The 2018 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 2, 2018. The race was the fifth round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Background
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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's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017.[1] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the ninth 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.[1] The 2018 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 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.[1] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.350 mi (3.782 km) Belle Isle Park on June 2, 2018.[1] After the Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio three weeks earlier, Filipe Albuquerque and João Barbosa led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 119 points, ahead of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr with 109 points, and Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande with 104 points.[2] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 95 points, ahead of Katherine Legge and Álvaro Parente with 87 points. Cadillac and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Mustang Sampling Racing and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[2]
On May 25, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of performance for the GTD class.[3] The Lexus RC F GT3 received a 25 kilogram weight increase. The Mercedes AMG GT3 received a 10 kilogram weight break. No changes made in P.
Entries
A total of 26 cars took part in the event split across two classes.[4] 14 cars were entered in P, and 12 in GTD. In P, Spirit of Daytona Racing made their first appearance since Sebring. Performance Tech Motorsports skipped to focus on testing before the Watkins Glen round.[5] Harry Tincknell returned to the Mazda Team Joest No. 55 entry. GTD saw a number of driver changes. Robby Foley joined Bill Auberlen in the Turner Motorsport entry while Mario Farnbacher substituted for Álvaro Parente in the Meyer Shank Racing No. 86 entry due to a clash with the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round at Circuit Paul Ricard.[6] Bernd Schneider joined Kenny Habul in the SunEnergy1 Racing entry.[7] Jeff Segal substituted for Alessandro Balzan in the Scuderia Corsa entry due to a medical procedure.[8]
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 110 minutes.[9]
Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 8:15 am ET on Friday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:21.909.[10]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Ricky Taylor | 1:21.909 | _ |
| 2 | P | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing | Felipe Nasr | 1:22.115 | +0.206 |
| 3 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing | João Barbosa | 1:22.513 | +0.604 |
| Source:[11] | ||||||
Practice 2
The second and final practice session took place at 1:05 pm ET on Friday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:22.363.[12]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:22.363 | _ |
| 2 | P | 22 | Tequila Patrón ESM | Pipo Derani | 1:22.388 | +0.025 |
| 3 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing | João Barbosa | 1:22.427 | +0.064 |
| Source:[13] | ||||||
Qualifying
Friday afternoon's 40-minute qualifying session was divided into two groups.[9] 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 Prototype cars ahead of all GTD entries.[14]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 22 |  Tequila Patrón ESM |
 Pipo Derani |
1:22.273 | _ | 1‡ |
| 2 | P | 6 | Acura Team Penske |
 Juan Pablo Montoya |
1:22.992 | +0.719 | 2 |
| 3 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske |
Hélio Castroneves |
1:23.275 | +1.002 | 3 |
| 4 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing |
 João Barbosa |
1:23.278 | +1.005 | 4 |
| 5 | P | 99 | JDC-Miller MotorSports |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Misha Goikhberg |
1:23.384 | +1.111 | 5 |
| 6 | P | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing |
Eric Curran |
1:23.469 | +1.196 | 6 |
| 7 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing |
 Renger van der Zande |
1:23.558 | +1.285 | 7 |
| 8 | P | 77 |  Mazda Team Joest |
Tristan Nunez |
1:23.969 | +1.696 | 8 |
| 9 | P | 55 | Mazda Team Joest |
Jonathan Bomarito |
1:24.566 | +2.293 | 9 |
| 10 | P | 2 | Tequila Patrón ESM |
Scott Sharp |
1:24.637 | +2.364 | 10 |
| 11 | P | 90 | Spirit of Daytona Racing |
Matt McMurry |
1:24.688 | +2.415 | 11 |
| 12 | P | 52 | AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports |
Sebastián Saavedra |
1:25.371 | +3.098 | 12 |
| 13 | P | 54 | CORE Autosport |
Jon Bennett |
1:25.741 | +3.468 | 13 |
| 14 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing |
Bryan Sellers |
1:28.942 | +6.669 | 15‡ |
| 15 | GTD | 86 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin |
 Katherine Legge |
1:29.390 | +7.117 | 16 |
| 16 | GTD | 93 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin |
Justin Marks |
1:29.717 | +7.444 | 17 |
| 17 | GTD | 14 | 3GT Racing |
 Dominik Baumann |
1:29.787 | +7.514 | 18 |
| 18 | GTD | 15 | 3GT Racing |
 David Heinemeier Hansson |
1:30.114 | +7.814 | 19 |
| 19 | GTD | 33 | Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport |
Ben Keating |
1:30.196 | +7.923 | 20 |
| 20 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa |
Cooper MacNeil |
1:30.282 | +8.009 | 21 |
| 21 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports |
Michael Schein |
1:30.717 | +8.444 | 22 |
| 22 | GTD | 75 | SunEnergy1 Racing |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Kenny Habul |
1:30.776 | +8.503 | 23 |
| 23 | GTD | 58 | Wright Motorsports |
Christina Nielsen |
1:30.878 | +8.605 | 24 |
| 24 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport |
Robby Foley |
1:31.640 | +9.367 | 25 |
| 25 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing |
did not participate | 261 | ||
| 26 | P | 85 | JDC-Miller MotorSports |
Robert Alon |
no time2 | 14 | |
| Sources:[15][16] | |||||||
Race
Post-race
The result kept Albuquerque and Barbosa atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 144 points while Nasr and Curran tied them on points.[17] The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 122 points. Aschenbach and Marks advanced from sixth to fourth.[17] Cadillac and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Mustang Sampling Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with seven rounds remaining.[17]
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.
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Standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Goodwin, Graham (August 6, 2017). "IMSA Announce 2018 Calendar". DailySportsCar. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- 1 2 "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 8, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ↑ Dagys, John (May 25, 2018). "BMW M8 GTE, Lexus Hit with BoP Adjustments". sportscar365.com. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ Dagys, John (May 23, 2018). "SDR Returns; 25 Cars for Detroit". sportscar365.com. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ Dagys, John (May 23, 2018). "Performance Tech to Skip Detroit". sportscar365.com. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ Dagys, John (May 30, 2018). "Second MSR Acura Confirmed for Detroit". sportscar365.com. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ "2018 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic Official Entry List" (PDF). May 31, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 22, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
- ↑ Dagys, John (May 29, 2018). "Segal to Sub for Balzan in Detroit". sportscar365.com. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- 1 2 "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Detroit". sportscar365.com. May 31, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ↑ Myrehn, Ryan (June 1, 2018). "Ricky Taylor Sets Pace in Detroit Practice 1". sportscar365.com. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 1, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ Myrehn, Ryan (June 1, 2018). "Castroneves Quickest in Practice 2 at Detroit". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 1, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ "2018 IMSA Sporting Regulations & Series Supplementary Regulations of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. May 16, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
- ↑ "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 1, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ↑ "01_Starting Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 2, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 5, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ↑ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 2, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ "2018 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic". racing-reference.info. Retrieved November 13, 2023.