IMSA Lime Rock: Pfaff Porsche crew takes another win

The 2h40m race around the tight, twisty venue in rural Connecticut was one of two this season to be contested only by the GT cars.

Campbell scorched to his first IMSA pole on Friday, then led the early stages, albeit chased by Jack Hawksworth, making a welcome return to the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team after sustaining injuries in a motocross accident, the Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Ross Gunn and Jordan Taylor’s Corvette.

The order was shuffled following an early round of pitstops. Hawksworth took advantage of an early stop and a fresh set of tyres to leapfrog his way into the lead, while Campbell - the last to visit the pitlane - rejoined in third behind the Corvette.

The yellow C8.R committed to a three-stop strategy when Antonio Garcia took over from Taylor after 83 laps, although the Spaniard was out of the race soon afterward following contact with the lapped Mercedes of Jules Gounon.

The other GTD Pro cars pursued a more conventional two-stop approach. Campbell executed a crucial pass on Hawksworth on the 100th lap, with around 70 minutes remaining, and six laps later made his final stop, after which Jaminet was able to resume in the lead.

Alex Riberas, taking over from Gunn, emerged second ahead of Ben Barnicoat, in for Hawksworth, which is how the leading positions remained despite a late full-course caution after Ryan Eversley crashed the Rick Ware Racing Acura heavily.

Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz (Vasser Sullivan Lexus) appeared to have the GTD class in hand before the caution. But Philip Ellis (Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG) barged past at the restart, only to agonisingly run out of fuel on the final lap.

Telitz had to make an extra stop due to damage, while Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers (Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3), having been seemingly set for fourth, slipped past Roman De Angelis/Maxime Martin (Heart of Racing Aston Martin), then inherited the win when the Winward Mercedes slowed.

Result - 174 laps

Cla	Class	Driver	Chassis	Gap
1	GTD PRO	Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet	Porsche 911 GT3 R
2	GTD PRO	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	1.883
3	GTD PRO	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat	Lexus RC F GT3	4.078
4	GTD	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	BMW M4 GT3	8.842
5	GTD	Roman De Angelis Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	9.473
6	GTD	Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	9.532
7	GTD	Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer	Mercedes AMG GT3	9.641
8	GTD	Russell Ward Philip Ellis	Mercedes AMG GT3	17.960
9	GTD	Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	22.317
10	GTD PRO	Cooper MacNeil Jules Gounon	Mercedes AMG GT3	33.800
11	GTD	Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz	Lexus RC F GT3	40.276
12	GTD PRO	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	Corvette C8.R GTD	5 Laps
	GTD	Ryan Eversley Aidan Read	Acura NSX GT3	24 Laps
	GTD PRO	Connor de Phillippi John Edwards	BMW M4 GT3	97 Laps
	GTD	Robby Foley Bill Auberlen	BMW M4 GT3	141 Laps
View full results