The 2018 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The Race was held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on August 5, 2018. The race was the ninth 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 fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2018 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase was the ninth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and was the sixth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the fourteen-turn Road America on August 5, 2018.

After the Northeast Grand Prix 2 weeks earlier, Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 198 points, ahead of Filipe Albuquerque with 197 points, and Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande with 188 points. With 208 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with a one-point advantage over Antonio García and Jan Magnussen. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 218 points ahead of Katherine Legge with 208 points. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini were leading were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.

During this race weekend, IMSA holds their "State of the Series" annual press conference, in which they confirm and announce their future plans for the series they sanction.

After having Daytona Prototype International and Le Mans Prototype 2 competing in the Prototype class for 2 seasons, IMSA announced the two styles of prototypes would split into two separate classes.

IMSA also announced the WeatherTech Sprint Cup for GTD beginning in 2019. Additionally, any bronze/silver rated driver had to qualify and start races.

On July 26, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of performance for the event. In P, the Cadillac DPi-V.R gained a 0.9 mm larger air restrictor while the Mazda RT24-P and Nissan Onroak DPi got an increase of turbo boost. Additionally, the Mazda also received a 10 kilogram weight reduction.

Entries

A total of 33 cars took part in the event split across three classes. 13 cars were entered in P, 8 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD. In P, João Barbosa returned to the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing after missing the previous two rounds due to injury. Tequila Patrón ESM brought its #2 entry back after it skipped the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park round. Performance Tech Motorsports skipped the event. In GTD, Squadra Corse Garage Italia and Park Place Motorsports made their first appearances since the Watkins Glen round. Wright Motorsports withdrew its #16 entry after Michael Schein had a scheduling conflict. Markus Palttala joined Robby Foley in the Turner Motorsport entry. Alessandro Pier Guidi joined Cooper MacNeil in the #63 Scuderia Corsa entry. David Heinemeier Hansson returned to the #15 3GT Racing entry.

Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 11:15 am CT on Friday and ended with Oliver Jarvis topping the timing sheets for Mazda Team Joest, with a lap time of 1:52.627. ClassTeamDriverTime1P77Mazda Team JoestOliver Jarvis1:52.627_2P2Tequila Patrón ESMScott Sharp1:52.816 +0.1893P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsStephen Simpson1:52.957 +0.330Source:

Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 4:10 pm CT on Friday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the timing sheets for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:52.402. ClassTeamDriverTime1P10Wayne Taylor RacingJordan Taylor1:52.402_2P6Acura Team PenskeJuan Pablo Montoya1:52.755 +0.3533P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsRobert Alon1:52.773 +0.371Source:

Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 8:55 am CT on Saturday and ended with Simon Trummer topping the timing sheets for JDC-Miller MotorSports, with a lap time of 1:51.644. ClassTeamDriverTime1P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsSimon Trummer1:51.644_2P2Tequila Patrón ESMRyan Dalziel1:52.399 +0.7553P77Mazda Team JoestOliver Jarvis1:52.470 +0.826Source:

Qualifying Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups. All three 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 Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1P85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Robert Alon1:51.933_12P7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor1:52.140 +0.20723P54 CORE Autosport Colin Braun1:52.340 +0.407134P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Renger van der Zande1:52.430 +0.49735P6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya1:52.780 +0.84746P77 Mazda Team Joest Oliver Jarvis1:52.813 +0.88057P5 Mustang Sampling Racing João Barbosa1:52.867 +0.93468P55 Mazda Team Joest Harry Tincknell1:53.161 +1.22879P31 Whelen Engineering Racing Eric Curran1:53.257 +1.324810P99 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg1:53.435 +1.502911P52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Gustavo Yacamán1:53.545 +1.6121012P2 Tequila Patrón ESM Scott Sharp1:53.626 +1.6931113P22 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek1:54.092 +2.1591214GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Müller2:02.479 +10.5461415GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe2:02.650 +10.7171516GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García2:02.746 +10.8131617GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor2:03.114 +11.1811718GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin2:03.170 +11.2371819GTLM24 BMW Team RLL Jesse Krohn2:03.331 +11.3981920GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Alexander Sims2:03.645 +11.7122021GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy2:03.673 +11.7402122GTD58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long2:06.593 +14.6602223GTD14 3GT Racing Dominik Baumann2:06.850 +14.9172324GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow2:07.226 +15.2932425GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil2:07.317 +15.3842526GTD33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Ben Keating2:07.561 +15.6282627GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey2:07.944 +16.0112728GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Katherine Legge2:08.220 +16.3472829GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley2:08.402 +16.4692930GTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter2:08.947 +17.0143031GTD93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Justin Marks2:12.272 +20.3393132GTD15 3GT Racingdid not participate3233GTD51 Squadra Corse Garage Italiadid not participate33Sources:

The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the P field as per Article 43.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver). The No. 15 3GT Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver). The No. 51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Warm Up A 20-minute morning warm-up session was held on the morning of August 5, and several entries did not get a time in due to Jack Hawksworth crashing at turn 8 after brake failure which brought a red flag that ended the session. The #22 Nissan Onroak DPi of Pipo Derani lapped fastest at 1:53.080 ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura. The fastest GTLM lap was a 2:04.597, set by Antonio García in the #3 Corvette, and Jörg Bergmeister's #73 Porsche paced GTD. 3GT Racing withdrew its #15 entry from the event after sustaining too much damage in warm up.

Race

Post-race As a result of winning the race, Bennett and Braun moved from fourth to third in the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Goikhberg and Simpson advanced from seventh to fifth. As a result of winning the race, Briscoe and Westbrook took the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Hand and Müller dropped from first to third while Gavin and Milner jumped from fifth to fourth. The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 250 points, 18 points ahead of Legge. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships. The #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry took the lead of the GTLM Teams' Championship with three rounds remaining.

Results Class winners are denoted in bold and . +Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine1P54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin BraunOreca 07692:40.44.562Gibson GK428 4.2 L V82P99 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg Stephen SimpsonOreca 0769 +2.389Gibson GK428 4.2 L V83P31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr Eric CurranCadillac DPi-V.R69 +2.397Gibson GK428 4.2 L V84P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor Renger van der ZandeCadillac DPi-V.R69 +10.573Cadillac 5.5 L V85P6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron Juan Pablo MontoyaAcura ARX-0569 +17.056Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V66P22 Tequila Patrón ESM Pipo Derani Johannes van OverbeekNissan Onroak DPi69 +21.512Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V67P5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque João BarbosaCadillac DPi-V.R69 +23.862Cadillac 5.5 L V88P55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito Harry TincknellMazda RT24-P69 +32.276Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I49P2 Tequila Patrón ESM Ryan Dalziel Scott SharpNissan Onroak DPi69 +33.229Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V610P7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves Ricky TaylorAcura ARX-0569 +33.983Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V611P77 Mazda Team Joest Oliver Jarvis Tristan NunezMazda RT24-P69 +34.619Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I412P85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Robert Alon Simon TrummerOreca 0768 +1 lapGibson GK428 4.2 L V813GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe Richard WestbrookFord GT66 +3 LapsFord EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V614GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy MilnerChevrolet Corvette C7.R66 +3 LapsChevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V815GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan MagnussenChevrolet Corvette C7.R66 +3 LapsChevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V816GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber Laurens VanthoorPorsche 911 RSR66 +3 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-617GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Nick TandyPorsche 911 RSR66 +3 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-618GTD58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long Christina NielsenPorsche 911 GT3 R66 +3 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-619GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison SnowLamborghini Huracán GT366 +3 LapsLamborghini 5.2 L V1020GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Pier Guidi Cooper MacNeilFerrari 488 GT366 +3 LapsFerrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V821GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley Markus PalttalaBMW M6 GT366 +3 LapsBMW 4.4 L Turbo V822GTD33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben KeatingMercedes AMG GT366 +3 LapsMercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V823GTD14 3GT Racing Dominik Baumann Kyle MarcelliLexus RC F GT366 +3 LapsLexus 5.0L V824GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Katherine Legge Álvaro ParenteAcura NSX GT366 +3 LapsAcura 3.5 L Turbo V625GTD93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Justin Marks Lawson AschenbachAcura NSX GT366 +3 LapsAcura 3.5 L Turbo V626 DNFGTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter Andy LallyAudi R8 LMS GT365CrashAudi 5.2L V1027 DNFGTLM25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi Alexander SimsBMW M8 GTE64Out of FuelBMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V828GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand Dirk MüllerFord GT63 +6 LapsFord EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V629GTD51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Francesco Piovanetti Oswaldo Negri Jr.Ferrari 488 GT363 +6 LapsFerrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V830