Penske Porsche Motorsport’s Mathieu Jaminet took the lead during the final caution Sunday (Aug. 4) when Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Ricky Taylor chose to stop for fresh tires. Jaminet was able to hold off teammate Felipe Nasr to win the IMSA SportsCar Weekend event at Road America alongside Nick Tandy. It is the duo’s second win of the year after having won at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May.
“In these kind of [situation], it’s the best to have your teammate behind you, but at the same time, the worst,” Jaminet told NBC Sports’ Chris Wilner in victory lane. “We both want to win, but at the same time, you don’t want to crash your teammate. Awesome day for the team. It’s been a tough weekend with missing performance.”
Jaminet and Tandy’s margin of victory was .390 seconds over teammates Nasr and Dane Cameron. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque recovered from their late pit stop to finish third, then Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani. Proton Competition’s Gianmaria Bruni and Bent Viscaal were fifth in their customer Porsche.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Filipe Albuquerque started from pole in his Acura and held off teammate Jordan Taylor. However, this ended up being a very rough opening lap.
Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani spun in turn 6 and fell all the way down the order after contact from Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Nick Tandy. Tandy was given a drive-through penalty for the incident.
Meanwhile, Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Alexander Sims was hit by Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Mike Rockenfeller in turn 5, spinning Sims into the gravel.
Sims was unable to get out of the trap and drew the first caution of the race. Meanwhile, Rockenfeller broke a lower control arm when he hit Sims, which resulted in a trip behind the wall for repairs.
After the restart, Jordan Taylor started to pressure Albuquerque for the overall lead. Taylor was eventually able to get the move done in turn 8.
Shortly afterwards, WTRAndretti’s Danny Formal went off-course in the Carousel with smoke in the cockpit. Fearing a fire, Formal stopped the car to get a fire extinguisher, drawing the second yellow.
The caution resulted in a split pit strategy as Taylor and many of the leaders pitted. Albuquerque chose to stay out and retook the lead.
The cautions allowed Albuquerque to stay out well beyond the one-hour mark. 68 minutes into the race, TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas stopped at the exit of the Kink with a mechanical issue.
The notion of a third full course caution coming out brought everyone to the pits for tires, fuel and (for some) driver changes. Ultimately, the caution didn’t come out as Thomas was able to pull away.
After the stops ended, Nick Yelloly dropped a wheel exiting the Carousel and and lost control of his BMW M Hybrid V8. Yelloly slid into the wall and spun into the grass.
Behind him, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais stomped on the brakes to avoid Yelloly and the dust cloud he created. Unfortunately, that unloaded the car and resulted in Bourdais nosing into the inside wall. Bourdais was able to continue after a pit stop to get a new nose, but Yelloly was done for the day.
Viscaal ended up with the lead for the restart, but he lost the advantage almost immediately to Ricky Taylor. Mathieu Jaminet followed into second before another caution flew due to most of the rear bodywork off of Joey Hand‘s Mustang being ripped off due to somewhat causal contact.
Further down the order, things really started to get rough. Contact between The Heart of Racing’s Roman DeAngelis and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette resulted in a series of rough moments.
That ultimately ended with Wright Motorsports’ Elliott Skeer running in the back of Forte Racing’s Loris Spinelli under braking for turn 5. Both cars ended up as smoking heaps afterwards, but Spinelli was forced to pull off, bringing out a yellow.
Tire wear was quite the issue at Road America. Ricky Taylor chose to pit here for fresh tires, giving the lead to Jaminet. The stop dropped the No. 10 back to ninth for the restart with 16 minutes to go.
The stop dropped Ricky Taylor all the way back to ninth and give Porsche Penske Motorsports a one-two finish. Jaminet pulled out a small lead, then lost it when he reached the GT traffic in the final couple of laps.
Ricky Taylor’s fresh tires allowed him to blast through the GTP field. He passed Aitken for third with a little more than a lap to got, then nearly ran in the back of Nasr on the final lap in turn 5.
The leaders had to weave their way through the GT traffic on the final lap while fighting for the win. Ultimately, Jaminet was able to hold on for the win.
In LMP2, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett started from pole in “Spike,” but his time at the front was very short. United Autosports’ Ben Keating got an excellent start and was able to take the lead before turn 1.
Keating continued to lead through the early cautions. A third yellow was averted when Sean Creech Motorsports’ Tonis Kasemets was spun into the gravel in turn 5 after contact from High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen. Despite being in the gravel, Kasemets was able to back out of it and not draw a full course yellow. Andersen was given a drive-through for the contact.
AO Racing’s Paul-Loup Chatin took the class lead when United Autosports pitted to put Ben Hanley in the car. He had a decent car, but was short on fuel and couldn’t pull out much of an advantage due to the cautions.
Hanley took the class lead when Chatin pitted during the final caution. From there, he pulled away to take the team’s first win of the year.
Hanley and Keating’s margin of victory was 6.685 seconds over JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Scott Andrews and Gerry Kraut. Hyett and Paul-Loup Chatin were third, then Era Motorsport’s Ryan Dalziel and Stuart Wiltshire. Richard Mille AF Corse’s Nicklas Nielsen and Luis Perez Companc were fifth.
GTD Pro saw Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg and Sims share the front row at the start. While Catsburg was able to open a small gap, Sims’ trip into the gravel shook the order up.
Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth took over second for the restart, but Paul Miller Racing’s Madison Snow took second away in turn 6 just after the restart.
The second caution resulted in a split strategy here as well. Conquest Racing’s Giacomo Altoe chose to stay out when the leaders pitted to take the lead in his Ferrari.
The Conquest Racing No. 35 chose a fuel saving strategy to try to win the race themselves. They were at a disadvantage of five laps to most of the rest of the class, so a substantial amount of saving was required.
Despite these issues, Daniel Serra was able to conserve enough fuel to get his Ferrari to the finish and earn the victory for himself and Altoe. For Serra, it’s his second win of the year after winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January with Risi Competizione. It is Altoe’s first IMSA victory in his third career start.
Altoe and Serra’s margin of victory was 1.873 seconds over Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. The Heart of Racing’s Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas were third in their Aston Martin, while AO Racing’s Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich were a lap down in fourth. Sims and Antonio Garcia recovered from Sims’ early incident to finish fifth.
Korthoff Preston Motorsports’ Mikael Grenier led the GTD class to green in his Mercedes. He was not threatened at the front until the second yellow, when he pitted for the first time. With minimum drive-time in play, none of the GTD teams that pitted here made driver changes.
Triarsi Competizione’s Onofrio Triarsi took the lead by staying out in his Ferrari. Proton Competizione’s Giammarco Levorato was right behind him. They ran one-two until they pitted 55 minutes into the race. That gave Grenier the lead back with Turner Motorsport’s Patrick Gallagher giving chase.
Fuel mileage ultimately determined the race. Once Alessio Rovera pitted the Triarsi Ferrari under the final yellow, Vasser Sullivan’s Parker Thompson took over the lead in the middle of a fuel saving strategy similar to Serra’s.
Unfortunately, Thompson was forced to pit with just a couple of laps to go for a splash of fuel. That gave the lead to Robby Foley in his BMW with Inception Racing’s Frederik Schandorff right on his tail.
With the overall leaders blasting through the pack, Foley was able to hold off the McLaren to take the GTD class win. It is Turner Motorsport’s first win since 2022, when Foley and Bill Auberlen won at Mid-Ohio. It is also Gallagher’s first career WeatherTech victory.
Foley and Gallagher’s margin of victory was 1.130 seconds over Schandorff and Brendan Iribe. Gradient Racing’s Stevan McAleer and Sheena Monk were third in their Acura, then Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis and Russell Ward in the points-leading Mercedes. Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Matt Bell and Orey Fidani were fifth in their best run of the season.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship IMSA SportsCar Weekend Unofficial Results
From there, WeatherTech teams have a split schedule. The Prototype teams will be in action next at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks. Coverage of the six-hour race will begin Sept. 22 at 11:30 a.m. ET on Peacock. NBC will join the race in progress at 3 p.m. ET.
The GTD Pro and GTD classes have a GT-only race at VIRginia International Raceway on Aug. 25. The race will air live on USA Network starting at Noon ET.
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.