With only two races remaining on the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, teams in all four classes will have an eye on their respective championships in the Lone Star Le Mans at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, Sept. 17
Action Express Racing is in the driver’s seat for the Prototype title, scoring 1-2 finishes in its last three races. Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi seek their third consecutive title in the #5 Mustang Sampling Corvette Daytona Prototype, although their teammates Dane Cameron and Eric Curran won at both Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America to close the gap to one point in the standings, 253-252.
“It’s hard to believe there’s only two rounds to go,” said Cameron, who joined Curran on the podium in six of the eight races this season. “We’ve won the last two races and Action Express have been 1-2 in the last three, so certainly we have a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum within our car and our organization. We’re looking to taking that forward into COTA and to Petit Le Mans after that. Everything’s where we want it to be and firing on all cylinders, and we’re ready to make a run at the championship with the No. 31 car.”
Also within striking distance of the Prototype lead with 242 points is the #10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP of Ricky and Jordan Taylor.
The Prototype class also includes Visit Florida Racing’s #90 Corvette DP of Marc Goossens and Ryan Dalziel, the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda JS P2 of Ozz Negri and John Pew, the two Mazda Prototypes driven by Tristan Nunez, Jonathan Bomarito, Tom Long and Joel Miller and the #0 Panoz DeltaWing Racing Coupe of Katherine Legge and Sean Rayhall.
The GTLM championship battle has turned into a showdown of Corvette vs. Ford. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – four-time winners this season in the #4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R – enter Texas with a seven-point lead (287-280) over Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe, who have won three races in the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.
Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia won the most recent round at VIRginia International Raceway in the #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R, while 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro class winners Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller finished second at VIR in the #66 Ford GT.
BMW Team RLL is the defending GTLM winner at Circuit of The Americas, with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner returning in the #25 IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GTLM. The team also fields the #100 BMW for John Edwards and Lucas Luhr.
Porsche North America fields the #911 Porsche 911 RSR for Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, plus the #912 for Earl Bamber and Fred Makowiecki. Ferrari is represented by the Houston-based #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Wilander with Scuderia Corsa’s GTLM Ferrari again listed, though without confirmed drivers at present.
A pair of Texas-based Dodge Vipers headline the 17-car GTD lineup. Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen are seeking their third consecutive Circuit of The Americas victory in the Houston-based #33 ViperExchange.com/Cruising with the Monkey Dodge Viper GT3-R.
Dallas-based Lone Star Racing fields the #80 ACS Manufacturing Viper for Dan Knox, also of Dallas, and Mike Skeen.
Scuderia Corsa drivers Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan enter the event with a 20-point lead over Keating and Bleekemolen, 268-248. The drivers of the #63 Ferrari 488 GT3 won two races and have scored five podium finishes this season.
Audi’s three car lineup includes Magnus Racing’s two-time winning #44 Audi R8 LMS GT3 of John Potter and Andy Lally, the team looking for a bounce back from their highly controversial exclusion from the last race at VIR.
Stevenson Motorsports’ two-car entry, the #6 Stevenson Automotive Group Audi of Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis, joined by the #9 Audi of Lawson Aschenbach and Matt Bell.
Lamborghini makes its WeatherTech Championship debut at COTA with Paul Miller Racing, with the VIR-winning #48 Castrol Edge/Universal Auto Sales Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers; Change Racing, led by the #16 Pertamina/Monster Energy of Spencer Pumpelly and Corey Lewis; and Dream Racing with the #27 of Luca Persiani and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.
Porsche’s entry includes the Dallas-based No. 73 Park Place Motorsports/Justice Brothers Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Lindsey and Joerg Bergmeister, joining the Alex Job Racing #23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche of Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas, this the only AJR entered Porsche after the WeatherTech entered #22 withdrew and later announced a two car entry for the final rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge.
Turner Motorsport returns with a pair of BMW M6 GT3s for drivers Bret Curtis, Jens Klingmann, Michael Marsal and Markus Palttala, while Aston Martin returns to GTD competition with the #007 TRG-AMR Godstone Ranch Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande, drivers of the #8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09, finished sixth in the most recent PC round at Road America, seeing their lead trimmed to seven points, 293-286, over the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car with drivers Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith, with two wins.
In addition to the #8 machine, Starworks will field two more cars at the event, with the #7 of Gustavo Yacaman and Jose Gutierrez joining the #88 entry of Mark Kvamme and Richard Bradley.
CORE autosport is the defending PC winner at Austin, with Jon Bennett and Colin Braun returning in the #54 ORECA.
BAR1 Motorsports will race two cars. Bruno Junqueira joins Matt McMurry in the #20 ORECA, while John Falb joins Don Yount in the #26 entry.
James French features in the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA, and Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson pedal the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA.
