The #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05c of Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves won their third straight IMSA race with a triumph at Mid-Ohio in a race that presented no shortage of drama and at times, a handful of bemusing strategic calls.
The day was dominated by the two Acura Team Penske entries and the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, with little challenge from anyone else in the class. The #7 Acura and the #31 Cadillac were never that far from each other throughout the day.
Nasr was reeling in Taylor on the race’s final stint but ultimately, he ran out of time to make a serious challenge to the Acura’s lead and eventual win. Nasr and Pipo Derani finished just 0.607 seconds behind the #7 Acura.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. rounded out the podium. Rengar Van Der Zande and Ryan Briscoe found themselves on the podium after Juan Pablo-Montoya in the #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05c went for a wild spin at Turn 1.
Montoya had been on an absolute charge through the field. The Columbian passed both the #10 Cadillac and the #55 Mazda RT-24P to get onto the podium and then set a new race lap record as he began his push towards Nasr and Taylor in the closing minutes of the race.
His charge forward ended when he spun in Turn 1 and he dropped all the way down the DPi order to end the race in seventh. Unfortunately, for Montoya and the #6 Acura that was how their day went.
The team had a fast car, as made clear by their teammate’s win and Montoya’s late-race efforts, but they were hampered by mistakes. Montoya made two attempts to pass slower GT traffic around the outside at Turn 5, both ending in failure. One of those attempts ending in contact and another ending with Montoya sliding through the grass and giving away the lead of the race.
The No. 6 @Acura of Montoya goes wide off the track and loses the lead to his teammate! He continues without further incident, he’s now in third. #IMSAatMO/#IMSA/#MidOhio pic.twitter.com/i2gdeL0JQf
— Ryan Kish (@KishRM) September 27, 2020
They could have easily salvaged a podium finish, which would have been great for the team’s home race, but Montoya’s spin was yet another example of an unforced error.
Montoya was far from the only DPi driver to make mistakes, however. Mazda racked up four penalties between their two cars over the course of the race. One penalty apiece for speeding on pitlane, another penalty for the #55 Mazda for leaving the pit box with equipment, and a penalty for the #77 Mazda RT-24P for incident responsibility.
That incident involving the #77 Mazda saw Oliver Jarvis try to pass the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 around the outside of the Carousel. Jarvis squeezed Robby Foley in the BMW who, with not as much grip, slid into the #77 Mazda leading to the contact.
Full Course Yellow! The No. 96 @Turnermotrsport BMW M6 is stopped on track after contact with the No. 77 @MazdaRacing RT24-P. #IMSAatMO/#IMSA/#MidOhio pic.twitter.com/Z8PMI619SV
— Ryan Kish (@KishRM) September 27, 2020
The #55 Mazda finished in fourth while the #77 Mazda finished in fifth. Only one DPi car did not finish the race, that being the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R. which stopped on the side of the track with a mechanical issue.
The battle in GTLM fell into the background for much of the race. Partly due to having just four cars in the field after the withdrawal of the Porsche pair, but also due to the fact that both DPi and GTD put on better shows with more storylines and drama.
For Corvette, they won’t care much about that as their two Corvette C8.Rs cruised to an easy 1-2 victory for the manufacture’s first win at Mid-Ohio since the series returned to the track in 2018, their last win at Mid-Ohio came in 2012.
The #3 Corvette C8.R of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia took home the win ahead of the #4 Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner and Olivier Gavin. The two cars did have some wheel-to-wheel action earlier in the race, but ultimately there was little drama for either car.
The #25 BMW M8 of Conor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler was third while the #24 BMW M8 of John Edwards and Jesse Krohn was fourth.
The #24 BMW’s day was hampered right from the start when Jesse Krohn missed his braking point and slid into China Beach. With two hours and forty-minutes and three Full Course Yellows, the team was able to make the ground back up.
In GTD, the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan of Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz took home the win. This is the third win of the season for the crew and a great point’s haul for the team after their championship rivals feel victim to trouble.
Like in DPi, GTD was a two-horse race between the #14 Lexus and the championship-leading #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX. The two cars battled for the lead in the first half of the race, but Lexus got the leg up in the middle portion of the race after completing a pit stop just moments before a Full Course Yellow came out.
The #86 Acura was not able to complete a pit stop before the FCY, which meant the #14 Lexus was able to leapfrog the #86 Acura in the pit cycle. From there, the #86 Acura’s day went from bad to worse. Now further back in the field, they had to contest with slower GTD traffic.
Mario Farnbacher in the #86 Acura got a great run on Paul Holton in the #76 Compass Racing McLaren on the start/finish straight. Holton, though, moved to the left and slammed into the side of the #86 Acura on three separate occasions. That contact caused damage and cut down a tire on the #86 Acura sending it through the gravel at Turn 1.
Holton was given a penalty for incident reasonability and the rarely seen unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. For the Meyer Shank Racing crew, though, the damage was already done, they recovered to a top-five finish but were never able to challenge the #14 Lexus who cruised to victory.
The #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Lawson Aschenbach and Gar Robinson was second. Aschenbach fended off a late-race challenge from Patrick Long in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Long and teammate Ryan Hardwick rounded out the GTD podium.
The biggest incident in GTD involved the #30 Hardpoint Racing Audi R8 LMS and the #44 GRT Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracan. Exiting Turn 6, Lally, in the #44 Lamborghini tapped the rear of Rob Ferriol in the #30 Audi, sending Ferriol spinning into the tire barrier.
Full Course Yellow! The No. 30 Hardpoint Audi has hit the barrier after what it appears to be contact with the No. 44 Lamborghini, it is stranded on track. A flurry of pitstops before the FCY came out will shake things up! #IMSAatMO/#IMSA/#MidOhio pic.twitter.com/KodtlxSNDN
— Ryan Kish (@KishRM) September 27, 2020
The #44 was given a drive-thru penalty for incident responsibility.
“We obviously as a team feel this was undeserved…” GRT Magnus wrote on Twitter. They finished the race in seventh while the #30 Audi was counted as a DNF.
