Ford’s Mike Rockenfeller beat Corvette Racing to the GTD Pro class victory at the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s Detroit Sportscar Classic.
The #64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 duo of Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx emerged on top in ‘Motor City’ after starting on pole position, edging out the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia.
Corvette’s #3 crew overcame a setback when they lost their fastest qualifying lap time, when they caused one of the red flags during the second free practice session.
But their timing with the pit stop during the race enabled them to climb up the order around the tight, bumpy Detroit Street Course and pressure the #64 Ford.
A fierce rivalry runs between the two Detroit-based automotive manufacturers, and so Ford took victory after 81 laps.
Amidst the contact and drama throughout the 100-minute race, Pfaff Motorsports claimed third place with their #9 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and factory drivers Marco Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli.
After starting at the back of the grid, due to a post-qualifying penalty, and having served a drive-through penalty for a violation during their prolonged yet important scheduled pit stop, the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 took fourth place (Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth) ahead of the #77 AO Racing ‘Roxy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R, which encountered much of the GTD Pro class drama.
Ford and BMW lose their front-running formation
At the race start, Ford retained their 1-2 formation with Priaulx leading #65 Ford driver Christopher Mies ahead of both Paul Miller Racing (PMR) BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, who started on the second row.
The street circuit offered little margin for error, and overtakes, though this did not stop Tommy Milner fighting with the #77 Porsche driver, Klaus Bachler.
Milner incurred rear-left bodywork damage to his #4 Corvette after making a move on the inside of Bachler, thus, a brief full-course caution was deployed for bodywork situated in between Turns 7-8.
Furthermore, Milner pitted on the safety car’s in-lap so the team could attend to the damage whilst conducting a full-service pit stop, during which Nicky Catsburg took over the wheel.
Only seven minutes (five laps) of the race had passed at this point, yet Ford and BMW held their positions at the front.
Hawksworth in the #14 Lexus tapped Bachler into a slight spin and a barrier, though not the circuit’s many concrete walls, prompting a drive-through penalty for the #14 Lexus.
The other Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the #15, chose to pit early with Franke Montecalvo out and Parker Thompson in.
Vasser Sullivan pitted early and opted for more fuel to run longer into the race, hoping that race-interrupting drama would lend them a helping hand in strategy.
Ford’s 1-2 formation disassembled when Mies incurred rear bodywork damage, and so a mechanical black flag forced him to pit from second place, though the team took the opportunity to put Frederick Vervisch into the car.
The #1 PMR BMW of Neil Verhagen went into the run-off at Turn 8, likely hampered by braking issues during the race, with several such instances of the car overshooting a corner.
Lamborghini fights with Corvette
Caldarelli mastered his way into third ahead of Garcia’s #3 Corvette in the fight for third place, before the Spaniard pitted.
As Sims took over, they beat several cars that fought with one another in the midfield of GTD Pro, anticipating their moment to pit.
Sims up ran in a virtual second place after Hawksworth stayed out late, hinting at the Lexus’ greater fuel load.
The #14 Lexus driver finally pitted with 40 minutes of the race remaining, so one hour had been completed.
Telitz brilliantly beat Garcia to third place after his pit stop, but the team then received a drive-through for too many crew members over the wall before the car stopped at the pit box.
The #48 BMW of Max Hesse was at the attention of an unslightly moment when he locked up and made contact with the #65 Ford, Vervisch – who were already fighting with the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini of Mapelli.
Debris at Turn 3 and the front straight as a result of this contact caused a second caution, with Vervisch pitting for four new tyres as his mechanics removed the bonnet sill, as he incurred damage to the left-side exhaust pipe additionally.
Rockenfeller heads Ford victory as #3 Corvette finishes second
A 27-minute green flag run led to the end, with Sims showcasing strong form as he put in marginally better lap times and reeled in Rockenfeller’s lead.
Ultimately, Rockenfeller won by 1.623 seconds on Sims, as Mapelli closed in on Sims towards the end, yet not enough, taking third place at 0.315 seconds behind Sims.
During the closing stages, the #77 Laurin Heinrich-driven Porsche went off after the #4 Catsburg-driven Corvette tapped him around.
Afterwards, the #77 accelerated back into the #4 as both received drive-throughs, having clashed earlier before with race control giving a warning to each of them.
It was converted into a 17-second time penalty for each of them as they were unable to serve the penalty at the checkered flag.
See here for full results. READ MORE – #93 Acura MSR takes hard-fought victory in IMSA at Detroit
