Porsche Fails To Podium at Road America

After a hard-fought race, the two former Porsche Juniors crossed the finish line in fifth place at Road America in their Porsche 963. Their fellow factory drivers, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, finished eleventh following a time penalty. Nonetheless, they continue to hold second place in the drivers’ standings, while Porsche also maintains its lead in the manufacturers’ championship with two races remaining. In the GTD class, Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer secured sixth place in the 911 GT3 R fielded by Porsche customer team Wright Motorsports.

Race results

GTP class:

P1. Eng/D. Vanthoor (AUT/BEL), BMW #24, 66 laps
P2. S. van der Linde/Wittmann (ZAF/DEU), BMW #25, +2.524 seconds
P3. Van der Zande/Yelloly (NLD/GBR), Acura #93, +3.628 seconds
P5. Campbell/Jaminet (AUS/FRA), Porsche 963 #6, +15.848 seconds
P10. Bruni/Van der Helm (ITA/NLD), Porsche 963 #85, +37.098 seconds
P11. Nasr/Tandy (BRA/GBR), Porsche 963 #7, 1:43.648 minutes

GTD-Pro class:

P1. Snow/Verhagen (USA/USA), BMW #1, 62 laps
P2. Rockenfeller/Priaulx (DEU/GBR), Ford #64, +2.915 seconds
P3. Costa/Altoe (ESP/ITA), Ferrari #81, +13.316 seconds
P8. Heinrich/Bachler (DEU/AUT), Porsche 911 GT3 R #77, +1:05.657 seconds

GTD class:

P1. Triarsi/Koch (USA/USA), Ferrari #21, 62 laps
P2. Goikhberg/Farnbacher (CDN/DEU), Lamborghini #78, +1.618 seconds
P3. Franco/Serra (USA/BRA), Ferrari #34, +3.066 seconds
P6. Adelson/Skeer (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, +7.018 seconds

Race Summary

The 160-minute race on the 6.515-kilometre Road America circuit began in hectic fashion. The safety car was deployed on the opening lap after an LMP2 car skidded off the track. When the green flags were waved after a good 15 minutes, it had to come out again immediately – yet another competitor had slid off the circuit.

The two hybrid prototypes fielded by the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory team took advantage of the second yellow phase to make an early pit stop just 23 minutes into the race. Following the refueling, starting drivers Matt Campbell from Australia and Felipe Nasr from Brazil rejoined the race in tenth and eleventh positions, stuck behind a slower LMDh car that held them up. Nevertheless, the bold strategic decision paid off. When the safety car returned to the track just over an hour into the race, the leading GTP cars headed into the pit lane for scheduled service stops. Thanks to a shorter refueling time and the excellent work of the pit crew, both factory Porsche 963 capitalized on the situation: Mathieu Jaminet from France – who had taken over from Campbell in the Number 6 car – emerged in the lead, while Nick Tandy, replacing Nasr, moved up into fourth place.

Just over an hour before the end of the eighth IMSA race of the season, the Briton launched an attack on the third-placed driver and completed the overtake. However, when the overtaken driver attempted to counter just a few metres later, the two cars made contact on the straight, causing the Cadillac to spin. The race stewards deemed Tandy at fault and imposed a 60-second pit stop penalty, which ultimately dropped the Number 7 Porsche to eleventh place in the GTP class.

The incident triggered another yellow flag phase, which caught the sister car off guard and allowed two BMW, who had just refueled, to move to the front of the field. After his pit stop, Jaminet rejoined the race in fourth place. Following further difficulties in overtaking situations, which were often fiercely contested, and a fair duel with Earl Bamber, he ultimately had to settle for fifth place in the closing minutes.

The Porsche customer team JDC-Miller Motorsports climbed from eleventh to fifth place in the early stages of the race. However, as the event progressed, Italian driver Gianmaria Bruni and Tijmen van der Helm from the Netherlands were unable to maintain the pace of the competition and gradually lost ground. The pair ultimately crossed the finish line in tenth place.

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GT classes: Strong showing from customer team Wright Motorsport

Enacting a bold strategy, Austrian Klaus Bachler and reigning IMSA GTD-Pro champion Laurin Heinrich steadily climbed through the field from seventh on the grid at Road America. A good hour before the race’s end, the AO Racing team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R – affectionately nicknamed ‘Rexy’ by fans – took the lead and held it until around 15 minutes before the finish. However, the absence of an extended yellow flag period, which would have made another refuelling stop unnecessary, meant another trip to the pits was unavoidable. The two former Porsche Juniors made their final stop and ultimately crossed the finish line in eighth place in their class.

Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer had better fortune. Helming their Wright Motorsports 911, they largely avoided incidents and climbed from twelfth on the grid to sixth in the GTD classification. Their biggest challenge was contesting the entire race without radio contact, relying instead on strategic instructions conveyed via pit boards in the traditional way.