Motorsport Week resumes the second half of a two-part feature which reviews an exciting 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
This feature focuses on the latter five races of the thrilling campaign, following the rise of Paul Miller Racing, IMSA’s return to the beloved Brickyard, and the dramatic Petit Le Mans season finale.
Excluding the 10-hour season Road Atlanta event, this portion of the season largely consisted of 2-hour-and-40-minute sprint races.
Needless to say, the momentum kicked into gear as championship titles were at stake, so race results were more pivotal than ever.
A sweep for Aston Martin machinery at Lime Rock Park
The seventh round of the 2023 schedule was the first of two races solely with GTD and GTD Pro cars participating – firstly at a short, narrow Connecticut circuit.
Ross Gunn put the Pro #23 Heart of Racing (HoR) Aston Martin Vantage on pole with a qualifying record 50.593 lap time.
At lights out, Gunn fended his lead from Jack Hawksworth’s #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F and Antonio Gacia’s #3 Corvette C8.R. To his misfortune, the HoR driver dropped to third at the first pitstop after a brief delay for the fuel hose to find the filler.
A comeback was in order for Gunn, as the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche driver Patrick Pilet stayed out, a gamble which did not pay off after a caution was deployed. Alan Metni missed his braking point into Turn 1, also known as The Bend, thus causing his Porsche to tap the rear of Jarett Andretti’s #94 Aston Martin.
The lead was back in Gunn’s hands, who stayed out after his rivals pitted, including Pilet who luckily avoided the Metni-Andretti incident in front of him.
Alex Riberas took over from Gunn and was tasked with keeping his P1 spot away from Ben Barnicoat (#14 Lexus) behind, and Klaus Bachler (#9) on their tail.
Despite the tension, which put the pressure on the front-runners setting fast, quick and consistent lap times albeit on worn out tyres, Riberas kept his cool and defended to the line with just over a second covering the top-four.
HoR also won in the GTD category, as their #27 entrant concluded a double victory for Aston Martin, and the perfect 50th birthday present for HoR Team Principal Ian James.
The thrills of historic Road America
The full five-class IMSA SportsCar package returned to the historic Road America to sprint around the four-mile complex of fast straights and corners.
Just 0.068 separated the #31 Wehrlen Engineering Cadillac LMDh and the #7 Porsche Penske 963 LMDh in qualifying, as Campbell inherited the top spot due to Pipo Derani’s minor crash in the pre-race warm-up.
A mighty task lay ahead of Campbell and #7 teammate Felipe Nasr to convert their spot into a race win after their Laguna Seca disqualification.
Chip Ganassi’s Sebastien Bourdais and Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist chased for Campbell’s lead at the race start.
Elsewhere, Tijmen van der Helm was a star in the #5 JDC Miller Porsche 963, putting fantastic pressure upon Ricky Taylor’s #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06. Taylor quickly had a small lock-up into Turn 8, as he got to grips with cold tyres after a pitstop.
In GTD Pro, Corvette’s winning chances were nulled towards the end of the race with a drive-through from a pit refuelling infringement, handing the lead to the #23 Aston Martin.
The race concluded under intense circumstances as Meyer Shank’s Tom Blomqvist chased down Penske Porsche’s Felipe Nasr, but he couldn’t quite catch the Brazilian driver before the chequered flag fell.
Corvette and Paul Miller Racing triumph at VIR
Two standout teams showcased magnificent form against their rivals at the Virginia International Raceway, the second GT-only round in 2023. Hawksworth mastered qualifying in his #14 Lexus, as he led the GTD Pro standings with Barnicoat.
The #79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG and the #3 Corvette were ready to pounce in the race, and so the top three maintained their spots at the race start.
Daniel Juncadella was not able to match the pace of his surrounding rivals, eventually falling into the grasp of Madison Snow’s #1 Paul Miller BMW M4, which was simply unchallenged by the other GTD cars after the race start. Foreshadowing the American’s future professional FIA licence upgrade, his qualifying form continued into the race as he challenged the Pro front-runners.
Over an hour of racing, Barnicoat’s lead was threatened by Jordan Taylor’s Corvette.
The pair endured a fight at the front, as Barnicoat’s cunning late braking combated an eager Taylor behind.
Barnicoat stalled his Lexus after his final pitstop was carried out, which enabled Taylor to take the lead before pit exit.
Their fight continued as Taylor’s Corvette C8.R demonstrated confident straight-line speed, and Barnicoat’s Lexus RC F was comfortable in the bends.
In the end, it was Taylor and his teammate Garcia who triumphed over the #14 after a frenetic fight.
Snow and teammate Bryan Sellers asserted consistent race pace which enabled a large gap to second position in GTD, en route to an IMSA season record of five GTD wins.
IMSA’s eventful return to the Brickyard
IMSA returned to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a nine-year absence. At 2.439 miles, the Road Course incorporates a quick lap around a technical circuit, not to mention hosting 48 cars across five classes. The result was an eventful sprint.
Driving standards were on the riskier side, as the race start demonstrated. Turn 1 saw Bourdais’ #01 Cadillac get spun around by Philip Eng’s #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.
The Penske Porsches started on the front row for the second time this year, as Campbell’s lock-up gave way for #6 driver Mathieu Jaminet to the lead.
Their nearest rival was Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, who took the lead during a caution when both Penske Porsches ignored a wave-around order by race control. These circumstances saw Derani assert a rugged defence on Nasr’s #7, as both managed the lapped traffic.
There was a series of LMP2 and GTD cars involved in contact and spins, which marked the subnormal driving standards which were exhibited.
Derani was slowed by duelling LMP3s, which pressured him to lock up into T1 as Nasr and Nick Tandy proceeded with a 1-2 formation.
The Porsche Penskes managed the lapped traffic well so that their lap times were consistent and not compromised by slower cars, thus ending up victorious.
Tension at the Petit Le Mans season finale
Five points separated the top three in the GTP standings, which ramped up excitement and anticipation ahead of the 10-hour endurance race. Certainly, no one could have predicted the drama at the end, let alone more caution periods than there were hours of racing.
It was exciting for reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden and former F1 champion Jenson Button, who both made their GTP debuts in Porsche machinery.
Pole-sitter Louis Deletraz was unable to fend his #10 Acura from Bourdais’ #01 Cadillac at the race start, prompting a timely yet respective move on the outside of T1.
Chip Ganassi’s #01 was a dark horse in this race, having faced misfortune at previous rounds in the year, and aced their strategy as much of the GTP competition did. Meanwhile, the title fight came down to the #10 Acura of Filipe Albuquerque attempting to overtake Derani, who was keen not to make it happen. The pair kept close to one another and fought during the closing stages of the race.
The battle remained tense until into T1; Albuquerque looked to the outside and wanted to make a move, though Derani also kept his foot in.
Whether it was Derani who edged the #10 Acura off the circuit with the momentum to hit the wall, or Albuquerque keen as ever to make that pass, the pair’s fight drew to an abrupt stop.
The subjective racing incident made this an anticlimactic finale, though accurately represented the tension in the fight for the title.
Despite Derani having secured the title for #31 – having only needed to survive to the chequered flag – Renger van der Zande (#01) and Colin Braun (#60) would continue the tension when they fought for what was the most important 52 seconds in the entire race.
The decorated race win was still at stake, even if the GTP title was not, and so Braun made a crucial move on the #01 Cadillac, outside at T1, and earned Meyer Shank’s final IMSA win.
In an instant, our exciting 11-round season drew to a close at Road Atlanta, having begun in January. It provided great action in the new GTP era, as all cars in the class fought competitively throughout the season.
Delightfully so, the same respect and positivity could be embraced about Vasser Sullivan’s British duo earning the title honours in GTD Pro, just as Paul Miller Racing did in GTD.
More is to come in 2024 when we reset for a fresh chapter of action-packed racing.
