Taylor beats Jaminet in eventful race in Detroit – Sportscar365

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque broke through to win the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on Saturday, ending a nearly two-year winless streak for the No. 10 Andretti-driven Wayne Taylor Racing team.

With 26 minutes left in the 100-minute street race in downtown Detroit, Taylor overtook the pole-positioning No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet to give the duo their first win in the GTP era of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The second-generation driver withstood the pressure from Jaminet during two caution periods and restarts towards the end of the race and crossed the finish line 1.132 seconds ahead of the Frenchman.

This came after Jaminet took the lead despite a drive-through penalty imposed on Tandy earlier in the race due to an accident with the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Albert Costa Balboa.

Tandy returned to the field in sixth place, but took the lead after being the last of the GTP cars to make his regular pit stop. Like almost all hybrid prototypes, the team opted for a double stint on Michelin tires.

A caution for an accident by Connor De Phillippi moments later helped keep the No. 6 Porsche in the lead at that point, but it ultimately lost out to Taylor at the end of an eventful race marred by five cautions.

Renger van der Zande drove the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R to third place, alongside Sebastien Bourdais, who was one of the first of the leading GTP cars to make a green flag pit stop but suffered a delay during the driver change that cost him several positions.

The No. 7 Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr recovered from a damaged right rear tire following contact with the wall that required an additional stop under yellow to finish fourth, with the Brazilian pulling off numerous impressive maneuvers and forcing his way through the GTP field.

Louis Deletraz completed the top five in the No. 40 WTAndretti Acura ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Jack Aitken, which was involved in several incidents, including a collision with the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni, which resulted in no further action by race control.

However, Aitken was credited with responsibility for his collision with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Richard Westbrook, which resulted in the third caution period of the race and a track closure.

The Action Express car ran an alternative strategy after the team pitted Pipo Derani ten minutes into the session. The Brazilian started from the back of the GTP field after losing his two best qualifying times due to triggering a red flag in the session.

Jesse Krohn brought Team RLL’s No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 home in seventh place, ahead of Westbrook’s Porsche in eighth place.

Both Bruni and De Phillippi, who had accidents on two consecutive laps, retired from the race with damaged cars.

AO Racing wins GTD Pro battle

Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx prevailed in the production-related classification and benefited from the contact between the two class-leading GTD Pro cars.

Heinrich won with the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R in 2.885 seconds ahead of Ben Barnicoat’s damaged No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, which was competing against the then leading No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports driven by Nicky Catsburg.

Race officials did not impose a penalty for the incident and the No. 4 Corvette finished only in ninth place.

It was the AO duo’s second win in a row, extending their lead in the championship.

A retirement in the closing stages of the race for Marvin Kirchhofer’s No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo gave the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn the final podium spot in third place, ahead of the GTD Pro guest entry, the No. 15 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo.

The No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 from Paul Miller Racing with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow completed the top five.

Antonio Garcia, the No. 3 Corvette, which was on pole position in its class, had to pit on the first lap with a generator defect, which cost the car around 15 laps. The two Ford Mustang GT3s entered by Multimatic also had problems.

RESULTS: Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic