The 2017 Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on May 6, 2017. The race was the fourth round of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background

IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016. It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2017 Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown was the fourth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, and was the second round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the twenty-turn Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on May 6, 2017. Unlike in previous years where the race was run alongside the FIA World Endurance Championship event as a double-header, the 2017 edition was a standalone event.

After the BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix four weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 105 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 89 points, and Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson with 82 points. With 72 points, the PC Drivers' Championship was led by James French, Patricio O'Ward, and Kyle Masson with a twelve-point advantage over Sean Rayhall. Joey Hand and Dirk Müller led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 91 points, ahead of Antonio García and Jan Magnussen with 89 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 98 points, ahead of Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 77 points. Cadillac, Ford, and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, and Riley Motorsports Team AMG each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries A total of 39 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, 9 in GTLM, and 16 in GTD. In P, Marco Bonanomi replaced Tom Kimber-Smith in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry while José Gutiérrez returned after missing the previous race at Long Beach. In PC, Starworks Motorsport skipped the event. Nicholas Boulle joined Stefan Wilson in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Wolf Henzler replaced Kévin Estre in the #912 Porsche GT Team, due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. In GTD, Lone Star Racing made their first appearance of the season. Parker Chase and Harry Gottsacker replaced Wolf Henzler and Jan Heylen in the #991 TRG entry. Kenny Habul returned to the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing entry. Mathieu Jaminet subbed for Michael Christensen in the #28 Alegra Motorsports due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

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

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 9:45 am CT on Thursday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:57.116. The PC class was topped by the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Patricio O'Ward with a time of 2:00.522. Dirk Müller was fastest in GTLM and Tristan Vautier set the fastest time GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1P10Wayne Taylor RacingRicky Taylor1:57.116_2P5Mustang Sampling RacingJoão Barbosa1:57.193 +0.0773P2Tequila Patrón ESMRyan Dalziel1:57.300 +0.184Sources:

Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 2:55 pm CT on Thursday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:56.595. James French set the fastest time in PC. The GTLM class was topped by the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Alexander Sims with a time of 2:03.703. John Edwards was second in the sister #24 car and Laurens Vanthoor rounded out the top 3. Tristan Vautier was fastest in GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1P10Wayne Taylor RacingJordan Taylor1:56.595_2P5Mustang Sampling RacingChristian Fittipaldi1:57.722 +1.1273P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsStephen Simpson1:57.978 +1.383Sources:

Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 8:55 am CT on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:56.117. Patricio O'Ward set the fastest time PC by 3.382 seconds ahead of Don Yount in the #20 BAR1 Motorsports entry. The GTLM class was topped by the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella with a time of 2:02.915. Mathieu Jaminet was fastest in GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1P31Whelen Engineering RacingDane Cameron1:56.117_2P5Mustang Sampling RacingJoão Barbosa1:56.332 +0.2153P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsStephen Simpson1:56.393 +0.276Sources:

Qualifying In Friday afternoon's 90-minute four-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 arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.

Qualifying was broken into four sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Mathieu Jaminet qualified on pole for the class driving the #28 Alegra Motorsports, besting Jack Hawksworth in the #15 3GT Racing entry.

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. John Edwards qualified on pole driving the #24 BMW Team RLL entry, beating Giancarlo Fisichella in the #62 Risi Competizione entry by less than one tenth of a second.

The third session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Ricky Taylor qualified on pole by nearly 1.6 seconds clear of Johannes van Overbeek.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor1:54.809_12P22 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek1:56.401 +1.59223P31 Whelen Engineering Racing Eric Curran1:56.429 +1.62034P5 Mustang Sampling Racing Christian Fittipaldi1:56.655 +1.84645P52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports José Gutiérrez1:56.884 +2.07556P2 Tequila Patrón ESM Scott Sharp1:56.988 +2.17967P55 Mazda Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito1:57.199 +2.39078P90 VisitFlorida Racing Marc Goossens1:57.460 +2.65189P85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mikhail Goikhberg1:57.726 +2.917910P70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long1:57.929 +3.1201011PC38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French2:00.066+5.2571112GTLM24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards2:02.833 +8.0241413GTLM62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella2:02.865 +8.0561514GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Alexander Sims2:02.990 +8.1811615GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe2:03.014 +8.2051716GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Müller2:03.023 +8.2141817PC26 BAR1 Motorsports Stefan Wilson2:03.026 +8.2171218GTLM3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen2:03.030 +8.2211919GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet2:03.085 +8.2762020GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner2:03.594 +8.7852121GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Wolf Henzler2:03.759 +8.9502222PC20 BAR1 Motorsports Don Yount2:04.264 +9.4551323GTD28 Alegra Motorsports Mathieu Jaminet2:06.264+11.7222324GTD15 3GT Racing Jack Hawksworth2:06.623 +11.8143925GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow2:07.724 +12.9152426GTD16 Change Racing Corey Lewis2:07.757 +12.9482527GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey2:07.778 +12.9692628GTD57 Stevenson Motorsports Andrew Davis2:07.882 +13.0732729GTD14 3GT Racing Scott Pruett2:07.959 +13.1502830GTD33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG Ben Keating2:08.033 +13.2242931GTD93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Katherine Legge2:08.089 +13.2803032GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen2:08.210 +13.2803133GTD75 SunEnergy1 Racing Kenny Habul2:08.515 +13.7063234GTD50 Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil2:08.697 +13.8883335GTD86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr.2:08.761 +13.9523436GTD96 Turner Motorsport Bret Curtis2:09.039 +14.2303537GTD991 TRG Parker Chase2:09.295 +14.4863638GTD80 Lone Star Racing Dan Knox2:09.500 +14.6913839GTD54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett2:10.221 +15.41237Sources:

The No. 15 3GT Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD after failing post qualifying technical inspection. The No. 80 Lone Star Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Race

Post-race With a total of 141 points, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Fittipaldi and Barbosa in the Prototype Drivers' Championship to 22 points. In PC, Yount and Rice advanced from fourth to second. With 124 points, García and Magnussen's victory allowed them to take the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship. With a total of 133 points, Bleekemolen and Keating's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Balzan and Nielsen to 24 points. Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Chevrolet took the lead of the GTLM Manufactures' Championship. Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Riley Motorsports kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships while Corvette Racing took the lead of the GTLM Teams' Championship with eight races left in the season.

Results Class winners are denoted in bold and . +Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/Retired Engine 1 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor Cadillac DPi-V.R 73 2:41:14.508 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 2 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Dane Cameron Eric Curran Cadillac DPi-V.R 73 +18.555 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 3 P 5 Mustang Sampling Racing João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi Cadillac DPi-V.R 73 +19.818 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 4 P 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mikhail Goikhberg Stephen Simpson Oreca 07 73 +27.239 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 5 P 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek Ed Brown Nissan Onroak DPi 72 +1 lap Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 6 PC 38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French Patricio O'Ward Oreca FLM09 72 +1 lap Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 7 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen Antonio García Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 71 +2 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 8 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Alexander Sims BMW M6 GTLM 71 +2 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 9 PC 26 BAR1 Motorsports Stefan Wilson Nicholas Boulle Oreca FLM09 71 +2 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 10 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Martin Tomczyk BMW M6 GTLM 71 +2 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 11 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Dirk Werner Porsche 911 RSR 71 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GTLM 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Müller Joey Hand Ford GT 70 +3 Laps Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Twin-turbo V6 13 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Mercedes-AMG GT3 69 +4 Laps Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 14 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen Alessandro Balzan Ferrari 488 GT3 69 +4 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 15 GTD 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Tristan Vautier Kenny Habul Mercedes-AMG GT3 69 +4 Laps Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 16 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 69 +4 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 17 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Jens Klingmann Bret Curtis BMW M6 GT3 69 +4 Laps BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 18 GTD 50 Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil Gunnar Jeannette Mercedes-AMG GT3 69 +4 Laps Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 19 GTD 28 Alegra Motorsports Mathieu Jaminet Daniel Morad Porsche 911 GT3 R 69 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 20 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister