For this weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, there were originally 27 teams entered. However, recent moves have dropped this number to 24.
Monday night, Porsche announced that all of their crewmembers and drivers that competed in last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans would not be making the trip to Germany for this weekend’s Total 24 Nurburgring. This included nine different drivers and forced the withdrawal of Manthey Racing’s No. 911 Porsche, nicknamed “Grello” due to the car’s paint scheme.
Early Tuesday morning, Porsche announced that their edict also applies to the IMSA factory effort as well. Both the Nos. 911 and 912 Porsche 911 RSR-19s have been withdrawn from the race weekend due to a lack of available factory drivers. Laurens Vanthoor and Frederic Makowiecki both competed for Porsche at Le Mans last weekend. Nick Tandy did not compete for Porsche, but drove an LMP2-class ORECA 07-Gibson in a joint effort between G-Drive Racing and Algarve Pro Racing. Despite that, Tandy is also disallowed from competing since he was at Le Mans. Earl Bamber did not go to Le Mans and is still able to race. He will compete this weekend at the Nurburgring for KCMG.
Vanthoor was saddened by the news Tuesday and posted some tweets.
I actually only wanted to insult COVID-19. But it‘s -funny- to see how political correct you have to be in today’s world. And saying your opinion might get you in trouble. https://t.co/DRyUThtCLq
— Laurens Vanthoor (@VanthoorLaurens) September 22, 2020
Twitter, before some of you think I‘m drunk, have mental health issues or am tired of life… I‘m just having a bit of fun on a very sad day for all of us. ?
— Laurens Vanthoor (@VanthoorLaurens) September 22, 2020
In the DPi class, there will be the typical eight entries. Six of the 12 drivers in the class participated at Le Mans. Harry Tincknell claimed his second Le Mans class victory in the GTE-Pro class with Aston Martin Racing.
JDC-Miller MotorSports’ No. 85 has a completely different driver lineup for this weekend. Tristan Vautier will return to the car after serving as the third driver for the Mustang Sampling-sponsored No. 5 at Road Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. He’s joined by Gabriel Aubry, who will be making his DPi debut. Vautier and Aubry will replace Matheus Leist and Stephen Simpson.
Aubry, who told Frontstretch last October that his goal was to race a DPi in the United States, competed last weekend at Le Mans for Jackie Chan DC Racing in the LMP2 class, but got disqualified for receiving outside assistance. The team will also welcome new sponsorship from MEP Group (a company that makes automated manufacturing solutions for the construction industry) and Van Merksteijn International (a company that manufactures fencing panels and metal wires used in construction).. Vautier showed off the new paint scheme the team will be running this weekend in a tweet.
Race week ?, for this weekend at @Mid_Ohio , I will share the #85 @JDCMotorSports @CadillacRacing Dpi with @GabrielAubry8 ??. Welcome to the team Man! New livery looks fast ?? #letsgo pic.twitter.com/z6oImeh2CA
— Tristan Vautier (@TristanVautier) September 21, 2020
Due to the aforementioned Porsche withdrawal, there will be only four GT Le Mans teams at Mid-Ohio this weekend. None of the eight remaining drivers in the class competed at Le Mans since BMW pulled out of the WEC at the end of the 2018-19 season, while Corvette Racing withdrew from the race back in March.
The GT Daytona class originally had 13 teams entered, but that number has dropped to 12. Scuderia Corsa announced Tuesday that they will skip this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event. Cooper MacNeil splits his time between the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Ferrari Challenge North America. This weekend, Ferrari Challenge is at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and MacNeil is the points leader there. He has chosen to defend that points lead.
Outside of Scuderia Corsa’s withdrawal, there are only minor changes. Aaron Telitz is back in the No. 14 Lexus after racing in the sister car during the TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Hardpoint Motorsports and Compass Racing, which are both WeatherTech Sprint Cup teams, are back after skipping the last race.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE AT MID-OHIO ENTRY LIST
The Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio is scheduled to go green at 2:05 p.m. Sunday on NBCSports.com. Tape-delayed coverage of the race will air at 11 p.m. on NBCSN.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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