The two-car Porsche GT Team has come on strong since returning from the traditional midseason break for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and both cars delivered on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park, when the team finished 1-2 in the two-hour and 40-minute Northeast Grand Prix.

Leading the way in a race that featured the WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes was 2015 WeatherTech Championship GTLM champion Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.

Pilet crossed the stripe 14.5 seconds ahead of Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 912 Porsche that Gianmaria “Gimmi” Bruni started from the pole position. It was the first victory for the revolutionary new Porsche 911 RSR, the first one to be configured with the engine in front of the rear axle.

The No. 911 Porsche ran inside the top three positions throughout the race. Werner qualified third, but jumped to second at the start of the race and ran behind Bruni for the first 49 minutes of the race before taking the lead when Bruni came in for his first pit stop.

Werner pitted two laps later to turn the car over to Pilet, who rejoined the race in third place, but one spot ahead of Vanthoor in the No. 912. Pilet took the lead for the first time an hour and 17 minutes into the race once the first pit-stop cycle was completed.

Pilet lost the lead when he made his second and final pit stop, but reclaimed the top spot for the final time when Antonio Garcia pitted the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R from the lead. He would not be challenged the rest of the way en route to his eighth IMSA race victory.

“It means a lot,” Pilet said. “Since the first race of the season, we’ve fought for the victory but never achieved that. It was great because everybody worked so hard. It went smooth all weekend since first practice. Both cars were really quick, especially the 912. We managed to get a really good pace during the long runs and we knew it was a key here to be strong during the long runs and it went perfectly.”

It was Werner’s ninth career victory in IMSA history – including previous wins in both the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series – and his third in the WeatherTech Championship. Werner joined the Porsche GT Team this season after spending the past several seasons with BMW Team RLL.

“For me personally it’s a great day,” Werner said. “I just joined Porsche as a factory driver and to be the first together with Patrick, yeah, it’s a very good feeling. But it’s for the team and it feels good because they put in all the work, especially developing the car for such a long time, I think it’s over a year now.

“The car has been driven and tested and its sweet because the last couple of races I think we were already good enough to win, but we always had a little something go wrong. So now I am very happy, especially a 1-2 for Porsche and in GTD also to have two podiums. It’s a perfect day.”

It was the first win for the Porsche GT Team since last September’s race at Circuit of The Americas, which also was the last time the team swept the top two spots in GTLM.

A fierce battle for the final podium spot between Martin Tomczyk in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM and Garcia in the Corvette went to Tomczyk and his co-driver, John Edwards, by a slim margin. Garcia and co-driver Jan Magnussen wound up fourth in the No. 3 entry ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, who rounded out the top five in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.

The No. 67 Ford GT also claimed the DEKRA Green Award. The award – developed in a partnership between IMSA, the Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International – recognizes the cleanest, fastest and most efficient GTLM car in each race.

Next up for the WeatherTech Championship is the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Sunday, Aug. 6. The two-hour and 40-minute race will include all four WeatherTech Championship classes.

Park Place Completes Porsche Sweep With GTD Victory At Lime Rock

Park Place Motorsports capped off a Porsche sweep Saturday at Lime Rock Park, with Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey driving the No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3.R to the GT Daytona (GTD) class victory in the Northeast Grand Prix.

It was the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win for Park Place since the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October, 2015, and completed a banner race for Porsche, which also went 1-2 in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

Bergmeister inherited the lead on the final series of green flag pit stops with 59 minutes remaining and went on to lead the race’s final 57 laps. The two hour, 40-minute race was run caution free for the first time in the WeatherTech Championship since another GT-only race at VIRginia International Raceway in 2015.

“Basically, we tried an undercut and pitted first for the last stop, so I knew it was going to be really difficult to manage the tires through a long stint,” said Bergmeister, who is no stranger to the top step of Lime Rock’s podium, winning in seven of 10 IMSA starts. “Once I got in the lead and passed Bryan (Sellers) I tried to be smooth and save the tires. He tried to do the same, but when Patrick (Long) came up and he was defending, I was able to check out a little bit.”

“It’s really just amazing, this is a really tough track to setup a car for and the Park Place guys did a stellar job,” added Lindsey. “And Joerg is just a master at this place, he brought it home in spectacular fashion. He made it look easy. It’s good to finally get a victory for Park Place and everybody back in Dallas.”

Bryan Sellers finished second, 3.473 seconds behind Bergmeister, in the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 started by TOTAL Pole Award winner Madison Snow. The runner-up finish was the best finish this season Lamborghini and Paul Miller Racing.

Rounding out the podium was the No. 28 Porsche 911 GT3.R of Patrick Long and Daniel Morad. It was the second WeatherTech Championship start of the season for Long, who got the call to drive just one week ago, and his first for Alegra Motorsports. Long took the lead from polesitter Snow 35 minutes into the race and led the next 17 laps before losing the lead on the first round of pit stops.

The points-leading No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan finished sixth, the first time the duo missed the podium since the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. Trouble for the team’s closest championship competitors, however, keeps the team atop the GTD standings with four races remaining.

Trent Hindman claimed the fourth IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge TOTAL Pole Award of his career and will lead the field to the green flag for Saturday’s two-hour Lime Rock 120 at Lime Rock Park.

Driving the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman GT4, Hindman clocked a best lap of 55.388 seconds around the 1.474-mile circuit during the 15-minute Grand Sport (GS) class qualifying session to earn the pole, his first since the race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2014.

“We know we’re going against some really strong cars, some strong teams and drivers here,” Hindman said. “This is part of the little bit tricky strategy that engineer extraordinaire Mark Manning has come up for us. I can’t reveal too much but just want to say these guys gave me a great car to be able to go out and qualify that way, especially amongst our competition, the really strong teams and drivers. We’re going to do the best we can.”

Hindman will share the car with Cameron Cassels. The No. 12 duo currently leads the GS championship standings, by three points, 140-137, over No. 76 C360R McLaren GT4 co-drivers Paul Holton and Matt Plumb. Holton qualified fifth for the race, which takes the green flag at 10:25 a.m. ET Saturday and will be streamed live on IMSA.com.

“Obviously, the dream would be to stretch that lead and throw Cameron in and let him bring it home,” Hindman said. “It’s really, really good experience for him to be able to finish races now and get an idea about what that world is like and I think he’ll do a great job. There are just a lot of variables that are going to hit us tomorrow, as always, and we’re going to do obviously the best we can to mitigate that and come home with the best result. A win would be great but we just want to walk out of here with a points lead.”

Fresh off the car’s first victory two weeks ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Matt Bell put the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R second on grid. Bell’s best time was 55.796 sec. in the car he will co-drive with Robin Liddell. Dylan Murcott qualified third in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 MR at 55.838 sec.

In Street Tuner (ST) class qualifying, Chad McCumbee earned the class TOTAL Pole Award for the third consecutive year at Lime Rock Park and will head into Saturday’s race looking for his third consecutive Lime Rock victory alongside co-driver Stevan McAleer in the No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5. McCumbee’s best lap was 59.052 sec.

McCumbee led a top-three sweep for Mazda in ST. The manufacturer picked up its 20th Continental Tire Challenge pole and first since last year’s Lime Rock race.

“Besides Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Lime Rock Park is absolutely the best racetrack we go to for our Mazda,” McCumbee said. “Mazda just gives us such a great platform to work with. The results speak for themselves. These two racetracks I mentioned, I think we’re three, four, however many years in a row and Mazda Raceway even more than that.

“Hopefully we can continue that streak. It would be awesome for Stevan McAleer and I to get three in a row here and three poles also. I didn’t know if we were going to get there today but the Freedom guys have worked their butts off on our ModSpace car and hopefully we can get ModSpace in Victory Lane again.”

Christopher Stone qualified the No. 34 Murillo Racing MX-5 second at 59.197 sec. and Matt Fassnacht was third in the No. 27 Freedom Autosport Mazda at 59.275 sec. 

Forty-five minutes into Saturday’s two-hour IMSA SportsCar Challenge race at Lime Rock Park, Matt Bell in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R passed TOTAL Pole Award winner Trent Hindman to take the lead in the Grand Sport (GS) class.

Bell had pitted a few minutes earlier during the race’s first full-course caution and taken on fresh tires, which proved to be the winning move of the race. Bell handed the reigns over to co-driver Robin Liddell with just under an hour left in the race and Liddell drove the new-for-2017 Camaro to the car’s second straight victory of the year, after winning at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park two weeks ago.

“The decision to come in when we did under that first caution was really what gave us the win,” said Bell. “We weren’t the fastest car on old tires. Like, lap-for-lap, we just weren’t as fast as the guys around us, so we knew we had to capitalize on good strategy. That’s exactly what happened. For (team manager) Mike Johnson to make that call to bring us in and then another great call which was just to do left-side tires on the second stop were all really good moves because it gave us track position. Not just track position, but it gave us performance when everyone else stayed out on their old tires.

“It was a busy stint for me. For the most part, I can’t be happier with these guys, what they do, how they do it, making great decisions and hopefully they’ll keep doing this and be back on the podium soon.”

It was Stevenson Motorsports’ 15th Continental Tire Challenge victory and the team will look to continue its momentum later today in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Northeast Grand Prix, in which Stevenson fields an Audi R8 LMS GT3 in the GT Daytona (GTD) class.

At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the GTD team took home the checkered flag less than 24 hours after the Continental Tire Challenge team recorded its win.

“I’d like to think, actually, when we won at Mosport on the Saturday it forced them to raise their game a little bit on the Sunday,” said Liddell. “They were going to be embarrassed there if they didn’t do a repeat. No, the thing is, we’re the best GT team out there. We’ve never forgotten how to win, it’s just a question of getting the car and the crew and everything together. We’ve been able to do it with this new GT4 Camaro. I’m very happy with the car.”

Hindman and co-driver Cameron Cassels in the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 entered the race as leaders in the GS championship by three points over the No. 76 C360R McLaren GT4 of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb, but both cars struggled on pit stops and finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Dillon Machavern and Dylan Murcott, finished second in RS1’s No. 28 Porsche Cayman GT4 MR for their second straight podium finish, with the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 of Till Bechtolsheimer and Marc Miller in third. Miller overcame a spin by contact late in the race to stay on the podium. The No. 69 Motorsports In Action McLaren GT4 of Jesse Lazare and Chris Green was fourth.

In the Street Tuner (ST) class, polesitter Chad McCumbee and co-driver Stevan McAleer set sail from the start in the No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 and collected their third straight Continental Tire Challenge victory at Lime Rock Park. The victory came two races after a crash at Watkins Glen earlier this month.

“Since the incident at Watkins Glen, the guys just haven’t had time to get the car exactly where it needs to be, so they’ve been working their tails off week after week trying to give us something good to drive,” said McCumbee. “We were able to get that ModSpace car in Victory Lane this week. It feels good. It’s been a rough couple months, so to get back to Victory Lane feels good.”

The win marks Mazda’s seventh consecutive ST victory at the 1.474-mile track and comes on McAleer’s 50th series start.

“I don’t know if that means I’m a veteran or just been at it for too long,” McAleer said. “We’re really happy to get it. That’s three years in a row that Chad and myself have won here in a Mazda MX-5. It’s extra special to be in the 50th. That will put us somewhere in the championship fight again. I know the (No.) 56 car had a rough day, so we might be a little closer. We’ll have a look when we get home.”

A pair of Mazdas were set to round out the top three in ST until, with less than 15 minutes left, Britt Casey Jr. got sideways in the No. 27 Freedom Autosport machine while running second. That left nowhere to go for third-place Christian Szymczak in the No. 34 Murillo Racing Mazda. The contact sent Casey’s Mazda back on track, but Szymczak into the tire barriers.

Casey held on for a Freedom Autosport 1-2 sweep with co-driver Matt Fassnacht, while the No. 84 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i of Tyler Cooke and James Clay rounded out the podium.

As was the case in GS, the top two teams in the ST point standings struggled throughout the day. The No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman of Eric Foss and Jeff Mosing were collected in an incident on the first lap of the race and served a drive-through penalty later in the race, pushing the team back to a 10th-place class result.

Derek Jones and Mat Pombo entered the race second in points, but brought the No. 73 MINI JCW Team MINI JCW home in 12th.

The Continental Tire Challenge returns to track in two weeks at Road America on August 3-6. Tickets are available at RoadAmerica.com.

Italian racer Gianmaria “Gimmi” Bruni spent quite a few years battling against Porsches in top-level sports car racing around the world while driving for another manufacturer, but it hasn’t taken him long to get used to his new job as a Porsche works driver.

In qualifying for Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, Bruni gave Porsche its 450th pole position in major North American sports car competition, extending the German manufacturer’s lead to 100 over Chevrolet, its next closest competitor.

Bruni turned a best lap of 50.404 seconds (105.277 mph) in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR to take the top starting spot for Saturday’s two-hour and 40-minute race, which starts at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FS2 and streaming on FOX Sports GO. The race also will be broadcast on IMSA Radio – available on IMSA.com along with live timing & scoring data and in-car cameras, as well as on RadioLeMans.com and on SiriusXM Radio.

It was the second consecutive pole for the Porsche GT Team, as Dirk Werner qualified the No. 911 Porsche on the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class pole two weeks ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Bruni, a former Ferrari factory driver, joined the team prior to the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen earlier this month and is heading into his third race as co-driver with Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 912.

“It’s funny, when I first met all the (Porsche) drivers, we were rivals before,” Bruni said. “The first approach – also from my side – was very low, because before we were door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper. They were looking at me before this like an enemy, but I found very good, nice guys, especially an experienced guy like Patrick (Pilet) and Dirk (Werner), a very nice guy.

“I’m very happy to actually learn from them because they have much more experience on this car, even if now the engine is a bit different from where it was. They are professional, we are professional and I think they accept me in the motorsport family very well. I was a bit scared, but now I’m happy.”

Richard Westbrook qualified second in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT with a best lap of 50.540 sec. (104.994 mph). His co-driver is Australia native Ryan Briscoe, who now makes his home in nearby Farmington, Connecticut.

Werner qualified third in the No. 911 Porsche he shares with Pilet, turning a best lap of 50.606 sec. (104.857 mph). The entire GTLM field was covered by just 0.535 seconds. 

Lamborghini Becomes First Repeat TOTAL Pole Award Winner In WeatherTech Championship GTD Class

Lamborghini became the first manufacturer in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class to repeat as a TOTAL Pole Award winner this season in qualifying Friday for the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.

Madison Snow drove the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 to the top spot, lapping the 1.474-mile bullring in 52.508 seconds (101.058 mph). It was the second career TOTAL Pole Award for Snow, and the second for Paul Miller Racing this season with Snow’s co-driver Bryan Sellers earning the TOTAL Pole Award at the BUBBA burger Grand Prix at Long Beach in April.

“We topped Practice 2, but we didn’t know how good everyone else was going to be, or how hard they were pushing,” said Snow. “I had a good lap early in the qualifying session, I was just nervous somebody was going to pull it off in the middle of the session or late in session. I was able to get another quick lap at the end that kept me on the pole. Now hopefully we will be able to pull away and get the win.”

Colin Braun made a rare qualifying appearance in CORE autosport’s No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R, qualifying second with a lap of 52.699 seconds (100.692 mph). Third with a lap of 52.836 seconds (100.431 mph) was the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long, who is making just his second start this season and first for Alegra Motorsports. A late add to the entry list, Long enters the weekend with four class wins at Lime Rock. He will be joined in the race by Daniel Morad.

The No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Jens Klingmann rounded out the top five. Lexus has been building momentum over the course of its debut season in WeatherTech Championship competition, with the team’s No. 14 entry winning the TOTAL Pole Award one race ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Turner Motorsport, meanwhile, has finished fourth or better in the team’s last three races and is in search of its first class win of the season.