Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber took victory for Action Express and Cadillac at the Detroit Sports Car Classic, the second of two IMSA street circuit sprint rounds.
Second was Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann in the #25 BMW, with Eng 6 seconds off Aitken at the flag. Third was Ricky Taylor, alongside his teammate Felipe Albuquerque, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
Bamber started the #31 Action Express Cadillac on pole and led the early part of the race, pulling away from Nick Yelloly in the #93 Meyer Shank Acura, who had taken second off Louis Deletraz in the #40 WTR Cadillac.
With half an hour gone, and after a short safety car period for debris early in the race, Bamber had a 4.5 second lead over the Briton behind him.
The pit stop cycle then started, with Yelloly pitting first of the leaders to try and get the jump on Bamber. It didn’t work though, and instead of gaining positions they’d lose to those who stopped later. Namely, these were the #6 Porsche of Kevin Estre and the #25 BMW of Wittmann, both of whom led a few laps apiece as they stopped later than the rest of the field, after Bamber had relinquished the lead up front.
Aitken runs away after the pit stops
Once everyone had stopped, Bamber’s teammate in the #31 Action Express Cadillac, Aitken, led from Eng in the #25 BMW, and Laurens Vanthoor, who replaced Estre at the wheel of the #6 Porsche.
It was a lead Aitken would never relinquish, through a further 2 full course yellow / safety car periods as the elbows came out towards the end of the race.
At one point before the 2 caution periods, the Briton in the lead had pulled out a 10 second gap. This got reduced back to mere tenths in the caution periods, but even crossing the line, Aitken had built up a gap of more than 6 seconds in as many minutes at the head of the field.
“To do it here at the home of GM and Cadillac, with so many friends and family with us,” said Aitken after the race.
“My team absolutely nailed it. All of Whelen Cadillac, they put in an awesome lap (yesterday). We had a good strategy and a good pit stop. It really doesn’t get a lot better than that. So, we’re going to soak in in baby.”
Second was Eng in the #25 BMW, with Ricky Taylor making it a 1-3 in Cadillac and General Motors hometown, driving the #10 WTR Cadillac car.
R. Taylor and Albuquerque had quietly moved up the field after starting 7th. Albuquerque climbed as high as third behind Estre and Wittmann before pitting, with R. Taylor rejoining fourth, splitting the two Vanthoor brothers.
He’d later take third off the elder Vanthoor, Laurens in the #6 Porsche, before the two brothers had a coming together which saw the #6 Porsche man have to pit to repair damage and the younger brother, Dries in the #24 BMW, take a drive through for incident responsibility. I’m sure there’ll be some brotherly words between the two after the race!
Fourth was Renger van der Zande and teammate Nick Yelloly in the v#93 MSR Acura, maybe a bit disappointing after running second early on.
Fifth went to Julien Andlauer, alongside teammate Felipe Nasr who drove the first stint, in the #7 Porsche.
Corvette complete GM IMSA clean sweep in Detroit
In GTD Pro, it was another win for General Motors on a banner day for the American auto manufacturer. The #3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims crossed the line to take the win, after starting on pole. It wasn’t a simple victory though, fighting all the way with the Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars, plus with Ford, who also wanted to get a win in Detroit.
Sims and Garcia brought the car home to victory, though, just under 2 seconds ahead of Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli’s #9 Pfaff Lamborghini. Third was the #65 Ford Mustang of Christopher Mies and Fred Vervisch, a further 1.9 seconds off.
The two Vasser Sullivan Lexuses, which fought hard throughout the race, didn’t finish where they should have done. Jack Hawksworth in the #14 car had to take a drive through for incident responsibility while running second after the final restart, while Aaron Telitz in the one off #15 sister car accidentally got into the back of Nicky Catsburg in the #4 Corvette at turn 1, giving both damage.
“What a special day for General Motors and the Cadillac Racing and Corvette Racing teams in Detroit,” said Mark Reuss, president of General Motors.
“Winning both classes of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on the streets of the Motor City is a tremendous achievement for our motorsports, design and engineering teams. Congratulations to Whelen Cadillac and Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports teams on hard-earned victories at our home race.”
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