2018 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

The 2018 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at The Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan on June 2, 2018. The race was the fifth round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

The layout of The Raceway on Belle Isle

Background

The Raceway on Belle Isle, where the race was held.

Similar to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, this event was held in conjunction with the Detroit Grand Prix in the IndyCar series, with one event held on the same day as the IMSA event, and another held a day after as a double-header.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017.^[1] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the ninth annual running of the race, counting the period between 2007 and 2013 when it was a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series respectively.^[1] The 2018 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, the shortest in terms of time, and was the third round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup.^[1] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.350 mi (3.782 km) Belle Isle Park on June 2, 2018.^[1] After the Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio three weeks earlier, Filipe Albuquerque and João Barbosa led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 119 points, ahead of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr with 109 points, and Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande with 104 points.^[2] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 95 points, ahead of Katherine Legge and Álvaro Parente with 87 points. Cadillac and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Mustang Sampling Racing and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.^[2]

On May 25, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of performance for the GTD class.^[3] The Lexus RC F GT3 received a 25 kilogram weight increase. The Mercedes AMG GT3 received a 10 kilogram weight break. No changes made in P.

Entries

Further information: 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 26 cars took part in the event split across two classes.^[4] 14 cars were entered in P, and 12 in GTD. In P, Spirit of Daytona Racing made their first appearance since Sebring. Performance Tech Motorsports skipped to focus on testing before the Watkins Glen round.^[5] Harry Tincknell returned to the Mazda Team Joest No. 55 entry. GTD saw a number of driver changes. Robby Foley joined Bill Auberlen in the Turner Motorsport entry while Mario Farnbacher substituted for Álvaro Parente in the Meyer Shank Racing No. 86 entry due to a clash with the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round at Circuit Paul Ricard.^[6] Bernd Schneider joined Kenny Habul in the SunEnergy1 Racing entry.^[7] Jeff Segal substituted for Alessandro Balzan in the Scuderia Corsa entry due to a medical procedure.^[8]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday. The first ninety-minute session was on Friday morning. The second on Friday afternoon lasted 110 minutes.^[9]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 8:15 am ET on Friday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:21.909.^[10]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	P	7	Acura Team Penske	Ricky Taylor	1:21.909	_
2	P	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Felipe Nasr	1:22.115	+0.206
3	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa	1:22.513	+0.604
Source:[11]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 1:05 pm ET on Friday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:22.363.^[12]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	P	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:22.363	_
2	P	22	Tequila Patrón ESM	Pipo Derani	1:22.388	+0.025
3	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa	1:22.427	+0.064
Source:[13]

Qualifying

Friday afternoon's 40-minute qualifying session was divided into two groups.^[9] Both categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype cars ahead of all GTD entries.^[14]

Qualifying results

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

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	22	Tequila Patrón ESM	Pipo Derani	1:22.273	_	1‡
2	P	6	Acura Team Penske	Juan Pablo Montoya	1:22.992	+0.719	2
3	P	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:23.275	+1.002	3
4	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa	1:23.278	+1.005	4
5	P	99	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Misha Goikhberg	1:23.384	+1.111	5
6	P	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Eric Curran	1:23.469	+1.196	6
7	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Renger van der Zande	1:23.558	+1.285	7
8	P	77	Mazda Team Joest	Tristan Nunez	1:23.969	+1.696	8
9	P	55	Mazda Team Joest	Jonathan Bomarito	1:24.566	+2.293	9
10	P	2	Tequila Patrón ESM	Scott Sharp	1:24.637	+2.364	10
11	P	90	Spirit of Daytona Racing	Matt McMurry	1:24.688	+2.415	11
12	P	52	AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	Sebastián Saavedra	1:25.371	+3.098	12
13	P	54	CORE Autosport	Jon Bennett	1:25.741	+3.468	13
14	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers	1:28.942	+6.669	15‡
15	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin	Katherine Legge	1:29.390	+7.117	16
16	GTD	93	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin	Justin Marks	1:29.717	+7.444	17
17	GTD	14	3GT Racing	Dominik Baumann	1:29.787	+7.514	18
18	GTD	15	3GT Racing	David Heinemeier Hansson	1:30.114	+7.814	19
19	GTD	33	Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport	Ben Keating	1:30.196	+7.923	20
20	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Cooper MacNeil	1:30.282	+8.009	21
21	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Michael Schein	1:30.717	+8.444	22
22	GTD	75	SunEnergy1 Racing	Kenny Habul	1:30.776	+8.503	23
23	GTD	58	Wright Motorsports	Christina Nielsen	1:30.878	+8.605	24
24	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley	1:31.640	+9.367	25
25	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	did not participate			261
26	P	85	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Robert Alon	no time2		14
Sources:[15][16]

• ¹ The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified.
• ² The No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.

Race

Post-race

The result kept Albuquerque and Barbosa atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 144 points while Nasr and Curran tied them on points.^[17] The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 122 points. Aschenbach and Marks advanced from sixth to fourth.^[17] Cadillac and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Mustang Sampling Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with seven rounds remaining.^[17]

Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr Eric Curran Cadillac DPi-V.R C 68 1:40.14.245‡ Cadillac 5.5 L V8 2 P 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor Acura ARX-05 C 68 +1.016 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 3 P 6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya Acura ARX-05 C 68 +14.127 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 4 P 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Ryan Dalziel Scott Sharp Nissan Onroak DPi C 68 +45.698 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 5 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande Cadillac DPi-V.R C 68 +49.570 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 6 P 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa Cadillac DPi-V.R C 68 +50.664 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 7 P 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek Nissan Onroak DPi C 68 +1:16.531 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 8 P 52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Sebastián Saavedra Gustavo Yacamán Ligier JS P217 C 68 +1 lap Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 9 DNF P 77 Mazda Team Joest Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez Mazda RT24-P C 67 Out of Fuel Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4 10 P 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Robert Alon Simon Trummer Oreca 07 C 67 +1 lap Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 11 P 99 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg Stephen Simpson Oreca 07 C 67 +1 lap Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 12 P 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Oreca 07 C 66 +2 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 13 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Katherine Legge Mario Farnbacher Acura NSX GT3 C 65 +3 Laps‡ Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 14 GTD 93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach Acura NSX GT3 C 65 +3 Laps Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 15 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 64 +4 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 16 GTD 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Mercedes AMG GT3 C 64 +4 Laps Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 17 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Jeff Segal Cooper MacNeil Ferrari 488 GT3 C 64 +4 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 18 GTD 14 3GT Racing Dominik Baumann Kyle Marcelli Lexus RC F GT3 C 64 +4 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 19 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley Bill Auberlen BMW M6 GT3 C 64 +4 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 20 GTD 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Kenny Habul Bernd Schneider Mercedes AMG GT3 C 64 +4 Laps Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 21 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Michael Schein Wolf Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 R C 64 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 22 GTD 44 Magnus Racing John Potter Andy Lally Audi R8 LMS GT3 C 64 +4 Laps Audi 5.2L V10 23 GTD 58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long Christina Nielsen Porsche 911 GT3 R C 64 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 24 DNF P 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Matt McMurry Tristan Vautier Cadillac DPi-V.R C 35 Did Not Finish Cadillac 5.5 L V8 25 DNF GTD 15 3GT Racing Jack Hawksworth David Heinemeier Hansson Lexus RC F GT3 C 10 Crash Lexus 5.0L V8 26 DNF P 55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Mazda RT24-P C 6 Drivetrain Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4 Sources:[18][19]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin

Standings after the race

Prototype Drivers' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa 144 2 Eric Curran Felipe Nasr 144 3 1 Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor 130 4 1 Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande 130 5 1 Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya 126

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook 121 2 Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor 114 3 Joey Hand Dirk Müller 112 4 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 111 5 Antonio García Jan Magnussen 111

GTD Drivers' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Bryan Sellers Madison Snow 125 2 Katherine Legge 122 3 Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating 108 4 2 Lawson Aschenbach Justin Marks 102 5 1 Cooper MacNeil 102

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

Prototype Teams' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing 144 2 No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing 144 3 1 No. 7 Acura Team Penske 130 4 1 No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing 130 5 1 No. 6 Acura Team Penske 126

GTLM Teams' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 121 2 No. 912 Porsche GT Team 114 3 No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 112 4 No. 4 Corvette Racing 111 5 No. 3 Corvette Racing 111

GTD Teams' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 48 Paul Miller Racing 125 2 No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin 122 3 No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports 108 4 2 No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin 102 5 1 No. 63 Scuderia Corsa 102

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

Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 167 2 1 Acura 155 3 1 Nissan 153 4 Mazda 150

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Porsche 126 2 Ford 125 3 Chevrolet 123 4 BMW 120 5 Ferrari 58

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings[17] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lamborghini 132 2 Acura 123 3 2 Mercedes-AMG 114 4 Ferrari 113 5 2 Lexus 112

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