IMSA replaces Watkins Glen, Lime Rock rounds with Road Atlanta, Charlotte roval

David Malsher-Lopez, James Newbold
·4-min read
IMSA replaces Watkins Glen, Lime Rock rounds
IMSA replaces Watkins Glen, Lime Rock rounds

The IMSA SportsCar Championship has altered its calendar in light of revised COVID-19 guidelines, with both the Six Hours of Watkins Glen and the GT-only Lime Rock event being replaced.

The Watkins Glen round, which traditionally comprises part of the four-race Michelin Endurance Cup together with the Daytona 24 Hours, Sebring 12 Hours and 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, was due to be staged on 6 September having been postponed from its original 28 June date amid a calendar reshuffle.

Watkins Glen's NASCAR round had already been cancelled last month and been replaced with an additional race on the Daytona road course.

The six hour race will now move to the 2.54 mile Road Atlanta track on 6 September, barely five weeks before Petit Le Mans.

The Georgia venue follows Daytona in hosting two rounds in 2020.

IndyCar races at Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio - the latter scheduled for next weekend - have also been cancelled, but both tracks remain on the IMSA schedule for the time being.

Meanwhile, the GTLM and GTD classes have lost the planned 12 September round at Lime Rock in Connecticut, and will instead run a 100-minute race on Charlotte Motor Speedway's roval the following month.

It will share the bill with on NASCAR on 10 October.

IMSA's statement said that it "continues to monitor state and local COVID-19 guidelines which may make additional schedule revisions appropriate in the coming weeks."

IMSA replaces Watkins Glen, Lime Rock rounds
IMSA replaces Watkins Glen, Lime Rock rounds

Penske takes pole at Road America

Acura Team Penske locked out the front row in qualifying for IMSA's fourth round at Road America, with Ricky Taylor pacing team-mate Dane Cameron.

The session was red-flagged with minutes to go when Felipe Nasr spun the Sebring-winning Action Express Racing Cadillac into the gravel, at which point Taylor's lap of 1m49.061s was enough to see off reigning champion Cameron by 0.318s in a reversal of the FP2 order.

Mazda team-mates Harry Tincknell and Tristan Nunez will start the 2hr40 minute race from the second row, while Nasr lost his best time for causing the red flag and was demoted from fifth to seventh behind Ryan Briscoe's Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac and the JDC-Miller example driven by Joao Barbosa.

In LMP2, Patrick Kelly was fastest for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, a second faster than Henrik Hedman of DragonSpeed.

Laurens Vanthoor took pole for Porsche in the GTLM class ahead of the two Corvette C8.Rs of Jordan Taylor and Oliver Gavin, while Aaron Telitz claimed the top spot in the GTD class in his AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus.

IMSA Road America Qualifying Result

Pos

Class

Driver

Car

Gap

1

DPi

H.Castroneves, R.Taylor

Acura

1m49.061s

2

DPi

D.Cameron, J.P.Montoya

Acura

0.318s

3

DPi

J.Bomarito, H.Tincknell

Mazda

0.546s

4

DPi

O.Jarvis, T.Nunez

Mazda

1.059s

5

DPi

R.van der Zande, R.Briscoe

Cadillac

1.155s

6

DPi

J.Barbosa, S.Bourdais

Cadillac

1.681s

7

DPi

F.Nasr, P.Derani

Cadillac

2.330s

8

DPi

C.Miller, T.Vautier

Cadillac

2.620s

9

LMP2

S.Trummer, P.Kelly

ORECA/Gibson

5.413s

10

LMP2

H.Hedman, B.Hanley

ORECA/Gibson

6.366s

11

LMP2

C.Cassels, J.French

ORECA/Gibson

7.904s

12

LMP2

D.Merriman, K.Tilley

ORECA/Gibson

8.528s

13

GTLM

E.Bamber, L.Vanthoor

Porsche

11.529s

14

GTLM

A.Garcia, J.Taylor

Chevrolet

11.793s

15

GTLM

O.Gavin, T.Milner

Chevrolet

11.843s

16

GTLM

B.Spengler, C.De Phillippi

BMW

12.094s

17

GTLM

J.Krohn, J.M.Edwards

BMW

12.141s

18

GTLM

N.Tandy, F.Makowiecki

Porsche

12.244s

19

GTD

J.Hawksworth, A.Telitz

Lexus

17.190s

20

GTD

F.Montecalvo, T.Bell

Lexus

17.977s

21

GTD

C.Fergus, P.Holton

McLaren

18.204s

22

GTD

R.Foley, B.Auberlen

BMW

18.300s

23

GTD

G.Robinson, L.Aschenbach

Mercedes

18.850s

24

GTD

C.MacNeil, T.Vilander

Ferrari

18.863s

25

GTD

M.Farnbacher, M.McMurry

Acura

18.881s

26

GTD

A.Parente, M.Goikhberg

Acura

19.057s

27

GTD

R.Hardwick, P.Long

Porsche

19.208s

28

GTD

T.Bechtolsheimer, M.Miller

Acura

19.459s

29

GTD

R.De Angelis, I.James

Aston Martin

19.479s

30

GTD

A.Lally, J.Potter

Lamborghini

20.761s

31

GTD

R.Ferriol, S.Pumpelly

Audi

21.413s


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