Albuquerque in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 got the jump on polesitter Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.
The turbocharged car pulled ahead from Turn 4 with Jarvis tucking the Meyer Shank Racing Acura into third ahead of the second Ganassi Cadillac fourth, ahead of Tristan Vautier (JDC Miller Motorsports Caddy) and Tristan Nunez (Action Express Racing Caddy).
As they threaded through GTD traffic on Lap 10, Bourdais muscled past Albuquerque down the inside at Turn 2 to grab the lead. Within three laps, Bourdais had a lead of three seconds and the main battles in class were between Albuquerque and Jarvis for second, and Vautier and Nunez for fifth.
The latter pair pitted together off strategy on Lap 21, in anticipation of a caution for a spun LMP3 car, but the little prototype got going again unassisted. Pipo Derani replaced Nunez in the #31, but the car remained behind Vautier for a couple of laps before Derani got the pass completed down the inside at Turn 4.
The Albuquerque versus Jarvis battle was interrupted by pitstops for both while running 5.5s behind leader Bourdais. Ricky Taylor replaced Albuquerque and Tom Blomqvist replaced Jarvis, but the two Acuras departed some five seconds apart.
Bourdais’ stop by the Ganassi crew was superb, and he ceded no time to Taylor initially, but a combination of traffic and a charging Taylor brought the Cadillac’s advantage briefly under a second, before Bourdais extended the margin back out to over four seconds. Blomqvist, meanwhile, chipped away at his deficit to Taylor and drew to within 1.5s by Lap 50.
A first full course caution prompted Bourdais to hit pitlane to hand off to Renger van der Zande, Taylor remained second ahead of Blomqvist, Derani, Richard Westbrook who’d taken over the JDC Miller Cadillac, and Earl Bamber, who replaced Lynn, in the curiously off-the-pace #02 Cadillac.
At the restart, Taylor was all over van der Zande and they ran side by side through Turns 4 and 5, and it was the Cadillac who came off worst, spinning through the grass at Turn 6 after clipping the back of the WTR car. Race Control decided not to intervene, resulting in an Acura 1-2, with Derani in third in the highest-placed Cadillac.
That didn’t last long, however, as Blomqvist encountered GT and LMP3 traffic. The MSR Acura lost out to both Derani and Bamber and dropped to fourth, promoting a final stop with 43 minutes remaining.
Ganassi reacted and while Westbrook got ahead of Bamber they emerged behind Blomqvist. WTR and AXR subsequently called in Taylor and Derani respectively, but Blomqvist’s charge on new tyres had produced fastest lap and meant Derani came out behind the MSR machine.
Once van der Zande stopped the #01 CGR Caddy, he emerged last in class, so Taylor now led Blomqvist by 5.6s, with Derani 3.4s further back, well ahead of Westbrook’s battle with Bamber and van der Zande.
Taylor held firm in the closing stages to take the chequered flag from Blomqvist by 2.1s, with Derani 15s further back and 20s ahead of the Ganassi pair.
#81 DragonSpeed USA Oreca LMP2 07: Henrik Hedman, Juan Pablo Montoya
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
DragonSpeed claimed the LMP2 class despite late drama that resulted in the Henrik Hedman/Juan Pablo Montoya entry receiving a drive-through penalty.
Former Formula 1 driver Montoya had caught the leading PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca, driven by Jonathan Bomarito, who was held up by a LMP3 competitor.
The Colombian ace tried to take the slower car and Bomarito in one go at Turn 2, but instead thumped Bomarito into a spin. Inevitably, he had to serve a drive-through penalty.
But the PR1 Mathiasen car had lost so much time in the spin, Montoya was able to take his penalty and emerge only two seconds behind. Montoya went around Bomarito to take the class lead with 12 minutes left on the clock, bashing into him again as he passed exiting Turn 6. He then pulled away to win the class by 13.5s, finishing seventh overall.
Core Autosport’s Jon Bennett and Colin Braun took the spoils in LMP3, finishing 13th overall and a lap ahead of the JR III Racing machine of Garett Grist and Ari Balogh.
#70 inception racing McLaren 720S GT3: Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Inception Racing scored its first win in the category following after a stunning final stint from Jordan Pepper in the team’s McLaren 720S, he shared with Brendan Iribe.
Pepper closed in on the battle for the lead in the final 20 minutes. The South African dispatched the Lexus of Aaron Telitz, before latching onto the fight for first between the BMW M4 GT3s of Bill Auberlen and Bryan Sellers.
After passing Auberlen, Pepper nuzzled the tail of Sellers’ Turner BMW and on the long drag down to Turn 4 the McLaren moved ahead. The two BMWs remained in the McLaren’s slipstream, but could do nothing to prevent Inception taking the class win.
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