2021 Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio

The 2021 SportsCar Challenge at Mid-Ohio, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Acura SportsCar Challenge, was a sports car race held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, Ohio on May 16, 2021. The race is the third round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the first round of the 2021 WeatherTech GT Daytona Sprint Cup.

Background

This race was initially meant to be the fifth round of the 2021 IMSA Championship, until the two "West Coast Swing" rounds, located at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Long Beach street circuit, both in California, were postponed to September due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in California.[1]

On May 5, 2021, the entry list for the event was released, featuring a total of 26 cars across three classes. Six cars were in Daytona Prototype International (DPi), another six entries were in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class, and 14 entries were received for the GT Daytona (GTD) class. The GT Le Mans (GTLM) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) classes were not present. In the GTD class, several teams who were scheduled to be present only at the 3-hour rounds on the 2021 calendar made their season debut, including CarBahn Motorsports and Compass Racing, the former of which was making the step up from the IMSA SportsCar Championship support category, the Michelin Pilot Challenge.[2][3][4]

This race also marked the start of the season for full-time Wright Motorsports driver, Ryan Hardwick, after suffering crashes that put him out of both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring due to concussion. In those two races without Hardwick, Wright Motorsports built up a points lead in the GTD class.[5]

In the LMP3 class, despite the absence of Forty7 motorsports, IndyCar team Andretti Autosport made their season debut with a Ligier JS P320 piloted by Jarett Andretti and Oliver Askew.

On May 5, 2021, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance constraints for the Mid-Ohio race.[6] The Mazda RT24-P was given a slight power boost, with the equivalent of a 7.5 horsepower increase in engine output through turbo boost levels. After winning at Daytona and Sebring, the Acura ARX-05 and Cadillac DPi-V.R respectively were each given a 1.0 liter reduction in fuel capacity.

In the GTD class, after finishing in the top two places at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Porsche 911 GT3 R was made 20 kilograms heavier, bringing the standard weight to 1,320 kilograms. A similar change was made to the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, with a 10 kilogram weight reduction after best finishes of 11th and 4th at Daytona and Sebring respectively.

Forty7 Motorsports and Grasser Racing Team withdrew from the event prior to the first practice session.[7]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour while the second session on Saturday morning lasted 75 minutes.[8]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 4:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:11.846, ahead of the No. 10 Acura of Ricky Taylor.[9] Colin Braun set the fastest time in LMP3 with a lap time of 1:17.240.[10] Jack Hawksworth was fastest in GTD with a time of 1:20.513, 0.291 seconds faster than Bill Auberlen's No. 96 BMW.[11] The session was red flagged early for ten minutes after Jarett Andretti stopped on track.[10]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:11.846 _
2 DPi 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Ricky Taylor 1:12.221 +0.375
3 DPi 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Dane Cameron 1:12.501 +0.655
Sources:[12][13]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 8:50 am ET on Saturday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:10.766. Pipo Derani was second fastest in the No. 31 Cadillac followed by Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Acura.[14] The No. 91 Riley Motorsports Ligier of Dylan Murry was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:16.606.[15] The GTD class was topped by the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Aaron Telitz.[16]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Dane Cameron 1:10.766 _
2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:10.995 +0.229
3 DPi 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque 1:11.034 +0.268
Sources:[17][18]

Qualifying

Qualifying was broken into four sessions.[8] The first was for cars in the GTD class. Aaron Telitz qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 14 car for Vasser Sullivan Racing, beating Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport entry by 0.006 seconds. Daniel Morad in the No. 28 Mercedes was third followed by Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Lexus.[19]

The second session was the points paying session for the GTD class. Patrick Long set the fastest time and earned 35 championship points. Long was 0.126 seconds clear of Zach Veach in the No. 12 Lexus followed by Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.[20][19]

The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Gar Robinson qualified on pole driving the No. 74 car for Riley Motorsports. Robinson was more than three-tenths clear of Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE Autosport car followed by Jarett Andretti in the No. 36 Andretti Autosport entry.[21]

The final session of qualifying was for the DPi class. Harry Tincknell qualified on pole driving the No. 55 car for Mazda Motorsports, beating Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura entry by 0.095 seconds.[20]

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 DPi 55 Japan Mazda Motorsports United Kingdom Harry Tincknell 1:10.027 _ 1
2 DPi 10 United States WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 1:10.122 +0.095 2
3 DPi 60 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian United States Dane Cameron 1:10.355 +0.328 61
4 DPi 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Pipo Derani 1:10.432 +0.405 3
5 DPi 5 United States JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing France Tristan Vautier 1:10.567 +0.540 52
6 DPi 01 United States Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1:10.934 +0.907 43
7 LMP3 74 United States Riley Motorsports United States Gar Robinson 1:17.246 +7.219 7
8 LMP3 54 United States CORE Autosport United States Jon Bennett 1:17.632 +7.605 8
9 LMP3 36 United States Andretti Autosport United States Jarett Andretti 1:17.713 +7.686 9
10 LMP3 38 United States Performance Tech Motorsports United States Dan Goldburg 1:19.347 +9.320 104
11 LMP3 91 United States Riley Motorsports United States Jim Cox 1:19.444 +9.417 115
12 LMP3 33 United States Sean Creech Motorsport United States Lance Willsey 1:19.629 +9.602 12
13 GTD 14 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Aaron Telitz 1:20.529 +10.502 13
14 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Robby Foley 1:20.535 +10.508 14
15 GTD 28 United States Alegra Motorsports Canada Daniel Morad 1:20.687 +10.660 15
16 GTD 12 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo 1:20.812 +10.785 16
17 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Madison Snow 1:20.941 +10.914 17
18 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon 1:20.952 +10.925 256
19 GTD 23 United States Heart Of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis 1:21.139 +11.112 18
20 GTD 76 United States Compass Racing Canada Jeff Kingsley 1:21.332 +11.305 19
21 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand 1:21.478 +11.451 20
22 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer 1:21.856 +11.829 21
23 GTD 16 United States Wright Motorsports United States Trent Hindman 1:21.975 +11.948 22
24 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol 1:22.036 +12.009 23
25 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports United States John Potter 1:22.131 +12.104 247
Sources:[22][23][24][25]
  • 1 The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry initially qualified third for the DPi class. However, the team changed engines. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the DPi field on the starting grid. Additionally, the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
  • 2 The No. 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing entry was moved to the back of the DPi field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
  • 3 The No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing entry was moved to the back of the DPi field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
  • 4 The No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry initially qualified fourth for the LMP3 class. However, the car suffered an engine failure during qualifying, forcing the team to use its IMSA Prototype Challenge chassis due to a lack of spare engines. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the LMP3 field on the starting grid.[26]
  • 5 The No. 91 Riley Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the LMP3 field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
  • 6 The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports entry was moved to the rear of the GTD classification for violating competition rules regarding the car's ride height.[27]
  • 7 The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.

Race

Post-race

With a total of 1,070 points, Albuquerque and Taylor's victory allowed them to extend their lead in the DPi Drivers' Championship over Jarvis and Tincknell to 55 points. Derani and Nasr advanced from seventh to fourth while Cameron and Pla dropped from fourth to fifth.[28] As a result of winning the race, Robinson took the lead of the LMP3 Drivers' Championship. Lindh and Goldburg advanced from tenth to fourth while Askew jumped from seventh to fifth.[28] With 920 points, Auberlen and Foley's allowed them to take the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship. Sellers and Snow advanced from seventh to fifth while Long dropped from first to third.[28] Porsche continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championship while Acura took the lead of the DPi Manufactures' Championship.[28] WTR-Konica Minolta Acura kept their advantage in the DPi Teams' Championship while Riley Motorsports and Turner Motorsport became the leaders of their respective class Teams' Championships with nine races left in the season.[28]

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 DPi 10 United States Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United States Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 122 2:40:21.370
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
2 DPi 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Felipe Nasr
Brazil Pipo Derani
Cadillac DPi-V.R 122 +0.368
Cadillac 5.5L V8
3 DPi 55 Canada Mazda Motorsports United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P 122 +12.925
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
4 DPi 5 United States JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing France Tristan Vautier
France Loïc Duval
Cadillac DPi-V.R 122 +26.719
Cadillac 5.5L V8
5 DPi 01 United States Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Denmark Kevin Magnussen
Cadillac DPi-V.R 122 +33.115
Cadillac 5.5L V8
6 DPi 60 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian United States Dane Cameron
France Olivier Pla
Acura ARX-05 122 +37.698
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
7 LMP3 74 United States Riley Motorsports United States Gar Robinson
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Ligier JS P320 115 +7 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8
8 LMP3 38 United States Performance Tech Motorsports United States Dan Goldburg
Sweden Rasmus Lindh
Ligier JS P320 115 +7 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8
9 LMP3 91 United States Riley Motorsports United States Jim Cox
United States Dylan Murry
Ligier JS P320 115 +7 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8
10 LMP3 54 United States CORE Autosport United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
Ligier JS P320 115 +7 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8
11 LMP3 33 United States Sean Creech Motorsport Portugal João Barbosa
United States Lance Willsey
Ligier JS P320 114 +8 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8
12 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley
BMW M6 GT3 111 +11 Laps
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
13 GTD 12 United States Vasser-Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Zach Veach
Lexus RC F GT3 111 +11 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
14 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 111 +11 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
15 GTD 23 United States Heart of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis
United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 111 +11 Laps
Mercedes-Benz M177 4.0 L Turbo V8
16 GTD 76 United States Compass Racing Canada Jeff Kingsley
Germany Mario Farnbacher
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 111 +11 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
17 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 911 GT3 R 111 +11 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
18 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand
United States Jeff Westphal
Audi R8 LMS Evo 111 +11 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
19 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer
United States Marc Miller
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 111 +11 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
20 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 111 +11 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
21 GTD 28 United States Alegra Motorsports Canada Daniel Morad
United States Michael de Quesada
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 111 +11 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
22 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Porsche 911 GT3 R 110 +12 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
23 GTD 16 United States Wright Motorsports United States Trent Hindman
United States Patrick Long
Porsche 911 GT3 R 107 +15 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
24 LMP3 36 United States Andretti Autosport United States Jarett Andretti
United States Oliver Askew
Ligier JS P320 85 Engine
Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8
25 GTD 14 United States Vasser-Sullivan Racing United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United States Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 77 Suspension
Lexus 5.0L V8
Sources:[29][30]

Standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


References

  1. "IMSA West Coast Swing Moves to September for 2021". IMSA. December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  2. Dagys, John (5 May 2021). "Expanded GTD Field for Sprint Cup Season Opener at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  3. Pruett, Marshall (13 May 2021). "CarBahn with Peregrine Racing steps up to IMSA GTD ranks". racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing Inc. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  4. Dagys, John (14 May 2021). "Farnbacher Relishing "Different Approach" for Sprint Cup Attack". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  5. Dagys, John (10 May 2021). "Hardwick Ready for Comeback After "Unplanned Break"". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  6. Competition, IMSA (5 May 2021). "Mid Ohio Balance of Performance Tables" (PDF). imsa.com. International Motor Sports Association. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  7. Dagys, John (May 14, 2021). "Mid-Ohio Friday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  8. "2021 IMSA Official Schedule and SR M-O 050521 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  9. Kish, Ryan (May 14, 2021). "Derani tops opening IMSA practice at Mid-Ohio". racer.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  10. Dagys, John (May 14, 2021). "Late Flyer Puts Derani, AXR on Top Friday at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  11. Bradley, Charles (May 14, 2021). "Mid-Ohio IMSA: Derani leads first practice in AXR Cadillac". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  12. "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 14, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  13. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 14, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  14. Kish, Ryan (May 15, 2021). "Cameron puts MSR Acura on top in second Mid-Ohio practice". racer.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  15. Dagys, John (May 15, 2021). "Cameron Quickest in Final Practice at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  16. Bradley, Charles (May 15, 2021). "Mid-Ohio IMSA: Cameron tops second practice in MSR Acura". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  17. "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 15, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  18. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 15, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  19. Bradley, Charles (May 15, 2021). "Mid-Ohio IMSA: Tincknell takes shock pole for Mazda". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  20. Dagys, John (May 15, 2021). "Tincknell Takes First IMSA Pole at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  21. Kish, Ryan (May 15, 2021). "Tincknell takes Mid-Ohio pole for Mazda". racer.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  22. "03_Results_Qualifying - DPi Position - Points.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  23. "03_Results_Qualifying - LMP3 Position - Points.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  24. "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Position.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  25. "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  26. Dagys, John (May 16, 2021). "Performance Tech to Run IPC Car After Engine Failure for No. 38". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  27. Dagys, John (May 15, 2021). "Mid-Ohio Saturday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  28. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 19, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  29. "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  30. "2021 ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE". racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
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