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IMSA 2016 Season Recap

Dane Cameron and Eric Curran took top honors for Action Express in Prototypes. [Photo by Jack Webster]

Dane Cameron and Eric Curran took top honors for Action Express in Prototypes. [Photo by Jack Webster]

By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine

Well, an outstanding season of IMSA racing is now in the history books and all of the championships have been decided following the final round at Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans. In a season that began at Daytona in January and crisscrossed the country, we saw outstanding competition, close racing and exciting championship battles that came down to the final race of the season.

PROTOTYPES
In the Prototype class, DP cars came out on top in what was to be the final year of competition for this class. Next season the new DPi cars and their European counterpart P2s will be on the grid and a whole new era of IMSA competition will begin.

In the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the Prototype class, Action Express and their Corvette DP prototypes were the ones to beat. The #31 car came out on top in the team championship, followed very closely by the #5 Action Express Corvette DP. A late season surge brought the Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette up to third in the standings. In the prototype driver’s championship, Dane Cameron and Eric Curran took top honors. In the manufacturer’s battle, it was an easy championship for Chevrolet, which powered the top three cars in the class.

In the separate Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup championship, which included results in the endurance races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta, Action Express drivers Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi finished first and their #5 Action Express Corvette DP won the team title. Due to their wins at Daytona and Sebring, the Tequila Patron ESM squad, with the help of Michael Shank Racing’s win at Petit Le Mans, took the manufacturer’s title for Honda.

LMPC
In the LMPC class in the WeatherTech series, which will go away after the 2017 season, drivers Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande tied with Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon in driver points for the season, but Popow and van der Zande won the driver’s title with more victories. The team championship went to the #8 Starworks team, beating out PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

In the TPNAEC championship, Tom Kimber-Smith, Robert Alon and Jose Gutierrez took the driver’s title by one point over Daytona winner Kenton Koch. This one was an epic battle that wasn’t decided until the checkered flag fell at Road Atlanta.

GTLM
GTLM was exciting all season long, as this was the debut season for the all-new Ford GT. Ford and Corvette did battle all season long, along with Porsche, Ferrari and BMW, but in the end it was Corvette taking the team title, Chevrolet taking the manufacturer’s title and Corvette drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner winning the driver’s championship.

In the TPNAEC battle, it was the same result, with Gavin and Milner once again winning the driver’s title, Corvette winning team honors and Chevrolet beating out Ford by a couple of points to take the manufacturer’s title.

GTD
The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship battle in the GTD class also came down to the final race at Road Atlanta. Christina Nielsen along with teammate Alessandro Balzan took the title. This marked the first time a female driver has won a major sports car championship in the US, and it was well received and deserved. Her #63 Scuderia Corsa capped things off with winning the Team title in GTD as well. However, Audi managed to win the manufacturer’s title, preventing Ferrari from having a clean sweep in the class. Had Magnus Racing not had some controversial difficulties in the last part of the season, the results for this class could have certainly have come out differently.

In the TPNAEC, Nielsen and Balzan again took top honors in the driver category, while Magnus Racing took the team title and once again, Audi took the manufacturer’s title.

SUMMARY
So that sums up what has been a very good year of sports car racing in the US. IMSA provided US racing fans with quality racing and close competition all season long and before you know it, testing will begin for the 2017 season.
2016 was a successful year for IMSA, and 2017 and beyond looks to be even better.

We can hardly wait until Daytona.

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