Neil Verhagen and his team-mate Madison Snow took the GTD Pro class victory in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo at Road America.

The #1 BMW claimed the GTD Pro victory in the SportsCar Grand Prix, emerging ahead of a fight with the #64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 of Seb Priaulx (and Mike Rockenfeller), who finished in second position on the 62nd lap.

Albert Costa claimed third place in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 after starting on pole, owing to his team-mate Giacomo Altoe’s efforts in qualifying.

Antonio Garcia and his #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of team-mate Alexander Sims finished in fourth despite being involved in an incident with #48 Paul Miller BMW driver Dan Harper in their fight for the lead, which resulted in the #3 Corvette being off course at Turn 1.

Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies, meanwhile, rounded out the top five in the GTD Pro category for the #65 Ford team.

Meanwhile, the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari won GTD from second on the grid with drivers Onofrio Triarsi and Kenton Koch tasting victory in a thrilling final chase to the end with the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Alex Udell (and Robert Wickens), who were not able to make it to the end without another pit stop.

Mario Farnbacher and his #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 co-driver Misha Goikhberg claimed second place, whilst Daniel Serra (and Manny Franco) secured third in the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari.

Turner Motorsport’s #96 BMW pairing of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher came in fourth ahead of Trend Hindman’s (and Danny Formal’s) #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini.

See here for the full results. READ MORE IN THE GTP/LMP2 REPORT – Philipp Eng fronts BMW 1-2 after hectic Road America sprint

The post Neil Verhagen takes GTD Pro victory for BMW at Road America appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Philipp Eng headed a BMW RLL 1-2 finish at the checkered flag following a hectic 180-minute IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix sprint at Road America.

The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 duo of Eng and Dries Vanthoor secured victory after 66 laps of hectic, action-packed racing at America’s National Park of Speed.

It was Eng’s second time leading a 1-2 race finish for the Bavarian manufacturer in the GTP category, since doing so in last year’s six-hour Indianapolis enduro.

BMW RLL executed masterful timing in pitting both cars as the race headed into the final hour, soon before the fifth full-course-yellow caution period went out.

From then on, they turned a flawless performance into triumph with the pole-sitting #93 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06 of Renger van der Zande chasing down the #24 and #25 BMWs towards the end.

The #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R duo of Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken secured fourth place, followed by the highest-placed Porsche Penske 963, the #6, of Mathieu Jaminet and his team-mate Matt Campbell.

Heart of Racing claimed a worthy sixth position, their best race finish, in the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, driven by Ross Gunn and Romain De Angelis.

Tom Blomqvist took seventh for the #60 Meyer Shank Acura team with his co-driver, Colin Braun, after a drive-through penalty for running over equipment during the first pit stop phase halted their chances of a strong result, despite evidently being one of the fastest cars in the field.

Ricky Taylor and his #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac team-mate Filipe Albuquerque claimed eighth after an incident with another GTP car sent them off-course but not out, followed by the other #40 Wayne Taylor Cadillac of Louis Deletraz and his team-mate Jordan Taylor rounding out the top 10 GTP finishers.

Yelloly heads the field at the start

At the race start, Nick Yelloly asserted strong form in the #93 Acura — as he did numerous times during his time behind the wheel — to retain the lead ahead of both BMWs behind him.

After only two minutes of green flag racing, race control brought out the first caution.

Daniel Goldburg of the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07 LMP2 made contact with George Kurtz’s #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca before spinning around as the rear-left corner hit the tyre barrier. Remarkably, they did return to the race much later on after a lengthy recovery and repair job, with 45 minutes left of the race.

With the racing incident cleared, the race resumed with 2 hours and 26 minutes left on the clock.

Yelloly continued his run with a strong restart and consistently established a subtle lead gap, only for two minutes to pass before the second caution; Brendon Iribe of the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (GTD class) went off at Turn 7 on his own after taking slightly too much curb.

As the race resumed, Yelloly repeated his effort to keep the lead, although it was #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac driver Albuquerque who got himself fighting for the podium places.

Naveen Rao of the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca triggered the third caution just before the end of the opening hour after a heavy impact after going wide at Turn 10.

After all GTPs pitted, the #93 Acura fell back in the busy pit stop cycle as the #6 of Matt Campbell led the pack of GTPs with Bamber behind him, as well as the #10 driven by Ricky Taylor.

BMW RLL make their race-winning call

The Road America sprint headed into the final hour, and BMW made their strategic call to bring both cars in for their final stops with 59 minutes remaining, clearly anticipating the race’s fifth caution period.

Back to the track action, #7 Porsche driver Nick Tandy passed R. Taylor’s #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac at Turn 3 for fourth place. Furthermore, their battle continued when Tandy defended across at the Turn 5 corner exit, but made contact, which spun the #10 up the hill.

Fifty-three minutes remained for this caution drew all GTPs into the pits, apart from the BMWs, who pitted earlier, therefore inheriting the lead at the restart.

Unexpectedly, Tandy jumped the #6 Porsche of Campbell after their respective pit stops, although Tandy was awarded a stop-and-60-second penalty for earlier incident responsibility with the #10 Cadillac.

As Eng and Wittmann headed the BMW 1-2 formation on the restart, the attention sprang on van der Zande’s #93 Meyer Shank Acura, which dodged and weaved passed the two Porsche Penskes before reeling in Wittmann’s #25 BMW.

AO Racing wins from pole in LMP2

In the LMP2 category, AO Racing’s #99 ‘Spike the Dragon’ Oreca 07 pairing of PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron secured victory from pole position.

Inter Europol Competition, starting 10th on the grid, claimed second place in the hands of Connor de Phillippi and Jeremy Clarke ahead of the #11 TDS Racing Oreca of Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen.

Ben Hanley finished in fourth position in the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca with his co-driver Phil Fayer, as Era Motorsport finished their #18 Oreca in fifth.

Kaku Ohta, teamed with Tobias Lutke, fought within the top three and four positions until he went wide into Turn 5 towards the end.

Malthe Jakobsen brought the #04 Crowdstrike Oreca in sixth with his team-mate George Kurtz, followed by Sebastien Bourdais’/John Farano’s #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca and the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsport Oreca duo of Pietro Fittipaldi and Chris Cumming.

Scott Andrews and Gerry Kraut finished ninth in the #79 JDC Miller MotorSports Oreca ahead of the 10th-placed pairing of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson, and their #74 Riley Oreca.

See here for the full results – Stay tuned for the in-depth GTD Pro / GTD race report

The post Philipp Eng fronts BMW 1-2 after hectic Road America sprint appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Nick Yelloly grasped pole position for Meyer Shank Racing’s #93 Acura ARX-06 for the IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix sprint race at Road America.

Meyer Shank Racing Acura fought with RLL BMW for the GTP class pole position in a close battle for the fastest times, thus knocking out the front two rows.

The result was an incredibly close margin between the top four, with Yelloly having set his 1:48.628 lap time just 0.053 seconds ahead of Sheldon van der Linde’s #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (1:48.681).

Just two thousandths behind van der Linde was his #24 BMW team-mate, Dries Vanthoor, who was unable to take a fifth pole position of 2025 but took third with a 1:48.683 time.

Colin Braun claimed fourth in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura (1:48.708), followed by Matt Campbell’s #6 Porsche Penske 963 (1:48.960) and the highest-placed Cadillac V-Series.R, the #31 Whelen machine of Jack Aitken (1:49.118).

Three-thousandths behind him was the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque (1:49.121).

Felipe Nasr put the #7 Porsche Penske in eighth place (1:49.171) in front of Jordan Taylor’s #40 Wayne Taylor Cadillac (1:49.263).

Lastly, towards the back of the GTP class, Ross Gunn put the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie in 10th (1:49.309) and Gianmaria Bruni closed the field in the #85 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche (1:50.367).

Hyett and ‘Spike’ command LMP2 with pole at Road America

Spike the Dragon, the #99 AO Racing Oreca 07, took the honours over 13 other Oreca 07 LMP2s with credit to PJ Hyett’s potent benchmark of 1:53.240.

Hyett therefore took a back-to-back Road America pole position, having claimed it last year, as George Kurtz’s #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca (1:53.906) took second position.

Daniel Goldburg qualified third in the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca (1:54.323), despite having his fastest lap time voided due to causing a red flag in FP1.

Tonis Kasemets, 2022 IMSA Prototype champion, put a strong first-ever qualifying for the debuting Team Tonis #61 Oreca team with a second-row start owed to a 1:54.377.

Steven Thomas took fifth position (1:54.685), also with his fastest time voided, ahead of Tobias Lutke’s #18 Era Motorsport Oreca (1:54.908).

Phil Fayer – the final of the free practice red flag-instigators – took seventh in the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca (1:55.108).

Luis Perez put the #88 AF Corse Oreca in eighth place (1:55.117) ahead of Naveen Rao’s #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca (1:55.410) and Jeremy Clarke’s #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca in 10th (1:55.459).

The 2-hour and 40-minute sprint race commences Sunday, 3 August at 13:10 local time / 19:10 BST.

READ MORE IN THE GTD PRO / GTD REPORT – DragonSpeed claims GTD Pro class pole position at Road America

The post Nick Yelloly grasps IMSA pole for MSR Acura at Road America appeared first on Motorsport Week.

DragonSpeed driver Giacomo Altoe claimed the GTD Pro class pole position for the IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix sprint at Road America.

The GTD Pro winners from last time out at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park emerged on top of qualifying, as Russell Ward came out on top of the fight in the GTD category as a title protagonist chasing a back-to-back title this year.

The fight was gripping to follow, with two-hundredths of a second covering the top three GTD Pros during the session.

Altoe’s 2:03.904 lap time set him at the top of the GTD Pros, followed by Alexander Sims’ #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R (2:03.914) and Tommy Milner’s #4 Corvette (2:03.924).

Dan Harper puts the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo in fourth with a lap time of 2:04.610 ahead of the team’s other #1 BMW of Madison Snow (2:04.644).

The first of the Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3s followed in sixth with Chris Mies’ #65 machine (2:05.089) and Klaus Bachler’s #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R in seventh (2:05.411).

Mike Rockenfeller set a 2:05.419 in the #64 Ford to go eighth, and Aaron Telitz rounded out the nine GTD Pros which participated, with a 2:05.590 lap time.

Pfaff Motorsport now utilised a spare Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 chassis by GTD team Forte Racing after their accident during FP2, but were unable to participate in qualifying while working on the gifted chassis.

They will start last in GTD Pro, but ahead of the GTD field.

Winward Racing takes GTD pole at Road America

Russell Ward took the GTD class pole position with his lap time of 2:03.745, with the top seven covered by a tight 1-second margin.

He set his sublime benchmark midway during the first session solely for GTDs, landing pole for the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team.

Ward attempted to improve his time whilst his rivals bettered their earlier times in the pursuit of the top spot.

Casper Stevenson finished second for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (2:03.908), followed in third by Onofrio Triarsi in his #021 Triarsi Ferrari 296 GT3 (2:04.160).

Robert Wickens qualified an impressive fourth position in the #36 DXDT Corvette (2:04.208), followed by Parker Thompson’s #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in fifth (2:04.494), who set the best first sector time.

Manny Franco qualified sixth for the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari team (2:04.602) ahead of the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini driver Danny Formal (2:04.625) and Misha Goikhberg’s #78 Forte Lamborghini (2:05.107).

Brendon Iribe lined in ninth for the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (2:05.231) as last year’s race-winning team, Turner Motorsport, rounded out the top 10 GTD qualifiers owing to Patrick Gallagher’s 2:05.936 in the #96 BMW.

The 2-hour and 40-minute sprint race commences Sunday, 3 August at 13:10 local time / 19:10 BST.

READ MORE IN THE GTP / LMP2 QUALIFYING REPORT – Nick Yelloly grasps IMSA pole for MSR Acura at Road America

The post DragonSpeed claims GTD Pro class pole position at Road America appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Dries Vanthoor was the quickest driver in an incident-ridden second IMSA SportsCar Championship free practice session at Road America.

The #24 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 driver topped the second of two 90-minute free practice sessions, which were interrupted by two red flags.

A collision on the front straight between Marco Mapelli’s #9 Pfaff Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07 of Benjamin Pederson triggered the latter red flag instance.

George Kurtz likely took avoiding action during the incident in his #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca. He stopped at the pit exit before being taken behind the wall. Fortunately, they returned to the session having finished at the top of the LMP2 class.

The circuit officials estimated 20 minutes to repair the driver’s right-side wall on the front straight, though they did so in approximately 10.

Furthermore, Nick Yelloly was second-quickest in the #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 GTP with a 1:49.682 lap time, only six-thousandths behind D. Vanthoor’s 1:49.676 benchmark.

Sheldon van der Linde put the #25 RLL BMW in third thanks to a 1:49.843 lap time, followed by Felipe Nasr’s 1:50.699 in the championship-leading #7 Porsche Penske 963.

Jack Aitken’s 1:50.767 set him fifth in the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.

Crowdstrike tops LMP2, Corvette heads GTD Pro

In the LMP2 class, Malthe Jakobsen’s lap time of 1:52.823 put the #04 Oreca fastest ahead of the #11 TDS Racing Oreca, which topped yesterday’s FP1 session in LMP2, where Mikkel Jensen’s 1:52.852 took second position.

His team-mate Steven Thomas of the #11 TDS Racing Oreca, went off at Turn 6 before continuing again in the first of the two red flag disruptions.

Dane Cameron put a 1:52.924 lap time together for third in the #99 AO Racing ‘Spike the Dragon’ Oreca, followed by Connor de Phillippi’s 1:53.064 in the #43 Inter Eurpol Competition Oreca, as Scott Andrews rounded out the top five in the #79 JDC Miller MotorSports Oreca (1:53.220).

Chris Cumming’s #73 Pratt and Miller Motorsport Oreca made contact with Cameron’s team-mate PJ Hyett earlier in the session at T3, although stewards took no further action as the responsibility was inconclusive.

Whilst the second-red-flag incident remains under investigation, the #11 TDS Oreca joins the #2 and #22 United Autosports USA Oreca cars in all losing their fastest qualifying lap times later today, as they respectively triggered red flags during free practice.

Antonio Garcia went fastest in the GTD Pro-entered #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, with a 2:04.247 lap time. Giacomo Altoe followed in second in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 (2:04.354) ahead of Tommy Milner’s time of 2:04.440 in the #4 Corvette.

Onofrio Triarsi was the quickest GTD-class car with a 2:04.866 time in the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari.

See here for the full results from FP2 – Qualifying takes place at 16:40 local time / 22:40 BST

The post Dries Vanthoor quickest in incident-ridden FP2 at Road America appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Tom Blomqvist topped the opening free practice session for the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s eighth round of 2025 at Road America.

Action began as part of this weekend’s running of the SportsCar Grand Prix at America’s National Park of Speed before next year’s six-hour enduro.

The FP1 session ended six minutes prematurely after Phil Fayer suffered an impact into the barriers at Turn 12 with six minutes left of the 90-minute session.

Tom Blomqvist was quickest at Road America in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 GTP, which won at Watkins Glen, owing to his 1:51.255 lap time.

Heart of Racing’s #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP finished in a close second in the overall classification after Ross Gunn’s 1:51.328 time, just 0.073 seconds behind.

Jack Aitken claimed third place in the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R and his 1:51.590 time, followed in fourth by Dries Vanthoor’s #24 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 (1:51.655)

Nick ‘Mr 24’ Tandy rounded out the top five in the #6 Porsche Penske 963 (1:51.835) — the whole GTP field covered by just over 1 second.

United Autosports, the only LMP2 team with two Oreca 07 entries, had a difficult session after their #2 IMSA debutant Fayer’s incident — despite finishing second and third in the end.

This, however, was the second of two red flag disruptions as Daniel Goldburg (#22 United Autosports) went off-course at Turn 8 earlier on, though they returned to the session.

As a result of causing the red flags, both the #2 and #22 Oreca machines will have their fastest qualifying lap times lost.

TDS Racing heads LMP2 at Road America, Winward leads GT field

Peugeot Hypercar driver Mikkel Jensen was the fastest in the LMP2 category for the #11 TDS Racing Oreca (1:52.781) by three-tenths on the #22 Oreca’s benchmark of 1:53.146 set by fellow Peugeot team-mate Paul Di Resta.

Ben Hanley’s 1:53.404 put the #2 Oreca in second position ahead of another Peugeot Hypercar driver, Malthe Jakobsen, at the wheel of the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca.

The young Dane’s 1:53.500 lap time preceded the #79 JDC Miller MotorSports Oreca and Scott Andrews’ 1:53.601 in fifth position.

Meanwhile, in the combined GTD Pro and GTD order, Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 (reigning GTD champions) went quickest with Russell Ward’s 2:04.991 lap time.

Vasser Sullivan’s #12 Lexus RC F GT3 took second with Parker Thompson’s 2:05.739 as Elliott Skeer rounded out the top-three (2:05.823) in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3.R.

Fourth in the combined order, fastest in the GTD Pro class, were the most recent race winners – DragonSpeed.

Giacomo Altoe drove a lap time of 2:05.844 in the #81 Ferrari 296 GT3, putting it ahead of the #34 GTD-entered Conquest Racing Ferrari of Daniel Serra and his 2:05.953.

Nicky Catsburg was second in GTD Pro for the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R (2:06.028) and Andrea Caldarelli was third in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 (2:06.056),

See here for the full classification of results from FP1 – FP2 takes place from 09:05 local time / 15:05 BST on Saturday 2 August.

The post Tom Blomqvist tops Road America opening practice, Valkyrie second appeared first on Motorsport Week.

AO Racing’s renowned ‘Rexy’ #77 Porsche 911 GT3.R is making its debut GTD Pro appearance at this weekend’s IMSA sprint round at Road America.

The team‘s sibling Tyrannosaurus Rex characters differ in their green (Rexy) and pink (Roxy) liveries.

The former has made more race appearances with Roxy having filled in for selected races in 2024 and 2025, including last year’s race, as Rexy first entered in 2023 (GTD class).

AO Racing are reigning GTD Pro champions, running second in the standings after their third-place finish at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP).

“Road America is one of the best tracks in North America,” said Laurin Heinrich in a pre-event press conference.

“[It’s] super quick, long straights, interesting and challenging corners. The fan atmosphere is really amazing.

“Last year we raced Roxy in pink, and this year we’re bringing Rexy in GTD Pro for the first time.

“The fans love it, and it’s great to see so many line up early just to meet us and the car. That energy definitely amps us up.”

“It’s been huge,” he described his individual development with team-mate Klaus Bachler.

“Last year, everything was new — now I have stability. Klaus and I are close — we speak the same language, no secrets, and learn from each other.

“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve had.”

“With all four classes and long straights, the closing speeds are wild [at Road America].

“Especially on restarts, it gets chaotic.

“You need to know when to push and when to be smart. It’s high risk, high reward.”

After winning at the CTMP in the LMP2 class, they are targeting a third season victory with their #77 Porsche — excluding their GTD class win at Long Beach.

READ MORE – Dane Cameron on life at AO Racing and chasing LMP2 glory

The post Rexy roars into Road America GTD Pro debut after Roxy last year appeared first on Motorsport Week.

BMW has affirmed its commitment to its Hypercar future in the FIA WEC and IMSA championships, whilst confirming its imminent split with RLL.

BMW M Motorsport will continue in the premier Hypercar era and conclude a 17-year partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing at the end of the current 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season.

Whilst they work with Team WRT in the FIA World Endurance Championship, this news marks the end of a historic racing relationship, scoring 24 victories and over 100 podium finishes with RLL.

Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, said: “I am very pleased that we will continue our successful Hypercar programme long-term in both the FIA WEC and the IMSA series.

“As part of our future planning, we have decided to pursue our goals with a revised setup and not extend the contract with BMW M Team RLL for race operations in the IMSA series.

“I want to thank Bobby Rahal and his team for 17 fantastic years.”

BMW and RLL have partnered with one another for 14 years of GT racing and three years in the Hypercar era, when the formula replaced IMSA’s previous DPi class, succeeded by the GTP category.

This includes iconic machinery such as the BMW M3 GT, BMW Z4 GTLM, BMW M6 GTLM, BMW M8 GTE, and BMW M4 GT3.

Rahal called the rumoured speculation of a potential partnership conclusion “premature” earlier in the IMSA season, where recent wins have been difficult to come by since they stepped up to GTP with their two BMW M Hybrid V8s.

During the maiden 2023 season, they took five podium finishes, including a victory at the Six Hours of the Glen, followed up in 2024 by a highlight first 1-2 finish in Indianapolis, and four consecutive pole positions so far in 2025.

READ MORE – 49 entries set for Road America SportsCar Grand Prix

The post BMW commits to Hypercar future, confirms imminent split with RLL appeared first on Motorsport Week.

DragonSpeed driver Albert Costa was surprised by their Canadian Tire Motorsport Park win in GTD Pro, given that they qualified last in class.

“It was a big surprise,” he told the media, including Motorsport Week, in a press conference ahead of the upcoming 180-minute Road America sprint race on 3 August.

“We were last in qualifying and didn’t expect anything. I’ve never won a race by not pushing, just managing fuel.

“It was strange. We didn’t even realise (process) we won until two or three days later.

“After qualifying, the only chance we saw was a lot of yellows and a one-stop strategy. It was crazy.

“I was constantly told to save more fuel — even more than I thought possible.

“The last full-course yellow helped us finish. Funny thing — when I overtook Catsburg (#4 Corvette), I didn’t know it was the winning move.

DragonSpeed rides on a wave of momentum with four podium finishes in the past three races, and is looking to continue that at the upcoming SportsCar Grand Prix at America’s National Park of Speed.

DragonSpeed chases reigning champions

Sitting third in the championship standings, Costa/DragonSpeed (#81 Ferrari 296 GT3) is only 14 points away from the reigning GTD Pro champions in second, the #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R driven by Klaus Bachler and Laurin Heinrich.

“No, not really,” Heinrich replied in the press conference when asked about whether he expected to contend for another GTD Pro Drivers’ championship title — in only his second IMSA season.

“I came with high hopes, but IMSA is incredibly tough.

“The level of drivers, teams, and tracks is amazing. I came to IMSA to challenge myself.

“I understand the racing better. For example, last year at Daytona, I jumped in and started pushing immediately.

“This year, I knew to just stay alive early on. When that big crash happened in the night, I stopped on track to avoid it.

“Last year, I wouldn’t have done that.”

READ MORE – 49 entries set for Road America SportsCar Grand Prix

The post CTMP win ‘a big surprise’ to DragonSpeed driver Albert Costa appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Patrick Gallagher aims to take another victory at Road America since taking his first IMSA SportsCar Championship win in last year’s running.

The Turner Motorsport driver is aiming high for this weekend’s SportsCar Grand Prix (Round 8) on 3 August, one year on from his maiden championship victory with his current team-mate, Robby Foley.

“It was a long time coming,” Gallagher told the media in a pre-event press conference.

“We’d had a few slip away — Laguna most notably.

“So when we finally won, the celebration was huge […] A really special place to win.

“It’s my favourite place. Elkhart Lake is incredible.

“The track, the town, the fans — it’s all great.

“We’ve struggled a bit lately, but we’re getting better each week. Winning there last year was huge, and I hope we can repeat it.”

The 33-year-old has been running in a dual programme with Turner Motorsport across the main IMSA SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Pilot Challenge since 2024. He drives the #96 BMW M4 GT3 Evo in the former and the #96 GT4 Evo in the latter.

Moreover, regarding his SportsCar Championship campaign, Turner Motorsport has struggled to secure another victory since Gallagher’s breakthrough win amid four podium finishes in the 2024 season.

Gallagher and Foley recently achieved two eighth-place finishes at Watkins Glen — with Jake Walker — and the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“It’s been a learning process with the Evo,” Gallagher said about the new-for-2025 GT3 Evo package.

“We’ve made progress. Same people, same structure — just needed to catch up.

“I’m hoping Road America is where it all clicks again.

“The racing is tight [at Road America].

“It’s just how it is now — every car’s close, and opportunities are rare. You have to take them.”

READ MORE – Dane Cameron on life at AO Racing and chasing LMP2 glory

The post Patrick Gallagher aims for repeat IMSA victory at Road America appeared first on Motorsport Week.