IMSA Road America race day news and notes

The 20-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship warmup at Road America brought big drama to the polesitting No. 31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Action Express Racing, Alexander Sims looping the car in Turn 13 and backing into the wall, doing heavy damage to the rear. Sims was checked and cleared by medical, but the car sustained damage to the left rear suspension and the undertray along with the rear wing and bodywork. With less than two hours before the race start, the AXR crew has a tough job ahead of them.

Sims’s accident brought out a red flag, limiting run time to scrub tires for the race or go through checklists. Renger van der Zande set the best time at 1m51.748 in the No. 01 Cadillac. Mikel Jensen was quickest in LMP2 for TDS Racing and Joao Barbosa led LMP3 for Sean Creech Motorsport. Ross Gunn led GTD PRO in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 that his teammate Ale Riberas put on the pole, and Bill Auberlen was quickest in GTD in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3

Offline grip still an issue

The fresh Road America pavement that led to record-breaking laps in qualifying yesterday is going to play a very different role in the race. The main subject of discussion this weekend has been the fact that while the racing line has been nicely rubbered in, off line it hasn’t, and it’s slick in comparison. And not only has it not improved, but it’s degraded as the weekend has progressed with dust and marbles. Passing is going to be very tricky today.

“I think the multi-class racing part is going to be very interesting to say the least,” declares Connor De Phillippi, driver of the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 in GTP. “I think passing offline is going to be virtually impossible; especially in the carousel – you can forget about it offline around the outside of some of these corners. So it’s going to require all the patience, it’s going to be a lot of cat-and-mouse of who’s going to be willing to take risks in traffic.”

De Phillippi’s co-driver, Nick Yelloly, says that going off the racing line effectively costs 50-60 percent of the grip. Other drivers agree, LMP2 polesitter George Kurtz comparing it to a dry line on a wet track. And while today’s race may very well improve the situation for the next group of racers to use the track, it’s not likely to be better today.

“I like the track repave, it’s nice and smooth,” says GTD polesitter Madison Snow. “But I think offline will keep getting worse and worse because online always gets better and better throughout the weekend as it rubbers in. I always try to stay online but I don’t think offline is getting any better.”