Photos by Vijay Sankar; press release info from IMSA
Road America witnessed its largest IMSA weekend crowd this year in over four decades. Fans enjoyed perfect weather, with blue skies and temperatures in the low 70s, creating the ideal backdrop for world-class racers to navigate the challenging 4-mile track. Road America welcomed back the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from August 1-4, with an exhilarating weekend of top-tier sports car racing. Adding to the excitement, this year’s event featured the Mustang Challenge and the Porsche Carrera Cup, making it one of the most anticipated racing spectacles of the summer.
Campgrounds were quickly filling. Hungry, thirsty fans gathered at concession stands. Golf carts, scooters and e-bikes whirled around him. Three days before the green flag was scheduled to wave for the featured race, Road America was buzzing with activity. The enthusiasm at the Wisconsin racetrack had reached new levels.
Road America isn’t the only track experiencing the IMSA renaissance. Seven of the championship’s eight races this season have set attendance records. Another factor in the increased attention, Doonan says, is parity among manufacturers. Sixteen of the 18 manufacturers involved in IMSA have won races this season.
Porsche Penske Motorsport managed a 1-2 finish in a highly competitive weekend at Road America to take control of the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class championship standings.
Mathieu Jaminet brought the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 home first in the two-hour, 40-minute race, just 0.390 seconds ahead of Felipe Nasr in the team’s No. 7 Porsche. It’s the second victory of the 2024 season for Jaminet and co-driver Nick Tandy, following their May triumph at Laguna Seca. Sunday’s result gives Tandy 22 career IMSA wins and 11 for Jaminet, while Team Penske logged its 39th IMSA triumph.
The win also moved Jaminet, Tandy and the No. 6 into second place in the GTP standings, 100 points behind Nasr, co-driver Dane Cameron and the No. 7 with two races remaining for the class.
Jaminet inherited the overall lead when Ricky Taylor made a final pit stop with 28 minutes to go in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 during the last of five full-course cautions in the race. Taylor charged back when the race restarted with 16 minutes left to finish third with co-driver and Saturday’s Motul Pole Award winner Filipe Albuquerque.
Ben Keating and Ben Hanley recovered from Keating’s crash in practice on Saturday to win the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class battle in the No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07, the first IMSA victory for the team. Running just its second race of the season, the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 completed the race with just one pit stop to capture the GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class win with co-drivers Giacomo Altoe and Daniel Serra. The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, with co-drivers Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley, brought home the GT Daytona (GTD) class win when the leading No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 was forced to pit for a splash of fuel with only three minutes remaining in the race.
The exciting race took place in what Road America officials announced as a record crowd for the event. All four WeatherTech Championship classes race once again on Sept. 22 at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The combination of close racing and accessibility for fans, both on-site and off-site, offers promise for 2025 and beyond. In fact, it’s already happening.