The 2022 Northeast Grand Prix (known as the 2022 FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons) was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 16, 2022. This race was the ninth round of the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the 2022 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The race was won by the No. 9 GTD Pro entry of Pfaff Motorsports, driven by Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet. The GTD class victory was taken by the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 of Paul Miller Racing, piloted by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. The race for the GTD class victory came down to the last corner, with the leading #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Winward Racing falling victim to a fuel pump failure and fading to fifth in class.
Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2021. It was the seventh year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2022 Northeast Grand Prix was the ninth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2022 by IMSA, and it was the sixth of eight rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the seven-turn Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 16, 2022.
The event marked 50 years since the first IMSA-sanctioned event held at the circuit, which took place as part of the 1972 IMSA GT Championship. As a result, 1972 overall winner Bob Bailey served as the grand marshal for the 2022 edition of the event. As in previous years, it would be the first of two GT-only rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in which only the GTD Pro and GTD classes competed. In June, Connecticut-based auto parts retailer FCP Euro was announced as the race's title sponsor. FCP Euro also fielded an entry in the Michelin Pilot Challenge event that weekend, which served as the sole IMSA-sanctioned support race. The race, officially labeled the Lime Rock Park 120, was won by the #71 Rebel Rock Racing entry of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell.
On July 6, 2022, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. The lone change was a two-liter fuel capacity increase for the Lexus RC F GT3.
The #23 Heart of Racing Team entry entered the event as defending GTD-class winners, while the GTD Pro class would compete at Lime Rock for the first time in class history.
Before the race, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 2056 points, 138 ahead of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor in second. In GTD, Stevan McAleer led the Drivers' Championship with 1765 points, 5 points ahead of Ryan Hardwick and Jan Heylen in second followed by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley in third with 1721 points. Porsche and BMW were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Pfaff Motorsports and Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports each led their own Teams' Championships.
Entries
A total of 15 cars took part in the event, split across two classes. 5 cars were entered in GTD Pro, and 10 in GTD. GTD Pro saw a reduced entry total after the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry of Cooper MacNeil and returning co-driver Jules Gounon moved to the GTD class, having competed in the Pro class for the first six events of the season. MacNeil, an FIA Silver-rated driver, had been eligible to compete in the Pro-Am GTD class for the entire season, and cited the change as an effort to support Mercedes-AMG's push for the GTD manufacturer's championship as well as for undisclosed internal reasons. Jack Hawksworth, who drove the No. 14 GTD Pro entry for Vasser Sullivan Racing, returned after missing the previous two rounds due to injuries suffered in a motocross accident. In GTD, several teams returned after forgoing the international round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, which only paid points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Wright Motorsports and Team Korthoff Motorsports returned, as did CarBahn with Peregrine Racing, who had sourced a replacement Lamborghini Huracán GT3 chassis after damaging their primary car during the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen in June. The Inception Racing McLaren did not return after skipping the race at Mosport, as the team continued to juggle a dual North American and European campaign.
Practice There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted 80 minutes on Friday morning while the second session lasted for 75 minutes on Friday afternoon.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 11:25 am ET and ended with John Edwards topping the charts for BMW M Team RLL, with a lap time of 51.735. ClassTeamDriverTime1 GTD Pro 25 BMW M Team RLL John Edwards 51.735 _2 GTD 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Robert Megennis 51.814 +0.0793 GTD Pro 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Jack Hawksworth 51.820 +0.085Source:
Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 3:05 pm ET and ended with Matt Campbell topping the charts for Pfaff Motorsports, with a lap time of 51.050. ClassTeamDriverTime1 GTD Pro 9 Pfaff Motorsports Matt Campbell 51.050 _2 GTD Pro 3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor 51.101 +0.0513 GTD Pro 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Jack Hawksworth 51.263 +0.213Source:
Qualifying
Friday's afternoon qualifying was broken into one session for the GTD Pro and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (GTD) class requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order.
Matt Campbell took overall pole for Pfaff Motorsports, while Frankie Montecalvo and Vasser Sullivan Racing scored pole in GTD.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTD Pro9 Pfaff Motorsports Matt Campbell51.079_12 GTD Pro 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Jack Hawksworth 51.097 +0.018 23 GTD Pro 25 BMW M Team RLL Connor De Phillippi 51.227 +0.148 154 GTD Pro 23 Heart of Racing Team Ross Gunn 51.281 +0.202 35 GTD Pro 3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor 51.302 +0.202 46GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo51.459 +0.38057 GTD 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Robert Megennis 51.465 +0.386 68 GTD 27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis 51.477 +0.398 79 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley 51.490 +0.411 810 GTD 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Stevan McAleer 51.516 +0.437 911 GTD 57 Winward Racing Russell Ward 51.517 +0.438 1012 GTD 1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow 51.651 +0.572 1113 GTD 51 RWR Eurasia Motorsport Aidan Read 51.741 +0.662 1214 GTD 79 WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil 52.213 +1.134 1315 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick 52.312 +1.233 14 Sources:
Warm-Up The morning warm-up took place at 9:05 am ET and ended with Jules Gounon topping the charts for WeatherTech Racing, with a lap time of 51.342. ClassTeamDriverTime1 GTD 79 WeatherTech Racing Jules Gounon 51.342 _2 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Jan Heylen 51.783 +0.4413 GTD Pro 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García 51.877 +0.535Source:
Race
Post-Race With a total of 2441 points, Campbell and Jaminet's victory increased their advantage to 226 points over García and Taylor while De Phillippi and Edwards took over fifth position in the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship. The final results of GTD meant McAleer increased his points lead to 40 points over Hardwick and Heylen while De Angelis took over third position in the Drivers' Championship. Porsche and BMW continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Pfaff Motorsports and Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships with three rounds remaining.
Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and . Class Team Drivers Chassis Time/Retired Engine 1 GTDPro 9 Pfaff Motorsports Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Porsche 911 GT3 R 174 2:40:43.134 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 2 GTDPro 23 Heart of Racing Team Ross Gunn Alex Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 174 +1.883 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 3 GTDPro 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Ben Barnicoat Jack Hawksworth Lexus RC F GT3 174 +4.078 Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V8 4 GTD 1 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow BMW M4 GT3 174 +8.842 BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6 5 GTD 27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis Maxime Martin Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 174 +9.473 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 6 GTD 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 174 +9.532 Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 7 GTD 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Stevan McAleer Mike Skeen Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 174 +9.641 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 8 GTD 57 Winward Racing Philip Ellis Russell Ward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 174 +17.960 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 9 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen Porsche 911 GT3 R 174 +22.317 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 10 GTD 79 WeatherTech Racing Jules Gounon Cooper MacNeil Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 174 +33.800 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 11 GTD 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Lexus RC F GT3 174 +40.276 Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V8 12 GTDPro 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD 169 +5 Laps Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 13 DNF GTD 51 Rick Ware Racing Ryan Eversley Aidan Read Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 150 Accident Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 14 DNF GTDPro 25 BMW M Team RLL John Edwards Connor De Phillippi BMW M4 GT3 77 Mechanical BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6 15 DNF GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen Robby Foley BMW M4 GT3 33 Mechanical BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6 Sources:
Standings after the race
+DPi Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis 2737 2 Filipe Albuquerque Ricky Taylor 2681 3 Sébastien Bourdais Renger van der Zande 2589 4 Alex Lynn Earl Bamber 2547 5 Pipo Derani 2463Source:
+LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 John Farano 1294 2 Juan Pablo Montoya Henrik Hedman 1257 3 Steven Thomas Jonathan Bomarito 1232 4 Ryan Dalziel Dwight Merriman 1227 5 Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach 1188Source:
+LMP3 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Jon Bennett Colin Braun 1391 2 Garett Grist Ari Balogh 1293 3 Gar Robinson 1253 4 João Barbosa Lance Willsey 1203 5 Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves 1122Source:
+GTD Pro Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet 2441 2 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 2226 3 Ben Barnicoat 2181 4 Ross Gunn Alex Riberas 2170 5 1 Connor De Phillippi John Edwards 1946Source:
+GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Stevan McAleer 2071 2 Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen 2031 3 1 Roman De Angelis 2010 4 1 Bill Auberlen Robby Foley 1959 5 Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal 1881Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
+DPi Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian 2737 2 #10 WTR - Konica Minolta Acura 2681 3 #01 Cadillac Racing 2589 4 #02 Cadillac Racing 2547 5 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 2463Source:
+LMP2 Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 1367 2 #8 Tower Motorsport 1294 3 #81 DragonSpeed USA 1257 4 #11 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 1232 5 #18 Era Motorsport 1227Source:
+LMP3 Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #54 CORE Autosport 1391 2 #30 Jr III Motorsports 1293 3 #74 Riley Motorsports 1253 4 #33 Sean Creech Motorsport 1203 5 #36 Andretti Autosport 1122Source:
+GTD Pro Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #9 Pfaff Motorsports 2441 2 #3 Corvette Racing 2226 3 #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing 2181 4 #23 Heart of Racing Team 2170 5 1 #25 BMW M Team RLL 1946Source: