DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The first of two GT-only races is next up for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as the series makes its way to the 1.5-mile Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut for the two-hour, 40-minute Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday, July 21.
It will mark the seventh of 11 races for the WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes. An 18-car field will take to the track that afternoon with the field featuring eight GTLM cars and 10 GTD entries.
The Northeast Grand Prix starts at 3 p.m. ET will be carried live by IMSA Radio on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (Sirius 138/XM 202/App 972). It will be televised on FS1 on a delayed basis beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Tickets are available now on LimeRock.com.
The provisional WeatherTech Championship entry list can be found here.
Notes:
- Of the 34 drivers on the Pre-Event Entry List (drivers for the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 are still TBD), 14 have won at least one previous IMSA race at Lime Rock Park since 2000.
- There are three drivers on the entry list with four victories each at Lime Rock Park.
- No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R driver Oliver Gavin won the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GTS race in 2004, ALMS GT1 in 2005 and 2007, and the WeatherTech Championship GTLM class in 2016.
- Andy Lally – a native of nearby Long Island, New York – won the GRAND-AM SRPII class at Lime Rock in 2001, as well as a GRAND-AM GT win in 2006, an ALMS GTC class win in 2010 and the WeatherTech Championship GTD class in 2016. He returns this year with the same team and car – the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 – and co-driver – John Potter – with whom he won in 2016.
- Patrick Long, who shares the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with co-driver Christina Nielsen, also is a four-time Lime Rock winner. He won the ALMS GT2 class in 2006 and 2009 and the ALMS GT class in 2010 and 2012.
- Long is one of two drivers in this year’s field to have earned two pole positions at Lime Rock. The first pole came in the ALMS GT2 class in 2005, with the second in the ALMS GT class in 2010.
- The other multi-time pole winner in the field is No. 24 BMW Team RLL driver John Edwards, who took the GRAND-AM GT pole in 2012 and the ALMS GT pole in 2013. Edwards – who co-drives the No. 24 with Jesse Krohn – also has three wins at Lime Rock: GRAND-AM GT in 2010 and 2012, and the 2013 ALMS GT race.
- Local fans will be rooting on one of their own in No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT driver Ryan Briscoe, who makes his home in nearby Farmington, Connecticut. Briscoe comes into the race as the GTLM points leader alongside co-driver Richard Westbrook with victories already this season in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last weekend. Briscoe also has celebrated previously in Lime Rock victory lane, taking the ALMS P2 win in 2013 and the P2 and overall ALMS win in 2007.
- Corvette Racing has the most Lime Rock race wins with five, the most recent coming in the 2016 WeatherTech Championship GTLM race with the No. 4 Corvette C7.R and co-drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. That victory was a milestone 100th victory in sports car competition for Corvette Racing which includes eight victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team’s next victory will be its 100th in IMSA competition.
- Porsche is the winningest manufacturer on the entry list with 18 IMSA wins (17 ALMS and one GRAND-AM), followed by Chevrolet, which has 11 wins at Lime Rock (six GRAND-AM, five ALMS).
Previous Lime Rock Park Race-Winning Drivers in 2018 Field Since 2000 (14)
Andy Lally (4) – GRAND-AM SRPII – 2001; GRAND-AM GT – 2006; ALMS GTC – 2010; GTD – 2016
Oliver Gavin (4) – ALMS GTS – 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007; GTLM – 2016
Patrick Long (4) – ALMS GT2 – 2006, 2009; ALMS GT – 2010, 2012
John Edwards (3) – GRAND-AM GT – 2010, 2012; ALMS GT – 2013
Ryan Briscoe (2) – ALMS P2/Overall – 2007; ALMS P2 – 2013
Jan Magnussen (2) – ALMS GT1 – 2008; GRAND-AM GT – 2011
Dirk Mueller (2) – ALMS GT – 2011, 2013
Wolf Henzler (1) – ALMS GT2 – 2008
Joey Hand (1) – ALMS GT – 2011
Cooper MacNeil (1) – ALMS GTC – 2012
Lawson Aschenbach (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2013
Tommy Milner (1) – GTLM – 2016
John Potter (1) – GTD – 2016
Patrick Pilet (1) – GTLM/Overall – 2017
Previous Lime Rock Park Pole Winners (Since 2000) in 2018 Field (11)
John Edwards (3) – GRAND-AM GT – 2012; ALMS GT – 2013
Patrick Long (2) – ALMS GT2 – 2005; ALMS GT – 2010
Wolf Henzler (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2007
Oliver Gavin (1) – ALMS GT1 – 2008
Jeroen Bleekemolen (1) – ALMS GTC – 2010
Joey Hand (1) – ALMS GT – 2011
Kyle Marcelli (1) – ALMS P2 – 2012
Ryan Briscoe (1) – ALMS P2 – 2013
Lawson Aschenbach (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2013
Richard Westbrook (1) – GTLM – 2016
Madison Snow (1) – GTD – 2017
Previous Lime Rock Park Race-Winning Teams (Since 1999) in 2018 Field (5)
Corvette Racing (5) – ALMS GTS – 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; GTLM – 2016
BMW Team RLL (2) – ALMS GT – 2011, 2013
Turner Motorsport (1) – GTD – 2015
Magnus Racing (1) – GTD – 2016
Porsche GT Team (1) – GTLM/Overall – 2017
Previous Lime Rock Park Race-Winning Manufacturers (Since 1999) in 2018 Field (7)
Porsche – 18
Chevrolet – 11
Audi – 6
BMW – 5
Ford – 4
Acura – 2
Ferrari – 1