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 would be running in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic. Then she had a new co-driver in Mario Farnbacher as usual teammate, Alvaro Parente, had a prior commitment and was unable to join her in Detroit.
The result of all of this was a victory for the pair – and a first of the year for Acura – in the GT Daytona (GTD) class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Saturday on Belle Isle.
The victory comes exactly one year after Legge and her then-co-driver, Andy Lally, for Meyer Shank Racing delivered the first global victory for the Acura NSX GT3. Farnbacher is also a former GTD winner at the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, winning in 2015 with Alex Job Racing in a Porsche 911 GT America.
“(It feels) amazing, I’m over the moon,” said Legge. “I had a really fun, really great, first stint battling there with Bryan (Sellers, co-driver of the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3). He was really fair and I just couldn’t get by him. With my in lap and (Mario’s) out lap, I think we made up time and the team did a fantastic job. Huge thanks to Meyer Shank Racing because we weren’t supposed to be here until last weekend when I got the call. Two years in a row, mega.”
Legge qualified the car in second place for the 100-minute sprint race and pressured Sellers in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 throughout her driving stint. However, it was pit strategy that proved to be the determining factor for the final race results.
The No. 86 and its sister Acura racecar – the No. 93 of Lawson Aschenbach and Justin Marks, which was running third before pit stops – both chose to take two tires, while the No. 48 swapped all four Continentals. The move put closing drivers Farnbacher and Aschenbach ahead of Madison Snow in the No. 48 and the lineup would remain the same for the rest of the race.
“I know from my own memory here it’s really tough to overtake… so we knew the pit stop is really important here to get the track position,” said Farnbacher. “Our guys did a really fantastic job and so did Katherine in the opening stint. My job was just to do a good out lap and save fuel and tires and just to make sure we see the checkered flag.”
With the victory and two runner-up finishes in four races this year, Legge continues to climb in the fight for the GTD championship. She now stands alone in second place for the standings with 122 points, three points behind leaders Sellers and Madison Snow – who also kept alive Paul Miller Racing’s podium streak, finishing in the top three at each of the four GTD races thus far in 2018 with a third-place finish.
Fourth place went to the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports pair of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen while the No. 63 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Cooper MacNeil and Jeff Segal were fifth.
The first GT Daytona (GTD) victory by Acura comes one race after the manufacturer won its first WeatherTech Championship Prototype race with the No. 7 Acura Team Penske DPi – driven by Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship reaches the halfway point of the season with its next race at Watkins Glen International. The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is the third of four endurance races for the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, which sees a tie between the No. 86 of Legge and Parente – with endurance teammate Trent Hindman – and Sellers and Snow for second place.
“Watkins (Glen) is going to be interesting,” said Legge. “I think we’re neck-in-neck pretty much. It’s all going hinge on Watkins and whether we finish the season, I don’t know.”
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen will see the return of all three WeatherTech Championship classes on June 28 – July 1, as the GT Le Mans class took a one-race hiatus at Detroit for teams to prep for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in two weeks.
