How IMSA officials call the shots & other mysteries at Road America

Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims rallied from 10th in the Pratt & Miller # 3 ZO6 GT3.R to finish 4th in the GTD PRO class.   

Sims was going full honk down the long straight when he got shoved into the turn 1 gravel trap by Dan Harper in the Paul Miller Racing # 48 BMW with 90 minutes to go in the 2 hr-40 min race.  IMSA officials ruled it was fair play, as with further incidents that affected 2 other Corvettes, see below.

Tommie Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the Pratt & Miller # 4 ZO6 GT3.R finished 10th in the GTD PRO class.

Catsburg who took over from Milner also got roughed up two corners after Sims. The final blow was struck by Aldo Caldarelli in the Pfaff Racing Team # 9 Lambo Hurracan GT3 EVO2 that put him out of the race with a broken water pump.

Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen won the GTD PRO class in the Paul Miller Racing # 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO sister car to the # 48.

Garcia & Sims are still ahead in the IMSA GTD PRO class by 30 points, benefiting in a rather arcane way from a race that was interrupted 8 times for cautions.

Matt Bell and Orey Fidani in the AWA # 13 ZO6 GT3.R finished 7th in IMSA GTD and lead the Bob Akin award that won them an invite to Le Mans last year.

Fidani drove the first 45 minutes, much under full-course yellow, and Bell ran as high as third late before another yellow re-cycled him back to 11th after restarting with 40 minutes left.

Alec Udell and Robert Wickens ran good in the DXDT # 36 ZO6 GT3.R and Udell took the lead as the race wound down.  Then he too got smacked in close-quarters racing and fell back all the way back to 8th in GTD. 

With a 6-hour race on tap for next year, we fans are a bit on edge about the likelihood of more “no calls” and safety cars from IMSA Race Director Beaux Barfield.

Photo credits Richard Prince, Jake Galstad