Rolex 24: Taylor beats Westbrook in epic race for pole

From pole position, Vautier’s JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R made a brilliant start as Tristan Nunez came up from the second row to claim second in the Action Express Racing Caddy – but only until the twisty infield when Renger van der Zande made several brave passes to claim second – up from sixth – in the Chip Ganassi Racing #01 Cadillac.

Tom Blomqvist of Meyer Shank Racing slotted his Acura ARX-05 into fourth ahead of the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Filipe Albuquerque. Alex Lynn was treading cautiously in the second Ganassi car and fell to sixth ahead of Jimmie Johnson in the Ally Racing AXR Cadillac.

On Lap 7, Nunez got ushered off the road while lapping GTD cars, allowing both Blomqvist and Albuquerque to move their Acuras into third and fourth respectively, and he would soon lose fifth to Lynn’s Ganassi car.

Nunez handed off the AXR #31 to Pipo Derani at Lap 15, with Blomqvist giving up his MSR Acura to Oliver Jarvis at the same time. Simultaneously, van der Zande was applying pressure to leader Vautier, and only half a second back Albuquerque was watching his mirrors for Ganassi debutant Lynn.

The two Ganassi cars pitted on Lap 18, van der Zande giving the wheel to Sebastien Bourdais and Lynn being replaced by Earl Bamber. Next time by Vautier stopped to let Westbrook in, handing the lead to Albuquerque. A couple of laps later, both Ganassi cars had to serve drive through penalties for exceeding the pitlane speed limit.

Once everyone had stopped, the early stoppers MSR and AXR were in front, Jarvis leading Derani by 2.5sec – depending on traffic – with Ricky Taylor pedaling the WTR Acura a further 6 sec back and under pressure from Westbrook. Kamui Kobayashi had taken over the Ally Cadillac from Johnson but was fifth, 22sec off the lead.

On Lap 26, Westbrook passed Taylor for third as they negotiated traffic, and started trying to close the 5sec gap to the Jarvis vs Derani battle up front.

Derani would then make his second stop with 40mins to go, leaving Jarvis with a 2.3sec ahead of Westbrook and Taylor. But two laps later, MSR pitted Jarvis and the rest of the DPi cars swiftly followed suit. They would shake out with Westbrook leading Jarvis, but with Taylor’s Acura ahead of both, and Derani in fourth. Kobayashi was still trying to play catch-up, while Bourdais and Bamber in the Ganassi cars sat at the back of the class, praying for a yellow.

Taylor and Westbrook pulled away from the pack to enjoy a thrilling battle up front, each showing great judgment as they picked their way through traffic. Derani passed Jarvis for third with less than 15mins remaining, and Kobayashi also passed the MSR car as Jarvis desperately tried to fuel save. Derani could not, however, and ducked into the pits with four laps remaining, dropping to the back of the class, and promoting Kobayashi to third.

On the very last lap, Westbrook saw a Cadillac-sized hole down the inside of Taylor at Turn 1, and nudged the Acura, causing Taylor to wiggle and Westbrook to spin. The JDC-Miller driver recovered in time to beat Kobayashi for second, with Jarvis beating the two Ganassi cars and Derani.

LMP2

#52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Ben Keating, Mikkel Jensen (Photo by: Art Fleischmann)

In LMP2, Steven Thomas beat PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports teammate Ben Keating at the start to claim the lead, the pair of them leading the High Class Racing entry of Denis Andersen, with Fritz van Eerd fourth for Racing Team Nederland and Eric Lux fifth for DragonSpeed. On Lap 6, Keating took the lead from Thomas, while the pair of them dropped Andersen by more than eight seconds.

However, Lux was making strong progress, and had moved the DragonSpeed car into third by Lap 10 and started closing on Thomas.

Once all the LMP2 cars had made their pitstops, Mikkel Jensen and Jonathan Bomarito continued their teammates’ good work in a PR1/Mathiasen 1-2 ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco in the DragonSpeed car. Further back, James Allen ran fourth for G-Drive by APR ahead of Dylan Murry in the Racing Team Nederland car, but these two exchanged places on Lap 26.

In the second half of the race, Jensen kept pulling away from teammate and 40th birthday boy Bomarito, whose nearest pursuers following their second stops were Fabio Scherer in the High Class car, and Rene Rast of G-Drive. The DragonSpeed car had dropped to fifth.

In the closing laps, Rast demoted Scherer and closed up on Bomarito but was never close enough to try and grab runner-up spot, with Jensen holding on to win.

LMP3

#36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 of Jarett Andretti, Josh Burdon (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Cameron Shields of Muehlner Motorsport led from the start Andretti Autosport and Gar Robinson’s Riley Motorsports entry, but the car went behind the wall within the first six laps, allowing Orey Fidani of Forty7 Motorsport into third. However, with barely more than 40min to go, Shields pitted, apparently terminally, handing the class lead to Josh Burdon who was now driving the Andretti car.

Burdon came home 65sec ahead of the other Muehlner car, shared by Moritz Kranz and Ayrton Ori, with Kuno Wittmer bringing the Forty7 car home third, albeit three laps down.

GTD Pro

TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan of Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Mathieu Jaminet led GTD Pro for Pfaff Motorsport at the start, beating polesitter Alex Imperatori of KCMG in the similar Porsche 911 GT3 Rs, while Ross Gunn of Heart of Racing Aston Martin ran third ahead of Andrea Caldarelli (TR3 Racing Lamborghini) and Ben Barnicoat on his Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F debut. They were chased by WeatherTech Racing pair – Maro Engel’s Mercedes AMG GT3 passed Julien Andlauer’s Porsche on Lap 5.

Caldarelli passed Gunn to claim third, while by Lap 18 Andlauer had not only re-passed Engel but was up to fifth ahead of Barnicoat’s Lexus.

Following the pitstops at around half distance, Pfaff continued to lead with Felipe Nasr in the driving seat, and it was still pursued by another Porsche but it was now Alessio Picariello in the #79 WeatherTech Porsche who was in second, 3sec adrift. The KCMG Porsche had tumbled to 10th in class with Patrick Pilet at the wheel, IMSA Radio reporting a refueling issue that had cost the team half a minute. In third was Mirko Bortolotti’s TR3 Lamborghini ahead of Alex Riberas in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Kyle Kirkwood’s VSR Lexus.

The battle for the lead between Nasr and Picariello closed right up with 30mins to go and finally the WeatherTech car got past with less than 25mins remaining, leaving Nasr to try and fend off Bortolotti. He succumbed to the Lambo driver with 19mins remaining and Bortolotti claimed the lead on their 47th lap with 14mins remaining.

Further back, Kirkwood had dropped to seventh, so that Jules Gounon’s WTR Mercedes ran fourth ahead of Riberas in the Aston, and the second WTR Proton Mercedes in the hands of Dirk Muller was sixth. Muller would pass Riberas for fifth in the final few minutes.

GTD

Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward, Lucas Auer (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

In GTD, Winward Racing’s Mercedes led in the hands of Russell Ward, chased by John Miller in the Crucial Motorsport McLaren 720S, while Kenny Habul retained his remarkable third place from qualifying ahead of Michael De Quesada in the Alegra Motorsport Mercedes. However, Mike Skeen’s Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes charged in the opening stint, and climbed to third ahead of Habul.

After the stops, Lucas Auer kept Winward up front, with Paul Holton chasing him from behind the wheel of the Crucial McLaren. Townsend Bell ran third in class in the #12 VSR Lexus, just ahead of Guy Cosmo in the GKM Benz.

However, Jan Heylen, taking over the Wright Motorsports Porsche from Ryan Hardwick, had been charging hard throughout his stint and passed Bell for third at the last gasp, while Raffaele Marciello claimed fifth in the SunEnergy1 Mercedes ahead of Cosmo. Up front, Auer held on to claim class honors by a mere half second ahead of Holton.

Race results:

Cla	Class	Num	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Gap
1	DPi	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Alexander Rossi Will Stevens	Acura DPi	61
2	DPi	5	Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval Ben Keating	Cadillac DPi	61	7.900
3	DPi	48	Jimmie Johnson Kamui Kobayashi Mike Rockenfeller Jose Maria Lopez	Cadillac DPi	61	9.569
4	DPi	60	Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist Helio Castroneves Simon Pagenaud	Acura DPi	61	15.643
5	DPi	01	Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais Scott Dixon Alex Palou	Cadillac DPi	61	22.680
6	DPi	02	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Marcus Ericsson Kevin Magnussen	Cadillac DPi	61	25.550
7	DPi	31	Pipo Derani Tristan Nunez Mike Conway	Cadillac DPi	61	56.737
8	LMP2	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker Nicolas Lapierre	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1 Lap
9	LMP2	11	Thomas Steven Josh Pierson Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1 Lap
10	LMP2	68	François Heriau Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones René Rast	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1 Lap
11	LMP2	20	Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach Fabio Scherer Nico Mueller	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1 Lap
12	LMP2	81	Eric Lux Devlin DeFrancesco Patricio O'Ward Colton Herta	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1 Lap
13	LMP2	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Murry Dylan Rinus van Kalmthout	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1 Lap
14	LMP2	69	John Falb James Allen Luca Ghiotto Tijmen van	ORECA LMP2 07	59	2 Laps
15	LMP2	8	John Farano Louis Deletraz Rui Pinto Ferdinand Habsburg	ORECA LMP2 07	59	2 Laps
16	LMP2	22	Jim McGuire Guy Smith Philip Hanson Will Owen	ORECA LMP2 07	59	2 Laps
17	LMP3	36	Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Rasmus Lindh Gabby Chaves	Ligier JS P320	57	4 Laps
18	LMP3	6	Efrin Castro Moritz Kranz Ori Ayrton Joel Miller	Duqueine D08	56	5 Laps
19	LMP3	13	Orey Fidani Kuno Wittmer Lars Kern Matthew Bell	Duqueine D08	56	5 Laps
20	GTD PRO	63	Marco Mapelli Andrea Caldarelli Mirko Bortolotti Rolf Ineichen	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	56	5 Laps
21	GTD PRO	79	Cooper MacNeil Julien Andlauer Matteo Cairoli Alessio Picariello	Porsche 911 GT3 R	56	5 Laps
22	GTD PRO	9	Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr	Porsche 911 GT3 R	56	5 Laps
23	GTD	57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis Mikael Grenier Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG GT3	56	5 Laps
24	GTD	59	Lance Bergstein Jon Miller Patrick Gallagher Paul Holton	McLaren 720S GT3	56	5 Laps
25	GTD PRO	97	Cooper MacNeil Daniel Juncadella Maro Engel Jules Gounon	Mercedes-AMG GT3	56	5 Laps
26	GTD PRO	15	Dirk Muller Patrick Assenheimer Austin Cindric	Mercedes-AMG GT3	56	5 Laps
27	GTD PRO	23	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	55	6 Laps
28	GTD PRO	14	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood	Lexus RC F GT3	55	6 Laps
29	GTD	16	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Jan Heylen Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	55	6 Laps
30	GTD	12	Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Richard Heistand Townsend Bell	Lexus RC F GT3	55	6 Laps
31	GTD	75	Kenny Habul Luca Stolz Raffaele Marciello Fabian Schiller	Mercedes-AMG GT3	55	6 Laps
32	GTD	32	Mike Skeen Guy Cosmo Stevan McAleer Scott Andrews	Mercedes-AMG GT3	55	6 Laps
33	GTD PRO	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg	Corvette C8.R GTD	55	6 Laps
34	GTD	28	Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad Linus Lundqvist Maximillian Goetz	Mercedes-AMG GT3	55	6 Laps
35	GTD	70	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff Ollie Millroy Jordan Lee Pepper	McLaren 720S GT3	55	6 Laps
36	LMP3	7	Mark Kvamme Austin McCusker Trenton Estep Antoine Doquin	Duqueine D08	55	6 Laps
37	GTD	39	Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Sandy Mitchell Jeff Westphal	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	55	6 Laps
38	GTD PRO	4	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy Marco Sorensen	Corvette C8.R GTD	55	6 Laps
39	GTD	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	55	6 Laps
40	GTD	98	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Charlie Eastwood Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	55	6 Laps
41	GTD PRO	2	Laurens Vanthoor Patrick Pilet Dennis Olsen Alexandre Imperatori	Porsche 911 GT3 R	55	6 Laps
42	GTD	47	Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 488 GT3	55	6 Laps
43	GTD PRO	62	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GT3	55	6 Laps
44	GTD PRO	25	Connor de Phillippi John Edwards Augusto Farfus Jesse Krohn	BMW M4 GT3	55	6 Laps
45	GTD	19	Bill Sweedler John Megrue Giacomo Altoè Jeff Segal	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	55	6 Laps
46	GTD PRO	24	Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann Nick Yelloly Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M4 GT3	55	6 Laps
47	GTD	99	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson Nicholas Boulle	Porsche 911 GT3 R	55	6 Laps
48	GTD	34	Kyle Washington James Sofronas Jeroen Bleekemolen Klaus Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	55	6 Laps
49	GTD	66	Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller Mario Farnbacher	Acura NSX GT3	55	6 Laps
50	GTD	21	Mann Simon Luis Perez Companc Nicklas Nielsen Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GT3	54	7 Laps
51	LMP3	33	Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Seb Priaulx Lance Willsey	Ligier JS P320	54	7 Laps
52	GTD	42	Don Yount Benja Hites Jaden Conwright Markus Palttala	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	53	8 Laps
53	LMP3	26	Nolan Siegel Cameron Shields Charles Crews Ugo De	Duqueine D08	53	8 Laps
54	GTD	64	Ted Giovanis Hugh Plumb Matt Plumb Owen Trinkler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	45	16 Laps
55	LMP2	18	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel Paul-Loup Chatin	ORECA LMP2 07	38	23 Laps
56	GTD	96	Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan Jens Klingmann	BMW M4 GT3	28	33 Laps
57	GTD	27	Roman De Angelis Ian James Darren Turner Tom Gamble	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	27	34 Laps
58	LMP3	38	Dan Goldburg Hikaru Abe Garett Grist Nicolas Pino	Ligier JS P320	22	39 Laps
59	GTD	71	Franck Perera LLarena Mateo Paul Maximilian Mikhail Goikhberg	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	16	45 Laps
60	LMP3	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo Michael Cooper	Ligier JS P320	5	56 Laps
	LMP3	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz Nic Jönsson	Ligier JS P320	0
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