While nearly every major series will be off this week with the Olympics in action in Paris, IMSA will return to the track at Road America for a full weekend of racing. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be the headliners, but four series will be racing on the 4.048-mile road course.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship IMSA SportsCar Weekend
The IMSA SportsCar Weekend event Sunday (Aug. 4) will have 47 teams doing battle in the four classes. This is up two entries from last year despite the LMP3 class being dropped.
The GTP class has 10 teams entered. The one team not entered is Iron Lynx with the Lamborghini SC63. That team is only participating in the Michelin Endurance Cup events.
There are no major changes of note here. All of the full-time drivers are in their regular seats.
Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr enter this weekend with a 93-point lead over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande. Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the second Penske Porsche are another 39 points back in third. With 385 points on offer, any of these three teams could exit with the points lead.
In LMP2, there are 12 teams entered, the same number as at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park a couple of weeks ago. The biggest news here is the absence of CrowdStrike Racing with APR’s Colin Braun and George Kurtz. Kurtz, as CEO of CrowdStrike, is still dealing with the aftermath of the botched security update that took down nearly eight million computers on July 19. There has been no word on when he will return to the track.
Braun and Kurtz enter this weekend fifth in LMP2 points with their best finish being a third at Sebring. They’ll tumble down the standings this weekend.
With no conflicts in the schedule, a number of regular drivers will return. Paul-Loup Chatin is back with AO Racing, Paul di Resta with United Autosports and Nicklas Nielsen with Richard Mille AF Corse.
There are also a couple of more changes. JDC-Miller MotorSports has entered an ORECA 07-Gibson for Scott Andrews and Gerry Kraut.
Andrews has made three starts this season in the GTD class for Lone Star Racing in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. His best finish has been an eighth at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. He will be making his IMSA LMP2 debut.
For Kraut, 72, this weekend will mark his WeatherTech debut. His experience has primarily come in the LMP3 class, but he hasn’t raced in the United States since 2021. He had a couple of victories in IMSA Prototype Challenge, the predecessor to today’s IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
Finally, at Sean Creech Motorsport, Tonis Kasemets will drive alongside Joao Barbosa in place of Dr. Lance Willsey.
In GTD Pro, there are 10 teams entered, up one from CTMP. The extra team is a second entry from Conquest Racing. The No. 35 Ferrari will be shared by Daniel Serra and Giacomo Altoe. Serra normally drives for the part-time Risi Competizione team, while Altoe has only two previous starts in WeatherTech. His best finish was 11th in GTD in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2022.
At AO Racing, not only is the team bringing “Roxy” back to the track this weekend, but they have a new driver in Julien Andlauer. Andlauer is driving in place of Sebastian Priaulx, who left the team last week due to him taking on an expanded role with Multimatic Motorsports. What that role will be remains to be seen.
At The Heart of Racing, both their GTD and GTD Pro teams have driver changes. Alex Riberas is back in the No. 23 in place of Mario Farnbacher. Riberas, much like a number of the LMP2 drivers, missed CTMP due to FIA World Endurance Championship commitments in Sao Paolo. The No. 27 in the GTD class will Zacharie Robichon in the car in place of Spencer Pumpelly.
The GTD class has 15 teams entered, up two from CTMP. Triarsi Competizione, which previously confirmed only the Michelin Endurance Cup races, enters their first sprint race with Onofrio Triarsi and Alessio Rovera in their Ferrari. Wright Motorsports is also back with their Porsche for Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer.
The only driver change of note in the class will see Sandy Mitchell join Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport’s No. 45 Lamborghini team in place of Kyle Marcelli. According to the team, Marcelli has a “minor arm injury.” SportsCar365.com is reporting that Marcelli is suffering from Thoracic outlet syndrome, defined as a compression of the arteries, nerves or veins in the superior thoracic aperture, which is between the neck and the armpit.
Mitchell has two previous starts in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. His best finish was with Forte Racing earlier this year, where he finished 16th despite an early crash.
The IMSA SportsCar Weekend race is scheduled to go green at 3:10 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET on Peacock.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship IMSA SportsCar Weekend Entry List
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120
Saturday (Aug. 3) will see IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams race for two hours at Road America. 36 teams are entered, up by two from CTMP.
The Grand Sport class has 23 cars entered, equal to CTMP. Teams that are not entered that raced at CTMP are JTR Motorsports Engineering and TWOth Autosport. Meanwhile, Random Vandals Racing and Skip Barber Racing are back.
The biggest news for this weekend will be NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain making his Pilot Challenge debut for Skip Barber Racing alongside Ken Fukuda. Of the venues on the calendar, Road America is one that Chastain has a lot of experience at, making a total of seven starts between Cup and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. His best finish at Road America was a fourth in the 2022 Jockey Made in America 250 in the Cup Series.
There are a few driver changes as well. At van der Steur Racing, Valentin Haase-Clot is back in the No. 19 Aston Martin in place of Andrews. At Watkins Glen, Rory van der Steur told Frontstretch that the main thing that Haase-Clot brings to the team is experience. There are few drivers out there that know as much about the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 as Haase-Clot and the team is better to have him there for that information.
JP Southern is back with Ruckus Racing, replacing Andrew Davis. Southern teamed with Scott Blind to finish fourth at Mid-Ohio in June. BGB Motorsports team owner John Tecce is driving in place of Thomas Collingwood.
There are also a couple of TBDs on the list. McCumbee-McAleer Racing has an open seat that Chad McCumbee normally has. Hattori Motorsports’ No. 50 also has a TBD driver alongside Jack Hawksworth.
In TCR, there are 13 teams entered, up from 11 at CTMP. Baker Racing is not entered with theri Audi.
A couple of returning teams are back. StarCom Racing returns with Andy Lally and Nick Tucker in their Hyundai. They finished second in class at Sebring back in March. Road Shagger Racing is also back with their Audi.
These teams will be joined by Pegram Racing with their Audi. The car will be driven by Larry Pegram, who is best known as a motorcycle racer with decades of experience in Progressive American Flat Track and what is now MotoAmerica. He will be joined by his daughter Riley, who has raced in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. She debuted the car during the TCR World Tour races at Mid-Ohio in June that were held as part of the Pilot Challenge weekend there.
Victor Gonzalez Racing Team (VGRT) has both drivers listed as TBD for their No. 99 Hyundai. Regular driver Tyler Gonzalez has acknowledged that he will fill one of the seats.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 Entry List
The Road America 120 is scheduled to go green at 2:45 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Coverage will begin at 2:40 p.m. ET Saturday on Peacock.
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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