The 2018 Northeast Grand Prix 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 21, 2018. The race was the eighth round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017. It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the twenty-seventh annual running of the race. The 2018 Northeast Grand Prix was the eighth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and was the fifth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the seven-turn Lime Rock Park on July 21, 2018. The race was the first of two GT-only rounds on the 2018 IMSA calendar, in which the prototype class, Prototype (P), would not be taking part.
After the SportsCar Grand Prix 1 week earlier, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 181 points, ahead of Antonio García and Jan Magnussen with 175 points, and Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with 173 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 183 points, ahead of Katherine Legge with 180 points. Ford and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing led the GTLM Teams' Championship. Paul Miller Racing were leading the GTD Teams' Championship.
On July 12, 2018, IMSA issued the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In GTLM, The BMW M8 GTE received an increase in turbo boost and a fuel capacity increase of one liter. In GTD, the Lexus RC F GT3 and Mercedes AMG GT3 were given weight increases of 15 and 10 kilograms, respectively.
Entries
A total of 18 cars took part in the event split across 2 classes. 8 cars were entered in GTLM, and 10 in GTD. In GTD, Wright Motorsports withdrew its #16 entry after Michael Schein had a scheduling conflict. Mario Farnbacher replaced David Heinemeier Hansson in the #15 3GT Racing entry. Gunnar Jeannette returned to the #63 Scuderia Corsa entry.
Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three on Friday. The first one-hour session was on Friday morning while the second and third sessions were on Friday afternoon.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 11:25 am ET on Friday and ended with Dirk Müller topping the charts for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, with a lap time of 50.924. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM66Ford Chip Ganassi RacingDirk Müller50.924_2GTLM911Porsche GT TeamNick Tandy51.021 +0.0973GTLM67Ford Chip Ganassi RacingRyan Briscoe51.080 +0.156Source:
Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 1:55 pm ET on Friday and ended with Antonio García topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 50.939. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM3Corvette RacingAntonio García50.939_2GTLM66Ford Chip Ganassi RacingJoey Hand51.001 +0.0623GTLM912Porsche GT TeamLaurens Vanthoor51.118 +0.179Source:
Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 4:55 pm ET on Friday and ended with Nick Tandy topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 50.414. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM911Porsche GT TeamNick Tandy50.414_2GTLM66Ford Chip Ganassi RacingDirk Müller50.879 +0.4653GTLM24BMW Team RLLJesse Krohn50.934 +0.520Source:
Qualifying Saturday morning's 40-minute qualifying session was divided into two groups. Both categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García49.754_12GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor49.920 +0.16623GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Müller49.945 +0.19134GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner50.048 +0.29445GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe50.106 +0.35256GTLM24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards50.285 +0.53167GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi50.385 +0.63178GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet50.656 +0.90289GTD58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long51.491+1.737910GTD14 3GT Racing Dominik Baumann51.628 +1.8741011GTD15 3GT Racing Jack Hawksworth51.705 +1.9511112GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers51.838 +2.0841213GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil51.848 +2.0941314GTD96 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen51.884 +2.1301415GTD93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Lawson Aschenbach51.989 +2.2351516GTD33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Ben Keating51.989 +2.2351817GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Katherine Legge52.137 +2.3831618GTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter52.680 +2.92617Sources:
The No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
Race
Post-race As a result of winning the race, Hand and Müller took the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Briscoe and Westbrook dropped from first to third while Bamber and Vanthoor advanced from fifth to fourth. The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 218 points, 10 points ahead of Legge. Ford, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Paul Miller Racing kept their advantage in the GTD Teams' Championship. The #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry took the lead of the GTLM Teams' Championship with four rounds remaining.
Results Class winners are denoted in bold and .
+Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine1GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand Dirk MüllerFord GT1782:40.12.527Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V62GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García
Jan MagnussenChevrolet Corvette C7.R178 +11.431Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V83GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber
Laurens VanthoorPorsche 911 RSR178 +13.601Porsche 4.0 L Flat-64GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin
Tommy MilnerChevrolet Corvette C7.R178 +37.964Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V85GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet
Nick TandyPorsche 911 RSR178 +40.949Porsche 4.0 L Flat-66GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe
Richard WestbrookFord GT178 +45.063Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V67GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi
Alexander SimsBMW M8 GTE176 +2 LapsBMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V88GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers
Madison SnowLamborghini Huracán GT3172 +6 LapsLamborghini 5.2 L V109GTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter
Andy LallyAudi R8 LMS172 +6 LapsAudi 5.2L V1010GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil
Gunnar JeannetteFerrari 488 GT3172 +6 LapsFerrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V811GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Katherine Legge
Álvaro ParenteAcura NSX GT3172 +6 LapsAcura 3.5 L Turbo V612GTD15 3GT Racing Jack Hawksworth
Mario FarnbacherLexus RC F GT3172 +6 LapsLexus 5.0L V813GTD33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Jeroen Bleekemolen
Ben KeatingMercedes AMG GT3171 +7 LapsMercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V814GTD14 3GT Racing Dominik Baumann Kyle MarcelliLexus RC F GT3171 +7 LapsLexus 5.0L V815GTD58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long
Christina NielsenPorsche 911 GT3 R171 +7 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-616 DNFGTLM24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards
Jesse KrohnBMW M8 GTE129 Did Not FinishBMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V817 DNFGTD93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Justin Marks Lawson AschenbachAcura NSX GT31 CrashAcura 3.5 L Turbo V618 DNFGTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley Bill AuberlenBMW M6 GT30 CrashBMW 4.4 L Turbo V8Sources:+ Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer Continental Michelin
Standings after the race
+Prototype Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Eric Curran Felipe Nasr 198 2 Filipe Albuquerque 197 3 Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande 188 4 Jon Bennett Colin Braun 183 5 Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya 177
+GTLM Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 1 Joey Hand Dirk Müller 208 2 Antonio García Jan Magnussen 207 3 2 Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook 206 4 1 Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor 197 5 1 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 195
+GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Bryan Sellers Madison Snow 218 2 Katherine Legge 208 3 Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating 194 4 Cooper MacNeil 179 5 1 Álvaro Parente 173
Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
+Prototype Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing 198 2 No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing 197 3 3 No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing 188 4 No. 54 CORE Autosport 183 5 No. 6 Acura Team Penske 177
+GTLM Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 1 No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 208 2 No. 3 Corvette Racing 207 3 2 No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 206 4 1 No. 912 Porsche GT Team 197 5 1 No. 4 Corvette Racing 195
+GTD Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 No. 48 Paul Miller Racing 218 2 No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin 208 3 No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports 194 4 No. 63 Scuderia Corsa 179 5 No. 15 3GT Racing 173
Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
+Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 234 2 Acura 222 3 Mazda 210 4 Nissan 209
+GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Ford 230 2 Chevrolet 219 3 Porsche 216 4 BMW 204 5 Ferrari 58
+GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lamborghini 225 2 Acura 209 3 Mercedes-AMG 200 4 Lexus 198 5 Ferrari 192
Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
References