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Porsche Penske Domination

Race winner. [Jack Webster Photo]

Race winner. [Jack Webster Photo]

By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine

On a beautiful weekend at one of the finest road racing facilities in the US (or the world), Elkhart Lake’s Road America, the Porsche Penske 963s came from deep in the GTP field to take an outstanding 1-2 finish in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on August 4.

The final 16 minute green flag run to the finish was a real barn burner – with the #6 Porsche piloted by Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy dicing with and finally holding off their sister car, the #7 Porsche driven by Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron.

Finishing drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Felipe Nasr put on quite a show as they carved through heavy GT and LMP2 traffic in setting up the 1-2 finish. Also in the mix was Ricky Taylor in the pole winning WTR Andretti Acura ARX-06, who shared the drive with Felipe Albuquerque, which was on fresher tires and had a bit more fuel, but got caught in traffic in his effort to reel in the two Penske cars. There appeared to be no team orders, as the two Penske drivers seemed to be doing everything to either keep the lead or to take it from the other driver.

Finishing fourth was the Whelen Cadillac of Jack Aiken and Pipo Derani, which was also in the mix for the overall victory.

In fact, the top four cars were covered by only 1.449 seconds at the checkered flag, with the #6 Penkse entry taking the victory by only .390 seconds.

“We had a couple of contacts in the last laps, I touched quite a few cars. That was pure IMSA style racing. This is why we love it; this is why we want to come back every time.” said Jaminet.

Such is the competitive state of IMSA racing these days – quite likely the best sports car racing anywhere in the world.

Sports car racing fans showed up for the race in record numbers – and we believe it. We have never seen the entire circuit so packed with cars, campers and fans. It was a testament to what a great job IMSA and Road America have done for the sport. We just keep seeing the series going from strength to strength and the track (already our favorite) just getting better and better.

In LMP2, Ben Keating and Ben Hanley overcame Keating’s accident in practice to take the class win, thanks to not only the two drivers, but the dedication and skill of their United Autosports crew who put the car back together for the race. Ben Keating gave credit to the crew: “We each had a great car. The car felt so good throughout the race.” The win was the first for United Autosports in IMSA competition.

In GTD-PRO, Conquest Racing took the win for Ferrari with their 296 GT3 piloted by Daniel Serra and Giacomo Altoe. It was the team’s first win of 2024.

In the GTD class, Turner Motorsport took the win for BMW with Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher sharing the driving duties. It was the 25th IMSA win for Turner Motorsport and ended a dry spell going back to Mid-Ohio in 2022.

All classes in the championship remain very tight and up for grabs, with only 3 races left for the GT cars (VIR, Indy and Petit) and only Indy and Petit Le Mans left for GTP and LMP2 classes.

We will be there, covering it all until the championships are decided.

See you at the races.

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