BMW M Team RLL Claims Road America 1-2

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — A pit strategy move Sunday (Aug. 3) allowed BMW M Team RLL’s Philipp Eng to get himself up front late in the race. From there, he was able to hold off teammate Marco Wittmann to win the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America with teammate Dries Vanthoor. It is the duo’s first victory of the year. For Vanthoor, it is his first career IMSA win.

“Amazing. We had such an up and down season so far,” Vanthoor said after the race. “It was amazing, the strategy we pulled off. We had to take risks anyway, we were last and second to last. To make it work is pretty cool.”

Eng and Vanthoor’s margin of victory was 2.524 seconds over teammates Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde. Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly were third, followed by Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet were fifth.

Yelloly led the field to green in his Acura. However, the trouble started almost immediately.

United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg found trouble before the green even came out when he spun exiting turn 6. He got out of that scot free, but exiting turn 1 on the first lap, he was hit by CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz and spun into the barriers to bring out the caution.

Goldburg entered the race with the solo LMP2 points lead by 78 after teammate Paul di Resta missed CTMP due to Peugeot duties in Brazil. The wreck ultimately cost Goldburg the points lead as the No. 22 spent the majority of the race in the paddock getting repairs. Goldburg and di Resta would finish the race 14th in class, 45 laps down.

Half a lap after the restart, more trouble broke out. Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe went too hard on the curb in turn 7 and slid off-course into the wall to draw another yellow. Iribe was ok, but done for the day.

Here, the pit strategy split, much like in Saturday’s Road America 120. Yelloly and van der Linde stayed out, while Braun, Vanthoor and the majority of the rest of the GTP class stopped.

Yelloly was never threatened during his time in the car. That time ended when PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Naveen Rao went a little too fast in the Carousel and went into the gravel. He ended up smacking the barrier to bring out the third caution.

Here, everyone pitted. Yelloly was hurt by the fact that he hadn’t stopped. As a result, Renger van der Zande exited the pits in sixth. Meanwhile, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Mathieu Jaminet took the overall lead with Action Express Racing’s Earl Bamber in second.

The restart saw even more chaos in turn 1. Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Alexander Sims was hit by Paul Miller Racing’s Dan Harper and backed into the tire wall.

At turn 3. Sims’ teammate Nicky Catsburg was spun out by AO Racing’s Laurin Heinrich. Meanwhile, The Heart of Racing’s Tom Gamble ran over the right rear corner of Gradient Racing’s Jenson Altzman, launching himself into the grass. This brought out another yellow.

Harper was given a drive-through penalty for the contact on Sims. Meanwhile, the Heinrich-Catsburg contact was determined to be incidental.

The race turned with a little less than an hour to go. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor had just lost third to Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Nick Tandy hot on his tail. Exiting turn 5, Taylor tried to get the spot back. Tandy effectively ran Taylor into the grass, resulting in a spin that brought out another yellow.

By the time the spin happened, final stops were already underway. BMW M Team RLL had pitted their cars four laps before the caution to get off-strategy. Their move paid off immediately here.

The rest of the leaders came into the pits for their final stops during the yellow. Tandy was actually able to jump over Jaminet in the pits.

However, IMSA officials assessed a stop-and-60-second hold penalty to Tandy for the contact. That penalty nearly put Tandy a lap down. With all of the time spent under yellow in the race, it meant that he finished 22nd overall, 11th in class and more than 100 seconds behind.

The BMWs stayed out during the yellow and took the first two spots with Eng in the lead. However, they had to conserve fuel as they stopped with a little over an hour to go.

When the green came back out, Eng and Wittmann tried to open up a gap on the pack so that they could get in position to conserve. Meanwhile, van der Zande was able to get past both Jaminet and Tandy on the restart to move up to third.

For much of the final run to the finish, it was the two BMWs and van der Zande running together. In other words, it was an extension of practice and qualifying. Eventually, Eng was able to pull away a little from Wittmann and hold on for the win.

In LMP2, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett started from pole in “Spike.” The start-and-stop nature of the early portion of the race was not what Hyett wanted from his time in the car, but he was able to keep himself clean until he handed over to Dane Cameron during the third caution on lap 24.

Cameron was forced to do some fuel saving late in the race, but he managed to hold on to take the team’s second straight victory. Spike topped the class for the full race distance.

Cameron and Hyett’s margin of victory was 4.167 seconds over Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke and Connor de Phillippi. TDS Racing’s Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas were third, then United Autosports’ Phil Fayer and Ben Hanley. Era Motorsport’s Tobias Lutke and Kakunoshin Ohta were fifth.

With Goldburg and di Resta finishing 14th, Cameron and Hyett now have the LMP2 points lead.

DragonSpeed’s Giacomo Altoe started from his second GTD Pro pole of the year. He ran well early, but chose to pit during the second caution. That allowed Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Tommy Milner to take the class lead.

Ultimately, Altoe lost a couple of spots in the pits as Sims ended up being the first of those who pitted off the pit lane.

When it was time to pit for the frontrunners, Rao crashed his car. Sims managed to get himself into the pits before the caution came out and closed them.

Sims got himself in good position thanks to that caution. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long due to his crash right after the restart.

When Harper was penalized for causing Sims’ crash, it elevated Neil Verhagen in the other Paul Miller BMW into the lead. The Taylor spin shook things up in class, but in a different fashion.

Verhagen had just pitted for his final stop right before the caution flew. A number of teams ended up pitting under the caution, which gave the lead to Heinrich.

Heinrich was banking on a fuel conservation strategy to get himself home. However, he just didn’t have enough fuel to make it work.

Heinrich was forced to pit with 14 minutes to go for fuel. That gave the lead back to Verhagen. From there, he held on to take the win with Madison Snow.

Snow and Verhagen’s margin of victory was 2.915 seconds over Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Sebastian Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller. Altoe and Albert Costa were third, then Sims and Antonio Garcia. Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch in the second Mustang were fifth.

Russell Ward was on the GTD pole in his Mercedes. Unlike the other classes, the 45-minute minimum drive-time rule cut down on the amount of early alternate pit strategies.

Ward led with any issues until he stopped during the third caution to give way to Philip Ellis. Ellis was able to maintain the lead without issue like Ward did. Things seemed really good for the GTD point leaders.

Like the other classes, GTD teams had started to make their first stops prior to Taylor’s spin that brought out the final yellow. Ellis had not made that final stop before the yellow.

As a result, he dropped well down the order when he finally pitted due to the drivers that chose to stay out and those who had faster stops. DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell ended up with the class lead for the restart. Meanwhile, Ellis ended up back in ninth.

Triarsi Competizione’s Kenton Koch restarted fourth with 40 minutes to go and slowly made his way forward. He was able to get past Daniel Serra for third, then dispatched of Mario Farnbacher for second.

In the closing laps, Koch ran down Udell. He was able to pass for the lead with eight minutes to go as Udell began to fade. From there, he was able to hold on to earn the victory for himself and Onofrio Triarsi. It is Triarsi’s first career WeatherTech victory.

Koch and Triarsi’s margin of victory was 1.618 seconds over Forte Racing’s Farnbacher and Misha Goikhberg. Conquest Racing’s Serra and Manny Franco were third, then Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Danny Formal and Trent Hindman were fifth.

Ellis and Ward ended up 10th in class, partially due to Ellis being shoved off the road in turn 6 late by The Heart of Racing’s Tom Gamble.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America Unofficial Results

From there, WeatherTech teams have a split schedule. Next up is the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR on Aug. 24. This is a GT-only event for the GTD Pro and GTD classes. That race will air live on USA Network at 2 p.m. ET.

The prototype teams won’t be back in action until the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 21. Race coverage there will be split between Peacock and NBC starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.