Thirty-Two Drivers Are Set to Compete in the LMP2 and GTLM Classes
By David Phillips
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Some of the world’s top sports car racing talents will take the digital green flag in the second race of the 2021 IMSA iRacing Pro Series Presented by SimCraft on Thursday, April 22. Round 2 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Powered by VP Racing Fuels begins at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The hour-long, multi-class race will stream live on iRacing’s Emmy Award-nominated YouTube and Facebook channels, with the IMSA Radio crew including John Hindhaugh calling the action. Thirty-two drivers are on the entry list.
IMSA iRacing Pro Series Presented by SimCraft: Round 2 Entry List
Australia’s Scott Andrews and Austria’s Philipp Eng were the class winners in the series opener at Sebring International Raceway on April 8. Andrews is competing in real-life racing this week in Europe and unable to defend his victory in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). However, there are still a dozen drivers entered in the class that uses the Dallara P217.
Among them is Canada’s Daniel Morad, who finished second to Andrews at Sebring, and Mirko Bortolotti, who, like Morad, is a previous Rolex 24 At Daytona winner in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. A late entry to the LMP2 field is James French, who won the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title in the Prototype Challenge class and will carry a custom VP Racing Fuels livery on his iRacing No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP2.
Eng heads a field of 20 drivers in GT Le Mans (GTLM), with marques including Corvette, BMW, Ferrari and Porsche competing. Eng secured the iRacing win at Sebring only after fellow BMW driver Robby Foley ran out of virtual fuel within sight of the finish while leading the race. The BMW contingent is strong, with Eng joined by BMW Team RLL teammates Connor De Phillippi, John Edwards, Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler. NASCAR driver and NBC Sports TV pit reporter Parker Kligerman returns to drive a Corvette.
Argentina’s Agustin Canapino is among the drivers making their IMSA iRacing Pro Series debut this week. Canapino competed in the 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona and that year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring aboard the Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi. He’s driving the No. 86 Juncos BMW M8 this week.
“I hope this will be the first of many events this year for us,” Canapino said. “To continue to represent a team who has so much Argentinean heritage means so much to me. We have developed an incredible relationship over the past few years, so I am thrilled to continue to represent the team. I want to thank IMSA and Ricardo Juncos for this opportunity and look forward to a great race on Thursday.”
Win, lose or DNF, competitors will benefit from the opportunity to keep their racing skills sharp during the layoff in the WeatherTech Championship schedule between the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts in March and the upcoming Acura Sports Car Challenge Presented by the TLX Type S at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (May 14-16).
Catch all the action from Round 2 of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series Presented by SimCraft on the iRacing YouTube and Facebook channels starting at 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday.