One race after a heartbreaking loss on the final corner of the final lap at Long Beach, the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen survived a multi-car accident on the first corner of the first lap Saturday to win the Advance Auto Parts SportsCar Showdown at Circuit of The Americas.

Starting in sixth, Magnussen took the inside line in Turn 1 and by the time he cleared the melee, he had moved to third. By lap 27 of 73, the No. 3 Corvette moved into the lead and never gave it up, winning its second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the season by 2.498 seconds over the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 of Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims.

“I definitely made the right choice to pick the inside line,” said Magnussen. “Everything was happening on the outside and a few cars got in big trouble and had some heavy damage. I’m really happy I escaped all that without a scratch.”

The Turn 1 incident damaged five cars, including the two Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs that entered the weekend first and third in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) standings. The No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe, No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella, and No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R of Tommy Milner all suffered major damage.

The No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Dirk Mueller and the No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Wolf Henzler also were involved and lost multiple laps due to damage obtained from the incident.

It was the strongest run of the season for BMW with polesitter John Edwards and co-driver Martin Tomczyk in BMW Team RLL’s No. 24 BMW M6 rounding out the class podium. Edwards led 22 laps on the day, but a pit road penalty put the team too far behind the race-winning Corvette to contend for the win.

The win was Corvette Racing’s 104th major U.S. sports car victory. The No. 3 team also won the race’s DEKRA Green Award. The award recognizes the cleanest, fastest and most efficient team in the GTLM class in each race through a scoring system developed in a partnership between IMSA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy and SAE International.

“I think it is the perfect way to come back after what happened at Long Beach,” said Garcia. “It’s a shame the No. 4 car had that contact in turn one., but it’s three wins in a row for Corvette Racing. I think no one expected that, but that is what it takes for those results: Zero mistakes."

Keating Joins Bleekemolen, Mercedes in Home State Victory

There’s something about Circuit of The Americas that suits Ben Keating. The Texas native extended his series-record at the Austin, Texas, track Saturday with his fourth win in five starts in the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown. Keating, who picked up three consecutive wins between 2013-15, was joined by co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen in the victory.

The win was Bleekemolen’s third at the track, after joining Keating on the top step of the podium in 2014 and 2015.

It was another big win in his home state for Keating, who was born in Tomball, Texas and now resides in Victoria, graduated from Texas A&M in 1994, and has since opened 17 automotive dealerships throughout the state.

“Winning again, the home race…I love this place,” said Keating. “Nothing beats winning at home.”

It’s been impressive debut season for Mercedes-AMG as well, with Keating and Bleekemolen scoring the third consecutive WeatherTech Championship victory for Mercedes-AMG in the marque’s fourth race.

“We knew we had a strong car for the race, we knew we were in it,” added Bleekemolen. “For the fourth race in a row we had a perfect race, no mistakes. It’s been an unbelievable season so far. I can’t believe that not the smallest thing has gone wrong so far.”

Also having a strong start to the season is Ferrari, with the runner-up No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 and co-drivers Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan finishing on the podium for the third race this season.

The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Tristan Vautier and Kenny Habul led two laps to round out the podium, their second of the season.

The next WeatherTech Championship race is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation on Saturday, June 3. The 100-minute race will feature the Prototype, PC and GT Daytona (GTD) classes.

McLaren has already made plenty of headlines in the world of motorsport, but earned another one Friday at Circuit of The Americas.

The manufacturer, competing in just its third IMSA SportsCar Challenge race since joining the series at the beginning of the 2017 season, picked up its first series victory in the Circuit of The Americas 120 courtesy of co-drivers Matt Plumb and Paul Holton in the No. 76 C360R McLaren GT4.

In addition, it was Plumb’s 23rd Continental Tire Challenge victory, moving him into a tie with Billy Johnson for the most wins in series history.

It was a banner day in total for McLaren and C360R, as Holton put the car on the pole position for the first time in qualifying Friday morning. Holton then led the race throughout his opening driving stint in the two-hour race before handing the car over to Plumb in a pit stop just past the 50-minute mark.

Plumb was eighth in the field after the pit stop, but gradually worked his way forward through the second half of the race. He moved into the top three with 36 minutes to go, and took the lead in a thrilling, three-wide pass in Turn 1 around Trent Hindman in the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 and Robin Liddell in the brand-new Stevenson Motorsports No. 57 Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R.

“I just closed my eyes,” Plumb said. “Those guys had been battling in previous corners and I knew getting by one at a time would be difficult because they were running nose to tail. The Porsche dove down to the inside and slowed them both up and I got the best run I possibly could.

“Our car was great on the brakes in Turn 1 and I had seen that lap after lap and so it was just the perfect situation. They slowed each other down, I knew I was going to outbrake them and it worked.”

When the dust settled, not only was Plumb the leader, but his C360R teammate, Nico Rondet, moved into second place in the No. 77 McLaren. Plumb went on to lead a 1-2 McLaren sweep, winning by 3.676 seconds. It was the 15th Continental Tire Challenge win for the C360R team and the second in the series for Holton.

Rondet and co-driver Mathew Keegan were second, followed by Hindman and No. 12 Porsche co-driver Cameron Cassels in third. Dillon Machavern and Dylan Murcott were fourth in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 MR, with Liddell and co-driver Matt Bell fifth in the Camaro.

In the Street Tuner (ST) class, Eric Foss and Austin resident Jeff Mosing earned their second straight COTA victory in a nail-biter over defending ST co-champions Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante.

Foss, driving the No. 56 Mosing Motorcars/Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman, withstood heavy pressure from Pumpelly in the No. 17 RS1 Porsche for much of the final hour of the race. Pumpelly closed right up on Foss several times but ultimately settled for second, 0.568 seconds, behind Foss.

“Honestly, it’s always great to race here at COTA in the Continental Tire Challenge and I was a little pessimistic maybe this morning,” Foss said. “We had been really fighting the setup. We came here and tested about a month ago and we thought we found something new that was going to work out for us and then we got here for the race weekend and we just found we just really struggled in practice.

“I know we showed some times in the practice that looked promising but ultimately we felt that we were struggling at that point. Ken Murillo did his magic, the Continental Tires were phenomenal and I think we had a little luck there but whatever it is, we’ll take it. To win back-to-back here, I wouldn’t have even thought that was remotely possible even three hours ago.”

While C360R celebrated a 1-2 overall and Grand Sport (GS) class result, the team also had a podium in ST. Pierre Kleinubing and Roy Block took third in class driving the No. 75 Audi S3.

Brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R program have moved into historic territory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

They earned their fourth consecutive victory in Saturday’s Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown, marking the longest win streak in WeatherTech Championship history and the longest in major U.S. sports car racing competition since Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr won eight straight in the 2013 American Le Mans Series.

It was also the 11th career WeatherTech Championship victory for the Taylor brothers, making them the winningest drivers in series history. And, just for good measure, it was their second consecutive victory at Circuit of The Americas, as they also won in Austinlast September.

Today’s win capped a dominant weekend for the No. 10 team. They led two of three pre-qualifying practice sessions, including both of Thursday’ssessions. Ricky Taylor then obliterated the previous track record by three seconds in Friday’s qualifying session, and outqualified his next closest competitor, Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi, by more than a second-and-a-half.

And from the drop of the green flag in the two-hour, 40-minute Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown, the No. 10 machine was in control. As the qualifying driver, Ricky Taylor started the race and as soon as the race got underway in earnest following an opening-lap incident among several top GT Le Mans (GTLM) class competitors, he quickly pulled out to a healthy advantage.

“It was really nice today,” said Ricky Taylor. “It was one of the best race cars I’ve ever had. The team has just done an amazing preparation for this car. We’re just getting to know it more and more. Every race weekend we’re learning. This weekend, it shows how much we’ve developed through the year. We unloaded off the truck really strong, then qualified really well. It was fantastic.”

The 27-year-old elder Taylor brother held the lead for the entirety of his driving stint before turning the car over to Jordan Taylor at the one-hour, 45-minute mark in the race. The younger Taylor brought it home with without any serious challenges, speeding to an 18.855-second victory over Dane Cameron and Eric Curran in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R.

“I think we surprised ourselves,” Jordan Taylor said. “We knew why the car was fast yesterday because we made a qualifying setup for the car. And then we went back to race settings and we thought it’d come back to us. It came back a little bit.

“We didn’t have the same gap, but I think it shows how well our team is operating with this Cadillac. We understand how it works and I think it goes back to September of last year when we were one of the first to get the car and start testing it. We’ve done a lot of work for it, but I’m happy we got our four race wins now and we can move on to Detroit.”

It was the second podium sweep in four races for the new Cadillac DPi program, as Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi finished third in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. The No. 5 made it into podium position with slightly more than 10 minutes remaining, when the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi being driven by Ryan Dalziel caught fire.

Dalziel expertly guided the car to a safe location near fire personnel and leapt from the machine. He was evaluated and release from the infield care center following the incident.

With the win, the No. 10 duo extended their lead in the Prototype championship standings to 22 points, 141-119, over Barbosa and Fittipaldi.

Perfect Season Rolls On For Performance Tech

Not unlike the Taylor brothers in the Prototype Class, the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09 pairing of James French and Pato O’Ward are having a dominant season in the Prototype Challenge (PC) class.

After winning the opening two rounds of the season in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, French and O’Ward picked up their third straight win on Saturdayin the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown.

The PC race followed a similar format to Daytona and Sebring. The No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09 – this time driven by Stefan Wilson – moved out into an early class lead, just as it did in the first two races. This time, Wilson’s lead lasted the first 10 minutes before French – who started the race from the class pole position – regained the top spot.

French stayed there until just past the halfway point, when he pitted to turn the car over to O-Ward, who was celebrating his 18th birthday. The Mexican driver rejoined the field third in class behind leader Nick Boulle in the No. 26 and 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry.

O’Ward moved into second at the one-hour, 45-minute mark and regained the lead with just prior to the two-hour mark when Boulle pitted. He pulled away over the remaining distance to win by one lap over the No. 26 machine.

“We had a bit of a challenge in the middle of the race,” O’Ward said. “We were about 50 seconds behind P1. I sort of put my head down and tried to do as perfect of laps as they could be.

“I was catching and catching, then when it was time for the last pit stop, we just did a splash of fuel and didn’t change any drivers or tires and we came out in first.  The plan was just to hold them off then. They got a drive-through (penalty), so it gave me a chance to just mellow out and finish the race like that.”

The next WeatherTech Championship race is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation on Saturday, June 3. The 100-minute race will feature the Prototype, PC and GT Daytona (GTD) classes.

The Taylor train kept rolling at Circuit of The Americas on Friday, and maybe even picked up some more speed.

In qualifying for Saturday’s Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown, Ricky Taylor beat the previous IMSA SportsCar Championship lap record on the 3.4-mile COTA track by exactly three seconds, and beat the field by more than 1.5 seconds to take the pole position in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R with a best lap of 1 minute, 54.809 seconds (106.6 mph).

It was Taylor’s second consecutive WeatherTech Championship pole – he took the No. 1 starting position for last month’s BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach – and was the 15th of his major U.S. sports car racing pole (five WeatherTech Championship, 10 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series).

“I know the times look dominant, but we made some big compromises for qualifying so I think the race is going to be really tough tomorrow,” he said. “We could see in the speed traps we gave up top speed to go for overall times, so tomorrow is going to be all about tires and raceability. We’re going to have to do some changes over night to make this a really good race car.”

Ricky and his brother, Jordan Taylor, are looking for their fourth consecutive WeatherTech Championship victory in Saturday’s race. They opened the year with wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida and the BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix.

They’re the first set of co-drivers to have opened the year with back-to-back-to-back overall victories ever in the WeatherTech Championship and the first pair to win three straight races in major U.S. sports car competition since Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won three straight to open the 2011 GRAND-AM season.

It was a strong “Cinco de Mayo” performance for the Tequila Patrón ESM team. Johannes van Overbeek qualified second in the No. 22 Nissan DPi he shares with Patrón Spirits CEO Ed Brown, turning in a best lap of 1:56.401 (105.1 mph).

Defending WeatherTech Championship Prototype co-champion Eric Curran qualified third in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi. Curran’s best lap was 1:56.429 (105.1 mph) in the car he shares with Dane Cameron, his fellow defending co-champion.

While there was a 1.592-second gap from first to second, positions 2 through 7 were covered by less than one second on the Prototype grid.

French Continues Perfect Season For Performance Tech

Also turning in a dominating qualifying performance was Prototype Challenge (PC) class points leader James French in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09. French turned a best lap of 2:00.066 (101.9 mph), more than 2.9 seconds quicker than second-place PC qualifier Stefan Wilson in the No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA.

French and co-driver Pato O’Ward – who celebrates his 18th birthday tomorrow – opened the year with back-to-back class victories at Daytona and Sebring. Wilson, meanwhile, shares the BAR1 ride with Nick Boulle, who co-drove with French and O’Ward in the No. 38 at Daytona.