This weekend, IMSA’s suite of series will be in action at Road America. Sunday will be a doubleheader with the headlining IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, followed by IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship IMSA Sportscar Weekend
Sunday’s 160-minute WeatherTech race has 46 teams entered in five classes. This is the first of two sprint races this year with all five classes in action.
The GTP class will have 10 cars doing battle, up from nine at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The addition is Proton Competition, which will race their Porsche 963 with Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell at the controls. This is the same customer Porsche that the team debuted in the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza back on July 9. Bruni was part of the team’s winning effort in the LMP2 class back in January at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
In LMP2, there are seven teams entered. A notable absence from the entry list is Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 Biohaven-sponsored entry.
At TDS Racing, Francois Heriau is still recovering from a non-racing injury. As a result, John Falb will drive in his place.
Tower Motorsport currently has a TBD driver that will partner with Louis Deletraz. That seat is normally held by John Farano. He has not raced since getting injured in a crash at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May.
In LMP3, there will be eight teams doing battle. Jr III Racing has expanded to two cars for the weekend. The No. 29 Ligier JS P320-Nissan will be driven by VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 class points leader Bijoy Garg. Garg will be making his WeatherTech debut.
Garg was originally supposed to be partnered with Linus Lundqvist. However, that’s not in the cards anymore.
With Lundqvist deputizing for Simon Pagenaud in Nashville, it would literally be impossible for him to do both races because they will be running at the same time. Jr III Racing announced Wednesday that Lundqvist will be replaced for this weekend by Colin Noble.
Noble will also be making his WeatherTech debut with the team. He competes full-time in the Michelin Le Mans Cup’s LMP3 class, where he is currently second in points.
At Riley Motorsports, Felipe Fraga is not entered this weekend. Instead, endurance driver Josh Burdon will drive in his place. Fraga has a conflict this weekend. As a result, Gar Robinson will now be going for the LMP3 championship by himself.
Finally, Ave Motorsports has their regular lineup of Seth Lucas and Tonis Kasemets back this weekend. They will replace Antoine Comeau and George Staikos, who drove at CTMP.
The GTD Pro class has the five full-time teams entered. There are no changes from Lime Rock.
Finally, GTD has 16 teams entered, an increase of one from Lime Rock. The extra entry is the Racers Edge Motorsports Acura for Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher.
The only other change on the grid is David Brule returning to Kelly-Moss Road & Race’s No. 92 Porsche in place of Julien Andlauer. Andlauer was able to put the team on the podium at Lime Rock.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championshp IMSA Sportscar Weekend Entry List
The IMSA Sportscar Weekend race is scheduled to start at 11:10 a.m. ET (10:10 a.m. CT) Sunday afternoon. The race will air live on USA Network starting at 11 a.m. ET.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120
In Michelin Pilot Challenge, there are 38 teams entered in Sunday’s two-hour race, an increase of three teams from the last Pilot Challenge race with both classes. Remember that Lime Rock Park was a TCR-only weekend.
The Grand Sport class has 24 teams entered. A group of drivers (Rory van der Steur, Luca Mars, Robert Megennis) are back in their regular GT4 cars after competing in the standalone TCR race at Lime Rock.
Ave Motorsports returns after skipping CTMP with a new lineup in their Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO. Diego Azar and Marco Galanti will drive the Supra in place of Thiago Camilo and Alfredo Najri.
Fast Track Racing returns with their BMW M4 GT4. Veteran racer Toby Grahovec will be joined by Garrett Adams. Random Vandals Racing, a regular team in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX, is also back with Kenton Koch and Paul Sparta.
SportsCar365.com reported Wednesday afternoon that Jeff Mosing has been ruled out of Sunday’s race (and the races at VIRginia International Raceway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) due to suffering a back injury in a crash on the run to Canada Corner on lap 2 of Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America Race No. 1 held last weekend at Road America on the undercard of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Henry 180.
As a result, Ryan Yardley has been called up to share the No. 56 Mercedes with Eric Foss. It will be Yardley’s Pilot Challenge debut.
In TCR, there are 14 teams entered, similar to at Lime Rock. The big change here is at the Victor Gonzalez Racing Team (VGRT). The team announced Tuesday that they are partnering with Bryan Herta Autosport for the remainder of the season.
As a result, they will be switching from the Honda Civic Type-R TCR to a Hyundai Elantra N TCR going forward. Victor Gonzalez Jr. will continue to drive, but teammate Karl Wittmer is out due to Wittmer’s ties to Honda that are older than Wittmer is (Wittmer’s family started one of the first Honda dealerships in Quebec).
SportsCar en Espanol reported Tuesday that the second seat will be filled by Cristian Perocarpi and Tyler Gonzalez for the remainder of the season. VGRT retweeted this article on Twitter. Perocarpi will make his Pilot Challenge debut this weekend.
Perocarpi is a regular in TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School’s TC class, where he races a MINI JCW TC for MINI Team USA. He is currently fourth in TC points with a best finish of second in class in the second race at Circuit of the Americas in May.
At Deily Motorsports, there is a TBD listed in the No. 70 Hyundai. This seat will be filled by Sally McNulty, who will be making her IMSA debut this weekend.
Like Perocarpi, McNulty, a car builder by trade, is a regular in TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School’s TC class. Racing a Hyundai Veloster, McNulty is currently fifth in TC points with a best finish of second in class in the first race at VIR in June.
Van der Steur Racing’s No. 90 Veloster is not entered this weekend. HART’s No. 89 Honda returns to the grid this weekend to replace them.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 Entry List
The Road America 120 is scheduled to go green at 3:55 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon after the WeatherTech race. Coverage will begin at 3:50 p.m. ET on Peacock. Both races may end up being affected by weather as there is currently an 80% chance of rain.
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.