The IMSA Prototype Challenge kicked off a busy Saturday for IMSA at Road America. On the pole for the race were the number 40 Forty7 Motorsports Norma M30 of David Grant, and starting next to him was the number 64 K2R Motorsports Norma M30 of Naveen Rao. Time for the race was an hour and forty-five minutes.
During the race, the number 9 JDC Motorsports, driven by Gerry Kraut, took the third position away from Dan Goldberg in the number 6 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P3 car. David Grant had a 3.415-second lead on Rao as all of the cars were now in a single file.
The number 11 K2R Motorsports Norma M30 driven by Steven Thomas got loose and went off into the grass at turn 11 but gained control and kept going. Rasmus Lindh was attempting to take third place away from Gerry Kraut; however, he got loose coming off of turn seven before losing his car again at turn 8. David Grant continued to increase his lead over Naveen Rao now up 7.016 seconds.
With an hour and thirty-four minutes left, the number 74 Forty7 Motorsports Norma M30 car driven by Jon Brownson moved up to sixth with an inside pass over the number 10 Robillard Racing LLC car of Joe Robillard. At the same time, Steven Thomas took over the ninth position away from the number 75 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P3 driven by Cameron Cassels. Jon Brownson got loose at turn five and would lose several positions falling to 11th place.
In another battle, the number 47 Forty7 Motorsports Norma M30, driven by Joel Janco, made contact with Joel Robillard, fighting for the seventh position. In a separate incident, Janco ran into the back of Steven Thomas, causing both drivers to spin at turn five.
The number 60 Wulver Racing Ligier JS P3 car driven by Bruce Hamilton did not see Thomas and hit him on the right side, suffering front suspension damage and sending debris all over turn five. Thomas had damage to the front left side after Hamilton hit him, as the first full-course caution was out.
The race resumed a short time later after the cleanup was complete with David Grant still in the lead. Dan Goldberg was battling the number 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P3 car driven by Dom Cicero for fourth place when he got loose again at turn 8, dropping him to ninth place. Grant went back to extending his lead to 4.044 seconds over Naveen Rao.
Jon Brownson was trying to hold the seventh spot from Rasmus Lindh but would get loose at turn 8, allowing Lindh to take the seventh spot from him. Greg Palmer would bring out the second full-course caution when his car went into the gravel pit at turn three with an hour and seven minutes left in the race.
Three cars came to pit road as the race got back underway; they were Jon Brownson, Gerry Kraut, and Joel Janco. Rasmus Lindh took over the fifth position from Cameron Cassels at turn five.
David Grant finally went to pit road with 50 minutes left as Dom Cicero became the new leader. Cicero would pit a lap later with Paul LaHaye taking over the lead. Once the pit cycles were complete, Scott Andrews was the new leader. He had a 17.393-second lead over Matthew Bell.
With less than a minute left, Scott Andrews’s lead was down to 6.453 seconds as he slowed to save fuel to get to the finish line. Andrews slowed down considerably, allowing the others to catch up. Time had expired as Andrews crossed the start/finish line that should have ended the race; however, the white flag was waved instead.
Wyatt Schwab and Dakota Dickerson took advantage of Andrews’s slowing car and passed him going into turn one. Andrews would make contact with JJ Janco coming off of turn five. Dakota Dickerson took the checkered flag for MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P3. After the race, IMSA officials reversed the order and awarded Scott Andrews/Gerry Kraut the win by 1.837 seconds over Wyatt Schwab/Jon Brownson.
IMSA officials explained that based on a lap-time average predictor, the leader was supposed to cross the line before the hour, and forty-five-minute time ran out. Because Andrews slowed down his car, the time had officially expired, and Andrews was declared the winner.
During the post-race inspection, the number 74 car of Schwab and Brownson failed technical inspection for a fuel capacity infraction moving Rasmus Lindh and Dan Goldberg to second place.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Keith Grant/David Grant third, Dakota Dickerson/Dom Cicero fourth, Matthew Bell/Naveen Rao fifth, Stevan McAleer/Joe Robillard sixth, Max Hanratty/Cameron Cassels seventh, JJ Jorge/Joel Janco eighth, Tonis Kasemets/Bruce Hamilton ninth, and Eric Palmer/Greg Palmer tenth. The next race for the Prototype Challenge will be on August 23rd at 9:35 am from Virginia International Raceway.
