2017 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

 

Similar to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, this event was held in conjunction with the Detroit Grand Prix in the IndyCar series, with one event held on the same day as the IMSA event, and another held a day after as a double-header.

IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016.^[1] It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the eighth annual running of the race, counting the period between 2007 and 2013 when it was a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series respectively.^[2] The 2017 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, the shortest in terms of time, and was the third round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup.^[3] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.350 mi (3.782 km) Belle Isle Park on June 3, 2017.^[3] After the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown four weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 141 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 119 points, and Dane Cameron and Eric Curran with 111 points.^[4] With 108 points, PC was led by James French and Patricio O'Ward with a twenty-point advantage over Don Yount and Buddy Rice.^[4] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 133 points, ahead of Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 109 points.^[4] Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Riley Motorsports Team AMG each led their own Teams' Championships.^[4]

On May 25, 2017, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event.^[5] In P, the Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 0.6 mm smaller air restrictor as well as a fuel capacity reduction of 2 liters and changes to the cars rear wing angle. The Mazda RT24-P received a fuel capacity increase of 1 liter and an increase in turbo boost. The Nissan Onroak DPi received a 0.5 mm reduction of refueling restriction and gained 1 liter of fuel capacity. In GTD, Mercedes-AMG GT3 received a 20 kilogram weight increase and an air restrictor reduction of 0.5 millimeters. The Porsche 911 GT3 R received a 10 kilogram weight increase. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and Audi R8 LMS were given fuel capacity increases of 2 and 1 liters, respectively.^[6]

With the absence of the GTLM class from the field, only three racing classes were represented in Belle Isle.^[7] A total of 28 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, and 15 in GTD.^[8] In P, Kenton Koch and Ryan Lewis shared the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry. In PC, Ryan Lewis joined Don Yount in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry. Tomy Drissi joined Bruno Junqueira in the No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTD, Lone Star Racing and TRG skipped the event.

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday. The first ninety-minute session was on Friday morning. The second on Friday afternoon lasted 90 minutes.^[9]

The first practice session took place at 8:30 am ET on Friday and ended with Christian Fittipaldi topping the charts for Mustang Sampling Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.750.^[10] The PC class was topped by the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Patricio O'Ward with a time of 1:27.851.^[11] Jeroen Mul set the fastest time in GTD.^[11]

The second and final practice session took place at 1:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.058.^[14] Patricio O'Ward set the fastest time in PC.^[15] Lawson Aschenbach was fastest in GTD.^[15]

 

Friday afternoon's 65-minute three-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC and GTD cars.^[18][9]

The first was for cars in GTD class. Lawson Aschenbach qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports entry, besting Katherine Legge in the No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry.^[19]

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.^[20]

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Renger van der Zande's No. 30 Riley was fastest overall, lapping at 1 minute, 24.693 seconds.^[19] Jonathan Bomarito set the second fastest time before Ricky Taylor, driving the No. 10 Cadillac, crashed at turn four. The red flag was thrown and caused the session to be abandoned. Christian Fittipaldi was handed pole position as the session did not reach minimum time to be declared official and Starting positions were set by Teams' Championship standings. For causing the red flag, Taylor had his time from the session deleted.^[21][20]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	90	VisitFlorida Racing	Renger van der Zande	1:24.693	_	91
2	P	55	Mazda Motorsports	Jonathan Bomarito	1:25.055	+0.362	5
3	P	85	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Mikhail Goikhberg	1:25.510	+0.817	3
4	P	70	Mazda Motorsports	Tom Long	1:25.875	+1.182	7
5	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Christian Fittipaldi	1:25.931	+1.238	1‡
6	P	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Eric Curran	1:26.048	+1.355	2
7	P	2	Tequila Patrón ESM	Scott Sharp	1:26.092	+1.399	4
8	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Ricky Taylor	1:26.736	+2.043	122
9	PC	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	James French	1:28.494	+3.801	10‡
10	P	22	Tequila Patrón ESM	Ed Brown	1:28.621	+3.928	6
11	GTD	57	Stevenson Motorsports	Lawson Aschenbach	1:30.200	+5.507	14‡
12	GTD	93	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Katherine Legge	1:30.541	+5.848	15
13	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers	1:30.763	+6.070	16
14	GTD	16	Change Racing	Corey Lewis	1:30.802	+6.109	17
15	GTD	14	3GT Racing	Scott Pruett	1:30.878	+6.185	18
16	GTD	28	Alegra Motorsports	Daniel Morad	1:30.944	+6.251	19
17	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Christina Nielsen	1:31.016	+6.323	20
18	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports – Team AMG	Ben Keating	1:31.511	+6.818	21
19	GTD	15	3GT Racing	Robert Alon	1:31.557	+6.864	21
20	GTD	75	SunEnergy1 Racing	Kenny Habul	1:31.759	+7.066	22
21	GTD	50	Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing	Cooper MacNeil	1:31.856	+7.163	23
22	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bret Curtis	1:32.459	+7.766	24
23	GTD	54	CORE Autosport	Jon Bennett	1:33.097	+8.404	25
24	PC	26	BAR1 Motorsports	Tomy Drissi	1:33.166	+8.473	123
25	PC	20	BAR1 Motorsports	Don Yount	1:34.968	+10.275	11
26	P	52	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	No Time Established			84
27	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	No Time Established			275
28	GTD	86	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	No Time Established			286
Sources:[22][23]

• ¹ The No. 90 VisitFlorida Racing entry was moved to the back of the P field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[18]
• ² The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry entry had its fastest lap deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
• ³ The No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the PC field after failing post qualifying technical inspection.^[20]
• ⁴ The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry moved to the back of the P field as per Article 40.2.10 of the Sporting regulations (car did not participate in qualifying and no starting driver was nominated).^[18]
• ⁵ The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[18]
• ⁶ The No. 86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Articles 43.5 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver) and (Change of starting tires).^[18]

With a total of 177 points, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed him to increase their advantage over Fittipaldi and Barbosa in the Prototype Drivers' Championship to 30 points.^[24] With a total of 144 points, French and O'Ward's victory allowed him to increase their advantage over Yount in the PC Drivers' Championship to 26 points.^[24] The result kept Bleekemolen and Keating atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Negri Jr. and Segal advanced from seventh to fifth.^[24] Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Riley Motorsports kept their respective advantages in the trio of Teams' Championships with seven races left in the season.^[24]

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 10   Wayne Taylor Racing   Ricky Taylor   Jordan Taylor Cadillac DPi-V.R C 65 1:40:49.514‡ Cadillac 6.2 L V8 2 P 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Dane Cameron   Eric Curran Cadillac DPi-V.R C 65 +4.948 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 3 P 70   Mazda Motorsports   Tom Long   Joel Miller Mazda RT24-P C 65 +34.502 Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 4 P 5   Mustang Sampling Racing   João Barbosa   Christian Fittipaldi Cadillac DPi-V.R C 65 +40.007 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 5 P 55   Mazda Motorsports   Tristan Nunez   Jonathan Bomarito Mazda RT24-P C 65 +41.888 Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 6 P 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Mikhail Goikhberg   Stephen Simpson Oreca 07 C 65 +1:07.765 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 7 P 22   Tequila Patrón ESM   Johannes van Overbeek   Ed Brown Nissan Onroak DPi C 65 +1:19.995 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 8 PC 38   Performance Tech Motorsports   James French   Patricio O'Ward Oreca FLM09 C 64 +1 lap‡ Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 9 PC 26   BAR1 Motorsports   Tomy Drissi   Bruno Junqueira Oreca FLM09 C 63 +2 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 10 PC 20   BAR1 Motorsports   Don Yount   Ryan Lewis Oreca FLM09 C 62 +3 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 11 GTD 93   Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian   Andy Lally   Katherine Legge Acura NSX GT3 C 62 +3 Laps‡ Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 12 GTD 63   Scuderia Corsa   Christina Nielsen   Alessandro Balzan Ferrari 488 GT3 C 62 +3 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 13 GTD 48   Paul Miller Racing   Bryan Sellers   Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 62 +3 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 14 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Jens Klingmann   Bret Curtis BMW M6 GT3 C 62 +3 Laps BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 15 GTD 86   Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian   Jeff Segal   Oswaldo Negri Jr. Acura NSX GT3 C 62 +3 Laps Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 16 GTD 14   3GT Racing   Scott Pruett   Sage Karam Lexus RC F GT3 C 62 +3 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 17 GTD 15   3GT Racing   Robert Alon   Jack Hawksworth Lexus RC F GT3 C 62 +3 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 18 GTD 54   CORE Autosport   Jon Bennett   Colin Braun Porsche 911 GT3 R C 62 +3 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 19 GTD 73   Park Place Motorsports   Jörg Bergmeister   Patrick Lindsey Porsche 911 GT3 R C 62 +3 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 20 GTD 28   Alegra Motorsports   Mathieu Jaminet   Daniel Morad Porsche 911 GT3 R C 62 +3 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 21 GTD 16   Change Racing   Corey Lewis   Jeroen Mul Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 61 +4 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 22 GTD 50   Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing   Cooper MacNeil   Gunnar Jeannette Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 60 +5 Laps Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 23 DNF P 2   Tequila Patrón ESM   Scott Sharp   Ryan Dalziel Nissan Onroak DPi C 56 Rear end Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 24 DNF P 57   Stevenson Motorsports   Andrew Davis   Lawson Aschenbach Audi R8 LMS C 43 Driveline Audi 5.2L V10 25 DNF PC 90   VisitFlorida Racing   Marc Goossens   Renger van der Zande Riley Mk. 30 C 18 Crash Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 26 DNF P 33   Riley Motorsports – Team AMG   Jeroen Bleekemolen   Ben Keating Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 17 Crash Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 27 DNF P 75   SunEnergy1 Racing   Tristan Vautier   Kenny Habul Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 15 Crash Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 28 DNF P 52   PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports   Kenton Koch   Ryan Lewis Ligier JS P217 C 1 Quit Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Sources:[25][26]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental

Prototype Drivers' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     Jordan Taylor   Ricky Taylor 177 2     João Barbosa   Christian Fittipaldi 147 3     Dane Cameron   Eric Curran 143 4     Misha Goikhberg   Stephen Simpson 135 5     Ryan Dalziel   Scott Sharp 129

PC Drivers' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     James French   Patricio O'Ward 144 2     Don Yount 118 3   1   Buddy Rice 88 4   1   Kyle Masson 72 5   1   Nicholas Boulle 68

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     Antonio García   Jan Magnussen 124 2     Joey Hand   Dirk Müller 118 3     Patrick Pilet   Dirk Werner 110 4     Bill Auberlen   Alexander Sims 108 5     Ryan Briscoe   Richard Westbrook 107

GTD Drivers' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     Jeroen Bleekemolen   Ben Keating 150 2     Alessandro Balzan   Christina Nielsen 141 3   1   Bryan Sellers   Madison Snow 123 4   1   Daniel Morad 122 5   2   Oswaldo Negri Jr.   Jeff Segal 116

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Protoype Teams' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1     #10 Wayne Taylor Racing 177 2     #5 Mustang Sampling Racing 147 3     #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 143 4     #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports 135 5     #2 Tequila Patrón ESM 129

PC Teams' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1     #38 Performance Tech Motorsports 144 2     #26 BAR1 Motorsports 125 3     #20 BAR1 Motorsports 118 4     #8 Starworks Motorsport 58 5     #88 Starworks Motorsport 28

GTLM Teams' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1     #3 Corvette Racing 124 2     #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 118 3     #911 Porsche GT Team 110 4     #25 BMW Team RLL 108 5     #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 107

GTD Teams' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1     #33 Riley Motorsports Team AMG 150 2     #63 Scuderia Corsa 141 3   1   #48 Paul Miller Racing 123 4   1   #28 Alegra Motorsports 122 5   2   #86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 116

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1     Cadillac 175 2     Nissan 156 3     Mazda 154

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings[24] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1     Chevrolet 133 2     Ford 127 3     Porsche 118 4     BMW 114 5     Ferrari 112

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standing[24] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1     Mercedes-AMG 159 2     Ferrari 150 3     Porsche 142 4   1   Lamborghini 139 5   1   Acura 137

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.