Track: Road America
Race: IMSA SportsCar Weekend
Date: August 2, 2020
No. 6 Acura ARX-05 DPi – Dane Cameron/Juan Pablo Montoya
Start: 2nd
Overall Finish: 9th
Class Finish: 9th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 61/64
Recap:
- Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya fought through two on-track incidents that resulted in damage to their No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi to notch a ninth-place overall finish in Sunday’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road America.
- Cameron earned the third second-place starting position of 2020 for the No. 6 Acura team on Saturday afternoon, narrowly missing out on the pole position to his teammate Ricky Taylor.
- Throughout the first stint of the race, Cameron was able to hold down the second position by keeping the No. 55 Mazda behind him through sheer will after several intense battles. After pitting on lap 17, Cameron came off pit road in front of the No. 55 but contact between the two resulted in heavy damage to the rear wing of the No. 6 Acura while also drawing a penalty from IMSA.
- Following great work by the No. 6 crew to repair the Acura, Cameron returned to the track for one more stint before handing the steering wheel over to Montoya on lap 38. Rain began to fall over the Road America circuit on lap 54 with lightning in the area prompting a caution flag to be thrown on the following lap. Unfortunately, as the cars began to slow for the caution, Montoya was hit from the rear by another competitor that inflicted heavy damage to the No. 6 Acura.
- A red-flag condition that followed kept the No. 6 crew from working on the Acura, but when it was removed they were able to make the necessary repairs to get Montoya back on track for a run to the finish. However, the two incidents had sealed the fate of the team as Montoya crossed the finish line in the ninth overall position, eighth in the DPi category.
Quote:
“Obviously not the day we were hoping for with the No. 6 Acura. I unfortunately drew a penalty with some contact that resulted in a flat tire and damage to the rear wing, trying to maintain track position when you are out of sequence. I was on cold tires having just left pit road and the 55 was not, so that was all on me. It put us in a bad spot for the rest of the race, but the car had great pace. The race just came apart after that with Juan getting hit while going under the yellow, and then the deluge hit. Congrats to Helio and Juan on the win and a great day for Acura and Honda Performance Development.”
- Dane Cameron
No. 7 Acura ARX-05 DPi – Helio Castroneves/Ricky Taylor
Start: 1st
Overall Finish: 1st
Class Finish: 1st
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 64/64
Recap:
- Helio Castroneves drove through a rain-soaked Road America circuit late in the IMSA SportsCar Weekend race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) to score the first win of the season for the No. 7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi team on Sunday afternoon
- Ricky Taylor earned the second pole position for the No. 7 Acura team on Saturday afternoon, giving him and co-driver Helio Castroneves one apiece for the 2020 IWSC season.
- After jumping out to a strong lead to start the two hour and 40-minute race, Taylor only allowed his closest competitors to close to his bumper when he was forced to deal with lapped traffic. Once clear of traffic he was able to stretch the lead back to several seconds.
- Taylor pitted to hand the driving duties over to Castroneves on lap 34 and the Brazilian was immediately thrown into an intense battle with the No. 55 Mazda. Castroneves was able to maintain the lead until just after a lap 50 pit stop when the No. 77 Mazda was able to get by him.
- With severe weather threatening the area and light rain starting to fall over portions of the massive Road America facility, race strategist Tim Cindric called Castroneves to pit road for Michelin alternate rain tires on lap 55. He would cycle to the third position after a caution flew on the same lap.
- The yellow-flag period moved to a red-flag condition after lightning was detected in the area. After a lengthy delay, Castroneves restarted from the second position behind the No. 10 Cadillac with just under 10 minutes remaining. He was able to muscle his No. 7 Acura around for the lead on the first lap back under green and held on through heavy rain to secure the victory.
- The next race for the DPi class will be the recently announced, six-hour event at Michelin Road Atlanta – a race traditionally held at Watkins Glen International – on Sunday, September 6.
Quote:
“What an unbelievable race. My teammate (Helio Castroneves) is just unbelievable. It’s been a step-by-step process to get this Acura ARX-05 to where it is today. The last box we needed to check was to get a win in the rain. Helio was able to get it done today. That was an amazing run by him over the last three laps after the race went back to green. We haven’t had the best start to the 2020 season and to get a win from the pole today is huge for the rest of the year.”
- Ricky Taylor