#60: Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves

IMSA: MSR Acura wins Petit Le Mans crashfest

The fans were robbed from a race to the finish as the race finished under the caution with Colin Braun leading in the #60 MSR Acura GTP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Co-driving with Helio Castroneves and Tom Blomqvist, Braun was holding off the #01 Ganassi Cadillac GTP driven by Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais, but two late cautions meant the race finished under caution at 50 mph.

Due to so many cautions, the #60 Acura was able to come from 2 laps behind to win the crashfest. IMSA prefers to call that action-packed.

Winning #60: Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves
Winning #60: Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves

The cars took the checkered flag, parading behind the pace car under a full course caution following a fire for the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen shortly after a restart with five minutes to go.

The pain was finally over.

By finishing 2nd, Renger van der Zande gave Cadillac the manufacturers’ championship.

#01: Cadillac Racing, Cadillac VSeries.R, GTP: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon
#01: Cadillac Racing, Cadillac VSeries.R, GTP: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon

Harry Tincknell was third in the #59 Proton Competition Porsche GTP ahead of the #7 Penske Porsche 963 GTP, and Mike Rockenfeller (and co-drivers Tijmen van der Helm and Jenson Button) rounded out the top-5 in the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 GTP.

The #31 Cadillac Action Express Team driven by Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken were 6th and locked up the Driver’s championship for Derani and Alexander Sims, winning the title by 21 points over Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport’s Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.

The race was a real crashfest with over 12 caution periods and Felipe Albuquerque in the hospital after an incident between Derani and the No. 10 WTR Andretti Acura of Albuquerque with 1 hour to go that resulted in the Portuguese driver in Turn 1 barriers while battling for second.

LMP2

The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin were crowned LMP2 class champions with a third place class finish alongside Alex Quinn.

#52: PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, ORECA LMP2 07, LMP2: Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin, Alex Quinn
#52: PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, ORECA LMP2 07, LMP2: Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin, Alex Quinn

CrowdStrike by APR’s Ben Hanley, Nolan Siegel and George Kurtz, meanwhile, took the category victory in this race.

LMP3

LMP3 race honors went to the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier of Garett Grist, Dakota Dickerson and Bijoy Garg.

GTD Pro

The GTD Pro class champions both dropped out of the race early.

Vasser Sullivan’s Hawksworth and Barnicoat in their No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 retired from the lead when Barnicoat spun at Turn 3 on cold tires and struck an advertising board.

#14: Vasser Sullivan, Lexus RC F GT3, GTD PRO: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood. LAT Photo for IMSA
#14: Vasser Sullivan, Lexus RC F GT3, GTD PRO: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood. LAT Photo for IMSA

WeatherTech Racing won the GTD Pro class at Motul Petit Le Mans after Mercedes-AMG factory driver Daniel Juncadella held off Porsche ace Kevin Estre at the end of the ten hours.

GTD

The GTD class champions also dropped out of the race early.

Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow secured the GTD crown before heading to Road Atlanta.

Their race ended when co-driver Corey Lewis hit the back of the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, causing steering rack damage to the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3.

In this race the GTD class was won by the Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics Lamborghini driven by Loris Spinelli, Misha Goikhberg and Patrick Liddy, which finished 20th overall.

Race Results 

Pos

Pic

No.

Class

Drivers*

Team

Car

Laps

Behind/Gap

1

1

60

GTP

T. Blomqvist / C. Braun

H. Castroneves

Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian

Acura ARX-06

397

2

2

01

GTP

S. Bourdais / R. van der Zande

S. Dixon

Cadillac Racing

Cadillac V-Series.R

397

0.452 0.452

3

3

59

GTP

H. Tincknell / G. Bruni / N. Jani

Proton Competition

Porsche 963

397

1.077 0.625

4

4

7

GTP

M. Campbell / F. Nasr / J. Newgarden

Porsche Penske Motorsports

Porsche 963

397

1.825 0.748

5

5

5

GTP

T. van der Helm / M. Rockenfeller

J. Button

JDC Miller MotorSports

Porsche 963

397

2.165 0.340

6

6

31

GTP

P. Derani / A. Sims / J. Aitken

Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing

Cadillac V-Series.R

397

2.927 0.762

7

7

25

GTP

S. van der Linde / C. De Phillippi

N. Yelloly

BMW M Team RLL

BMW M Hybrid V8

397

4.275 1.348

8

8

24

GTP

P. Eng / M. Wittmann / A. Farfus

BMW M Team RLL

BMW M Hybrid V8

397

4.839 0.564

9

1

04

LMP2

G. Kurtz / B. Hanley / N. Siegel

Crowdstrike Racing by APR

ORECA LMP2 07

391

6 Laps 6 Laps

10

2

35

LMP2

J. Falb / G. van der Garde / J. Pierson

TDS Racing

ORECA LMP2 07

391

6 Laps 0.996

11

3

52

LMP2

B. Keating / P. Chatin / A. Quinn

PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports

ORECA LMP2 07

391

6 Laps 6.586

12

4

88

LMP2

F. Perrodo / M. Vaxiviere / E. Collard

AF Corse

ORECA LMP2 07

390

7 Laps 1 Lap

13

5

18

LMP2

D. Merriman / R. Dalziel

C. Rasmussen

Era Motorsport

ORECA LMP2 07

383

Not Running

14

6

20

LMP2

D. Andersen / E. Jones / A. Fjordbach

High Class Racing

ORECA LMP2 07

381

16 Laps 2 Laps

15

1

30

LMP3

D. Dickerson / B. Garg / G. Grist

Jr III Racing

Ligier JS P320

379

18 Laps 2 Laps

16

2

13

LMP3

O. Fidani / M. Bell / L. Kern

AWA

Duqueine D08

379

18 Laps 1.419

17

3

74

LMP3

G. Robinson / F. Fraga / J. Burdon

Riley

Ligier JS P320

379

18 Laps 7.924

18

1

79

GTDPRO

D. Juncadella / J. Gounon / M. Engel

WeatherTech Racing

Mercedes-AMG GT3

370

27 Laps 9 Laps

19

2

9

GTDPRO

K. Bachler / P. Pilet / K. Estre

Pfaff Motorsports

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

370

27 Laps 0.980

20

1

78

GTD

M. Goikhberg / L. Spinelli / P. Liddy

Forte Racing Powered by USRT

Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2

370

27 Laps 1.979

21

2

96

GTD

P. Gallagher / R. Foley / M. Dinan

Turner Motorsport

BMW M4 GT3

370

27 Laps 5.873

22

3

77

GTD B

A. Brynjolfsson / T. Hindman / M. Root

Wright Motorsports

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

370

27 Laps 0.526

23

3

62

GTDPRO

A. Pier Guidi / D. Serra / D. Rigon

Risi Competizione

Ferrari 296 GT3

370

27 Laps 0.588

24

4

92

GTD B

D. Brule / A. Udell / J. Andlauer

Kellymoss with Riley

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

370

27 Laps 1.938

25

5

27

GTD B

R. De Angelis / M. Sorensen / I. James

Heart of Racing Team

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

370

27 Laps 2.798

26

6

32

GTD

M. Skeen / M. Grenier / K. Koch

Team Korthoff Motorsports

Mercedes-AMG GT3

370

27 Laps 0.872

27

7

97

GTD

B. Auberlen / C. Hull / T. Merrill

Turner Motorsport

BMW M4 GT3

370

27 Laps 0.919

28

8

80

GTD B

P. Hyett / S. Priaulx / G. Jeannette

AO Racing

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

370

27 Laps 1.913

29

4

23

GTDPRO

R. Gunn / A. Riberas / D. Pittard

Heart of Racing Team

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

370

27 Laps 0.415

30

9

57

57 GTD

R. Ward / P. Ellis / I. Dontje

Winward Racing

Mercedes-AMG GT3

370

27 Laps

31

5

61

6GTDPRO

S. Mann / M. Molina / J. Calado

Af Corse

Ferrari 296 GT3

370

27 Laps

32

10

023

GTD

O. Triarsi / C. Scardina / A. Rovera

Triarsi Competizione

Ferrari 296 GT3

370

27 Laps

33

7

8

LMP2

A. Balogh / S. McLaughlin / K. Simpson

Tower Motorsports

ORECA LMP2 07

369

28 Laps

34

11

16

GTD

R. Hardwick / Z. Robichon / J. Heylen

Wright Motorsports

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

367

Not Running

35

12

83

GTD

R. Frey / M. Gatting / D. Pin

Iron Dames

Lamborghini Huracan GT3

367

30 Laps

36

6

63

GTDPRO

M. Bortolotti / J. Pepper / F. Perera

Iron Lynx

Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2

366

Not Running

37

9

10

GTP

R. Taylor / F. Albuquerque / L. Deletraz

Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06

Acura ARX-06

365

Not Running

38

8

47

GTD

R. Lacorte / G. Sernagiotto / A. Fuoco

CETILAR RACING

Ferrari 296 GT3

364

33 Laps 1 Lap

39

9

85

LMP3

T. Bechtolsheimer / D. Goldburg

R. Lindh

JDC Miller MotorSports

Duqueine D08

359

38 Laps 5 Laps

40

0

93

GTD

A. Harrison / D. Formal / K. Marcelli

Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR

Acura NSX GT3

355

42 Laps 4 Laps

41

1

66

GTD

S. Monk / K. Legge / M. Miller

Gradient Racing

Acura NSX GT3

323

Not Running

42

2

12

GTD

F. Montecalvo / A. Telitz / P. Thompson

Vasser Sullivan

Lexus RC F GT3

304

Not Running

43

3

17

GTD

J. Potter / A. Lally / S. Pumpelly

Magnus Racing

Aston Martin Vantage GT3

298

Not Running

44

4

8

LMP2

S. Thomas / M. Jensen / S. Huffaker

TDS Racing

ORECA LMP2 07

262

Not Running

45

5

5

LMP3

B. Thienes / J. Woolridge / C. Shields

Performance Tech Motorsports

Ligier JS P320

221

Not Running

46

6

1

GTD

B. Sellers / M. Snow / C. Lewis

Paul Miller Racing

BMW M4 GT3

207

Not Running

47

7

6

GTP

N. Tandy / M. Jaminet / L. Vanthoor

Porsche Penske Motorsports

Porsche 963

196

Not Running

48

8

3

GTDPRO

A. Garcia / J. Taylor / T. Milner

Corvette Racing

Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD

189

Not Running

49

9

14

GTDPRO

Hawksworth / B. Barnicoat/Kyle Kirkwood

Vasser Sullivan

Lexus RC F GT3

153

Not Running

50

0

17

LMP3

A. Mantella / W. Boyd / N. Varrone

AWA

Duqueine D08

118

Not Running

51

1

36

LMP3

J. Andretti / G. Chaves / G. van Berlo

Andretti Autosport

Ligier JS P320

85

Not Running

52

2

70

GTD

B. Iribe / F. Schandorff / O. Millroy

Inception Racing

McLaren 720S GT3 EVO

44

Not Running