By Mark Robinson
Harry Tincknell’s baggage may weigh more than usual when he arrives at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to race in the Acura Sports Car Challenge this weekend.
That’s because it may include hardware from winning his class Sunday at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Normally co-driver of the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports DPi in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, Tincknell was part of the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR team along with Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn that captured victory in the GTE Pro class at Le Mans.
It was the second class victory at Circuit de la Sarthe for Tincknell, following a 2014 win in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class.
“I feel incredibly lucky to be part of this team and experience,” Tincknell said of being with Aston Martin, which also had a car place third in GTE Pro and win in GTE Am. “It’s fantastic to be a winner in an Aston Martin at Le Mans. The history that the brand has here and the emotion of the British fans, who couldn’t be with us but are still watching at home … it’s really something special. I have to pinch myself that I’m going to be a small part of Aston Martin’s history forever.”
Tincknell’s focus now quickly shifts to Mid-Ohio, where he and teammate Jonathan Bomarito are embroiled in a tight battle for the championship halfway through the season. With one win and one runner-up finish this season, the No. 55 is fourth in the DPi standings but just six points behind the class-leading No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Sebastien Bourdais, co-driver of the No. 5 Mustang Racing Sampling/JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi that is second in the DPi standings, finished fourth at Le Mans in GTE Pro as part of the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 team. Fred Makowiecki jumped from the Porsche GT Team in WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) competition to run with Porsche in Le Mans GTE Pro, where he finished fifth.
Also, the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 that finished sixth in GTE Am is worth noting since its trio of drivers all come with IMSA roots. Richard Heistand earned the entry as the 2019 Bob Akin Award winner as the top ProAm driver in the WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class. Co-driver Max Root is a graduate of Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and was the 2018 IMSA Hurley Haywood GT3 Scholarship recipient.
Third driver Jan Magnussen, a two-time WeatherTech Championship season champion with 10 GTLM wins to his credit, was named one of the “50 Great IMSA Drivers” from IMSA’s 50th anniversary season last year. Magnussen is eighth on IMSA’s all-time win list with 47 career victories.
The Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio begins with practices at 6:10 p.m. ET Friday and 10:55 a.m. Saturday. Qualifying takes place at 8 a.m. Sunday, ahead of the two-hour, 40-minute race beginning at 2:05 p.m. that afternoon. The race streams live on the NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. NBCSN television coverage airs at 11 p.m. ET Sunday.