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Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Jeremy Shaw

IMSA Lime Rock: Pfaff Porsche crew takes another win

The 2h40m race around the tight, twisty venue in rural Connecticut was one of two this season to be contested only by the GT cars.

Campbell scorched to his first IMSA pole on Friday, then led the early stages, albeit chased by Jack Hawksworth, making a welcome return to the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team after sustaining injuries in a motocross accident, the Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Ross Gunn and Jordan Taylor’s Corvette.

The order was shuffled following an early round of pitstops. Hawksworth took advantage of an early stop and a fresh set of tyres to leapfrog his way into the lead, while Campbell - the last to visit the pitlane - rejoined in third behind the Corvette.

The yellow C8.R committed to a three-stop strategy when Antonio Garcia took over from Taylor after 83 laps, although the Spaniard was out of the race soon afterward following contact with the lapped Mercedes of Jules Gounon.

The other GTD Pro cars pursued a more conventional two-stop approach. Campbell executed a crucial pass on Hawksworth on the 100th lap, with around 70 minutes remaining, and six laps later made his final stop, after which Jaminet was able to resume in the lead.

Alex Riberas, taking over from Gunn, emerged second ahead of Ben Barnicoat, in for Hawksworth, which is how the leading positions remained despite a late full-course caution after Ryan Eversley crashed the Rick Ware Racing Acura heavily.

Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz (Vasser Sullivan Lexus) appeared to have the GTD class in hand before the caution. But Philip Ellis (Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG) barged past at the restart, only to agonisingly run out of fuel on the final lap.

Telitz had to make an extra stop due to damage, while Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers (Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3), having been seemingly set for fourth, slipped past Roman De Angelis/Maxime Martin (Heart of Racing Aston Martin), then inherited the win when the Winward Mercedes slowed.

Result - 174 laps

Cla Class Driver Chassis Gap
1 GTD PRO Australia Matt Campbell
France Mathieu Jaminet
Porsche 911 GT3 R  
2 GTD PRO United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1.883
3 GTD PRO United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
Lexus RC F GT3 4.078
4 GTD United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
BMW M4 GT3 8.842
5 GTD Canada Roman De Angelis
Belgium Maxime Martin
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 9.473
6 GTD United States Robert Megennis
United States Jeff Westphal
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 9.532
7 GTD United States Mike Skeen
United Kingdom Stevan McAleer
Mercedes AMG GT3 9.641
8 GTD United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
Mercedes AMG GT3 17.960
9 GTD United States Ryan Hardwick
Belgium Jan Heylen
Porsche 911 GT3 R 22.317
10 GTD PRO United States Cooper MacNeil
France Jules Gounon
Mercedes AMG GT3 33.800
11 GTD United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 40.276
12 GTD PRO Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
Corvette C8.R GTD 5 Laps
  GTD United States Ryan Eversley
Australia Aidan Read
Acura NSX GT3 24 Laps
  GTD PRO United States Connor de Phillippi
United States John Edwards
BMW M4 GT3 97 Laps
  GTD United States Robby Foley
United States Bill Auberlen
BMW M4 GT3 141 Laps
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