Road America IMSA: Nasr, Derani make it two wins in a row

Nasr made light work of treacherous wet conditions in qualifying to claim his first pole of the season, and immediately stamped his authority on the two-hour-and-40-minute race.

A strategic ploy by the Meyer Shank Racing Acura team saw Olivier Pla and Dane Cameron out in front for much of the second half of the race, but their hopes were pinned on the arrival of more inclement weather, which had been forecast to arrive during the final stages.

When that failed to materialise, Cameron required an extra pitstop for a splash of fuel with around seven minutes remaining.

The American was able to resume in fourth, ahead of the Wayne Taylor Racing’s similar Acura ARX-05, driven by Rick Taylor and Felipe Albuquerque, but slowed on the final lap to allow the Portuguese past and gain an extra 20 points to assist in their championship quest.

The late switch means that Taylor and Albuquerque now lead the Nasr and Derani pair by just 41 points, with three races remaining.

Nasr and Derani, who won at Watkins Glen last month, took the chequered flag a little more 1.5 seconds clear of the Mazda squad of Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell, who now slip to third in the standings, just two behind Nasr and Derani.

Kevin Magnussen and Renger van der Zande finished third in Chip Ganassi’s Cadillac.

In the LMP2 class, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel took the spoils for Era Motorsport, while Jon Bennett and Colin Braun emerged comfortably ahead of the LMP3 field for Bennett’s Core Autosport operation.

#79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR - 19, GTLM: Cooper MacNeil, Matt Campbell

Photo by: Bill Gulker

In the GTLM class, Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell teamed with Cooper MacNeil to score a well-judged victory for the Proton Competition team, its second win of the season.

Campbell made his final pitstop with just over an hour remaining and was able to eke out the fuel to finish well clear of the two favoured Chevrolet Corvettes of Jordan Taylor/Antonio Garcia and Nick Tandy/Tommy Milner.

For the second time in three years, the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R swept up in the GTD class, with Zach Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor leading home the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen.

IMSA Road America results

Cla	Class	Num	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	DPi	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani	Cadillac DPi	76	2:40'24.362
2	DPi	55	Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell	Mazda DPi	76	2:40'25.956	1.594
3	DPi	01	Renger van der Zande Kevin Magnussen	Cadillac DPi	76	2:40'30.132	5.770
4	DPi	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque	Acura DPi	76	2:41'11.143	46.781
5	DPi	60	Dane Cameron Olivier Pla	Acura DPi	76	2:41'13.380	49.018
6	DPi	5	Tristan Vautier Loic Duval	Cadillac DPi	76	1'53.142
7	LMP2	18	Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel	ORECA LMP2 07	75	2:40'57.290	1 Lap
8	LMP2	8	John Farano Gabriel Aubry	ORECA LMP2 07	75	2:41'02.931	1 Lap
9	LMP2	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen	ORECA LMP2 07	75	2:41'11.228	1 Lap
10	LMP2	11	Thomas Steven Tristan Nunez	ORECA LMP2 07	74	2:39'46.883	2 Laps
11	LMP3	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	Ligier JS P320	73	2:41'59.495	3 Laps
12	GTLM	79	Cooper MacNeil Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	73	2:42'13.519	3 Laps
13	LMP3	38	Dan Goldburg Rasmus Lindh	Ligier JS P320	73	2:42'21.738	3 Laps
14	GTLM	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	Corvette C8.R	73	2:42'29.374	3 Laps
15	LMP3	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga	Ligier JS P320	72	2:40'28.924	4 Laps
16	LMP3	91	Jim Cox Dylan Murry	Ligier JS P320	72	2:40'36.106	4 Laps
17	GTLM	4	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Corvette C8.R	72	2:40'59.752	4 Laps
18	LMP3	36	Jarett Andretti Oliver Askew	Ligier JS P320	72	2:41'07.331	4 Laps
19	LMP3	61	Augie Pabst Tonis Kasemets	Ligier JS P320	71	2:41'04.912	5 Laps
20	GTD	9	Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 GT3 R	69	2:42'15.488	7 Laps
21	GTD	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	BMW M6 GT3	69	2:42'27.364	7 Laps
22	GTD	16	Trent Hindman Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3 R	69	2:42'29.635	7 Laps
23	GTD	23	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	69	2:42'33.603	7 Laps
24	GTD	14	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth	Lexus RC F GT3	68	2:40'26.866	8 Laps
25	GTD	12	Frankie Montecalvo Zach Veach	Lexus RC F GT3	68	2:40'41.945	8 Laps
26	GTD	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	68	2:41'00.026	8 Laps
27	GTD	88	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge	Porsche 911 GT3 R	68	2:41'01.280	8 Laps
28	GTD	66	Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	Acura NSX GT3	68	2:41'03.679	8 Laps
29	GTD	39	Richard Heistand Jeff Westphal	Audi R8 LMS GT3	68	2:41'04.464	8 Laps
30	GTD	42	Don Yount J.R. Hildebrand	Audi R8 LMS GT3	68	2:41'05.028	8 Laps
31	GTD	76	Jeff Kingsley Mario Farnbacher	Acura NSX GT3	67	2:41'29.454	9 Laps
	GTD	44	John Potter Andy Lally	Acura NSX GT3	62	2:27'47.709	14 Laps
	GTD	32	Shane Lewis Guy Cosmo	Mercedes-AMG GT3	46	1:54'14.678	30 Laps
	GTD	19	Mikhail Goikhberg Franck Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	24	2:14'20.412	52 Laps
	LMP3	30	Terry Olson Mike Skeen	Ligier JS P320	8	17'39.586	68 Laps
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