Jaminet passed Connor De Phillippi’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan-run BMW with just six minutes of the six-hour race remaining. The race went full-course yellow just moments later, as a BMW GTD car somersaulted on the approach to the final corner.
The fifth round of America’s premier sportscar series began with the prototype classes starting in championship order, after the multi-car shunt that halted the LMP2/P3 session and led to the GTP session being abandoned due to heavy rain. The 57-car entry was the largest here since 1984.
Nick Tandy (#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963) led Pipo Derani (#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R), as Augusto Farfus spun the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 out of sixth place at the first corner. The right-front corner of the car was wrecked in the impact with the barrier, putting it out of the race. “My fault, I just lost the rear,” Farfus admitted.
Officials then green-flagged the GTD field, despite the stationary BMW on the track at Turn 1, but fortunately the stacked field of 20 cars, many of them two-wide, managed to avoid hitting it. The race went full-course yellow moments later.
Soon after the restart, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz required a new left-rear tyre after being black-flagged by IMSA for a low-pressure warning. More opening-hour drama included Derani getting clipped by Mark Kvamme’s High Class Racing LMP2 car.
That didn’t cause a caution, but it wasn't long as LMP2 frontrunner Salih Yoluc (Towe Motorsports) harpooned Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen) at the final corner, causing Steven Thomas (TDS Racing) to hit the barrier in avoidance. He then reversed into the middle of the track at the blind corner, causing some near misses.
Matt Campbell picked up the lead as he’d pitted the #7 963 before the yellow, heading Tandy in a Porsche 1-2, while the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Colin Braun vaulted to third by not taking tyres but was then penalised with a drive-through for pitlane speeding.
Just inside the second hour the third FCY flew when Sebastien Bourdais crashed the Chip Ganassi Racing Caddy out of fourth after misjudging a lapping move on a Porsche GTD car and was smashed from behind by the close-following De Phillippi’s #25 BMW.
At the bottom of the second hour, the leading Porsches swapped places, with Mathieu Jaminet (in for Tandy) passing Felipe Nasr (in for Campbell) after the #6 pitted earlier than the #7.
Before the 2h30m point, the #7 Porsche pulled into pitlane from second place with a failing hybrid system and went behind the wall, elevating the #10 Acura up to second.
But that spot appeared to be cursed, as Filipe Albuquerque’s left-rear wheel flew off at the Inner Loop just a few minutes later. He lost a lap after taking the shortcut back to the pits, which promoted the #60 Acura to second and the #31 Cadillac to third. The remaining #25 BMW was in fourth, despite a half spin for Yelloly after contacting a GTD Lamborghini just before half distance.
The P2 curse continued when the #60 suffered a right-rear puncture, while more bad news for Acura was the #10 being penalized for failing to adhere to the minimum refuelling time. The leading #6 Porsche also received a scare when race control announced a warning for “failing to adhere to powertrain parameters”.
The next major incident was a four-car pileup at Turn 6 in the fourth hour, as the #38 LMP3 of Alex Kirby ploughed into the rear of GTD Pro contending #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli, which collected the #42 Lambo of Rob Ferriol and the #01 Ganassi Cadillac of Renger van der Zande, who was running fifth overall.
At the restart with just over two hours remaining, Jack Aitken benefited from the timing of the yellow to lead in the #31 AXR Caddy from Braun in the #60 Acura, Tandy and Yelloly. Ten minutes into the stint, Yelloly jumped past Tandy for third, while Aitken battled for the lead with Braun.
De Phillippi took over the #25 BMW from Yelloly and a rapid penultimate pitstop meant he rejoined in the lead, while Tandy passed Derani for second with 75m on the clock. The #60 Acura slipped back to fourth, with Tom Blomqvist taking over from Braun despite a shoulder injury inflicted by sharing a seat with his team-mate.
In the closing stages, De Phillippi was unable to unleash the BMW’s pace that it had packed all weekend, pulling away to lead by over 7s from Jaminet, Derani and Blomqvist. But Jaminet responded in the final stages in a desperate final push as the 963 came into its own.
Jaminet grabbed the lead with a wild move in traffic with just six minutes remaining, as De Phillippi got stuck behind the GTD-leading Lexus.
The race ended under yellow when Bill Auberlen rolled his Turner Motorsports BMW M4 just moments later.
Derani finished third, ahead of Blomqvist. The JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 of Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm finished fifth, ahead of the Ganassi Caddy, while the #10 Acura went off at Turn 9 in the closing hour and retired in the pits.
Source: Autosport