2016 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

The 2016 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at the Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan on June 4, 2016. The race was the fifth round of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background

Preview

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.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the seventh 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. The 2016 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2016 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. The race was held at the fourteen-turn Belle Isle Park on June 4, 2016.

IMSA altered the balance of performance to try to create parity within the Prototype category. The Lola B12/80 had its weight increased by 15 kg (33 lb).

Before the race, Eric Curran and Dane Cameron led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 121 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 118 points, and Marc Goossens in third with 117 points. With 128 points, PC was led by Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson on countback over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 95 points; the duo held a six-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Honda and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing, JDC-Miller MotorSports, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entry list

Twenty-seven cars were officially entered for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, with most of the entries being in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category. Action Express Racing (AER) fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars while VisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and WTR fielded one. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 cars and Michael Shank Racing (MSR) entered one Ligier JS P2. Panoz skipped the event. The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of seven Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsports. BAR1 Motorsports, CORE Autosport, JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entered one car each. In the list of GTD entrants, twelve GT3-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers. Lone Star Racing and TRG skipped the event. With the absence of the Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) class from the field, only three racing classes were represented in Belle Isle.

Practice

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.

In the first session, Barbosa set the fastest time in the No. 5 AER Corvette DP with a time of 1 minute, 24.239 seconds, 0.732 seconds faster than Cameron's No. 5 car. Jordan Taylor was third fastest in the No. 10 WTR vehicle, Oswaldo Negri Jr.'s No. 60 MSR Ligier placed fourth, and Ryan Dalziel's No. 90 Corvette DP rounded out the top five. The fastest PC class car was Renger van der Zande in the No. 8 Starworks entry with 1 minute, 27.030 seconds, followed by Colin Braun in the No. 54 CORE Autosport car. Porsche paced GTD with PPM's 911 of Bergmeister lapping at 1:31.253, followed by Jeroen Bleekemolen's No. 33 Viper.

Cameron led the final session in AER's No. 31 car with a lap of 1 minute, 23.860 seconds. Fittipaldi's No.5 Corvette DP was second fastest. Goossens in the No. 90 VFR vehicle was third fastest. CORE Autosport topped PC after a lap by Braun. Mowlem caused a stoppage early when his BAR1 car suffered a suspension failure and stopped on the track. Bergmeister was fastest again GTD.

Qualifying

Friday afternoon's 60-minute three-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in PC, and Prototype had two separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arranged the grid to put all Prototypes ahead of the PC, and GTD cars.

Qualifying results

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

* The No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports was sent to the rear of the PC grid for not starting on the grid.
* The No. 27 Dream Racing Lamborghini was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 43.1 of the Sporting regulations (Starting driver change).
* The No. 44 Magnus Racing, and No. 88 Starworks Motorsport entries were sent to the rear of their respective class fields as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).

Race

Post-race

With a total of 151 points, Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor's victory allowed them to take the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Bomarito and Nunez advanced from sixth to fifth. Popow and van der Zande's victory allowed them to take the lead of the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship with 162 points. The final results of GTD meant Balzan and Nielsen extended their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to eight points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Bleekemolen and Keating jumped from seventh to fourth. Porsche continued to top the GTD Manufactures' Championship while Chevrolet took the lead of the Prototype Manufactures' Championship. Scuderia Corsa continued to the GTD Teams' Championship while Wayne Taylor Racing and Starworks Motorsport became the leaders of their respective Teams' Championships with seven rounds left in the season.

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Championship standings after the race

References

External links

{{Sportscar Race Report, Year_of_race=2016, Sportscar_Series=IMSA SportsCar Championship, Previous_race_in_season= Monterey Grand Prix, Next_race_in_season= 6 Hours of The Glen

Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season