2021 Detroit Sports Car Classic

The 2021 Detroit SportsCar 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 12, 2021. This race was the fourth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the second round of the 2021 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Track map of The Raceway on Belle Isle

Background

The Raceway on Belle Isle, where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the seventh year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the eleventh 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 2021 Detroit Sports Car Classic was the fourth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2021 by IMSA, the shortest in terms of time, and was the second round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[2] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.350 mi (3.782 km) Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan.[3]

Unlike its predecessors, the race was initially scheduled to be a standalone event, relinquishing its traditional joint weekend with the IndyCar Series in an attempt to avoid conflict with the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.[4] However, with the postponement of the Le Mans race to August, the race weekend was pushed back a week, allowing it to run in conjunction with the IndyCar double-header.[5] While the reschedule alleviated a conflict with the Nürburgring 24 Hours, it fell on the same weekend as the WEC race at Portimão, leading to a further conflict for WeatherTech Racing.[5] The classes competing at the event were also shuffled, as the LMP2 class was replaced with GTLM, which wouldn't score points towards the overall championship.[5] The DPi and GTD classes remained on the entry list from the initial date, with the latter still only scoring points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The race also marked the first event since the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic that fans would be allowed paddock access, in accordance with the lifting of outdoor venue gathering restrictions in the state of Michigan.[6]

Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 1070 points, ahead of Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell in second with 1015 points.[7] Nicky Catsburg, Antonio García, and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 697 points, 41 points ahead of Cooper MacNeil.[7] With 920 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley.[7] Acura, Chevrolet, and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, Corvette Racing, and Turner Motorsport each led their own Teams' Championships.[7]

Entries

A total of 20 cars took part in the event, split across three classes. 6 cars were entered in DPi, 2 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD. Although no notable changes occurred in the DPi class, a handful of GTD competitors elected to forego the round due to its championship point output only counting for the WeatherTech Sprint Cup; namely Magnus Racing, Wright Motorsports, and Pfaff Motorsports. Buoying the GTD numbers, however, was SunEnergy1 Racing, who returned after skipping the Mid-Ohio round. In GTLM, the lone competitors were the two Corvettes, in line with WeatherTech Racing's expected absence.[8]

After the initial entry list was released, a pair of driver changes were made prior to the race weekend. Marco Mapelli joined Misha Goikhberg in the Grasser Racing Team entry,[9] while Townsend Bell subbed for Zach Veach, who missed the round after testing positive for COVID-19, in the Vasser Sullivan Racing No. 12.[10]

Practice

here were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted 90 minutes on Friday morning while the second session lasted 100 minutes on Friday afternoon.[11]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Friday and ended with Tristan Vautier topping the charts for JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing, with a lap time of 1:21.588, ahead of the No. 10 Acura of Ricky Taylor.[12] Nick Tandy set the fastest time in GTLM.[13] The GTD class was topped by the No. 76 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Mario Farnbacher with a time of 1:30.932. Richard Heistand was second fastest in the No. 39 Audi followed by Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Lexus.[14] The session was stopped for 8 minutes when the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Madison Snow stopped at turn three.[14]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Tristan Vautier 1:21.588 _
2 DPi 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Ricky Taylor 1:21.684 +0.096
3 DPi 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin Magnussen 1:21.775 +0.187
Sources:[12][15]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 12:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Kevin Magnussen topping the charts for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing, with a lap time of 1:20.068. Pipo Derani's No. 31 Cadillac was second fastest followed by Loïc Duval in the No. 5 Cadillac.[16] Tommy Milner set the fastest time in GTLM.[17] The GTD class was topped by the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 1:30.495, ahead of Richard Heistand in the No. 39 Audi.[18]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin Magnussen 1:20.068 _
2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:20.226 +0.158
3 DPi 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Loïc Duval 1:20.281 +0.213
Sources:[19][20]

Qualifying

Kevin Magnussen (pictured in 2017) secured the overall pole position for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing.

Qualifying was broken into three sessions.[11] The first was for cars in the GTD class. Richard Heinstand qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 39 car for CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing, beating Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry by less than one-tenth of a second. Roman De Angelis was third fastest followed by Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport entry.[21]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Nick Tandy qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 4 car for Corvette Racing, besting teammate Jordan Taylor in the sister No. 3 Corvette Racing entry by more than three-tenths of a second.[22] Mario Farnbacher set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 WeatherTech Sprint Cup points. The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry did not set a time after Aaron Telitz hit the wall at turn 2 in the first session.[21]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi class. Kevin Magnussen qualified on pole driving the No. 01 car for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing, beating Harry Tincknell in the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports entry by 0.021 seconds.[23] The session was shortened after Tristan Vautier, driving the No. 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac, crashed at turn 4. For causing a red flag, Vauiter had his best two laps from the session deleted.[22]

Qualifying results

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

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 DPi 01 United States Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1:20.031 _ 1
2 DPi 55 Japan Mazda Motorsports United Kingdom Harry Tincknell 1:20.052 +0.021 2
3 DPi 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Pipo Derani 1:20.161 +0.130 3
4 DPi 10 United States WTR-Konica Minolta Acura United States Ricky Taylor 1:20.299 +0.268 4
5 DPi 5 United States JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing France Tristan Vautier 1:20.5321 +0.501 5
6 DPi 60 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian France Olivier Pla 1:21.455 +1.424 6
7 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Nick Tandy 1:27.283 +7.231 7
8 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing United States Jordan Taylor 1:27.606 +7.554 8
9 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand 1:30.529 +10.498 9
10 GTD 12 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo 1:30.617 +10.586 10
11 GTD 23 United States Heart Of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis 1:30.671 +10.640 11
12 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Robby Foley 1:30.861 +10.830 12
13 GTD 14 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Aaron Telitz 1:30.865 +10.834 192
14 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Madison Snow 1:30.879 +10.848 13
15 GTD 76 United States Compass Racing Canada Jeff Kingsley 1:30.977 +10.946 14
16 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer 1:31.582 +11.551 15
17 GTD 28 United States Alegra Motorsports United States Michael de Quesada 1:31.660 +11.629 16
18 GTD 75 Australia SunEnergy1 Racing Australia Kenny Habul 1:31.784 +11.753 17
19 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol 1:31.841 +11.810 203
20 GTD 19 Austria GRT Grasser Racing Team Canada Misha Goikhberg 1:32.211 +12.180 18
Sources:[24][25][26][27]
  • 1 The No. 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
  • 2 The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry initially qualified fifth in the GTD class. However, the car did not participate in the second GTD qualifying session. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the GTD field on the starting grid.[28]
  • 3 The No. 88 Team Hardpoint EBM entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.

Post-race

As a result of winning the race, van der Zande and Magnussen advanced from sixth to fourth in the DPi Drivers' Championship. Derani and Nasr jumped from fourth to third while Duval and Vautier dropped from third to fifth.[29] GTLM drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event not counting for the overall championship. GTD drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Cadillac took the lead of the DPi Manufactures' Championship while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura continued to top the DPi Teams' Championship with eight rounds remaining.[29]

Race results

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 DPi 01 United States Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Denmark Kevin Magnussen
Cadillac DPi-V.R 66 1:40:03.247
Cadillac 5.5L V8
2 DPi 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Felipe Nasr
Brazil Pipo Derani
Cadillac DPi-V.R 66 +0.573
Cadillac 5.5L V8
3 DPi 10 United States Konica Minolta Acura United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Acura ARX-05 66 +4.028
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
4 DPi 55 Canada Mazda Motorsports United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P 66 +4.876
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
5 DPi 5 United States JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing France Tristan Vautier
France Loïc Duval
Cadillac DPi-V.R 66 +5.182
Cadillac 5.5L V8
6 DPi 60 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian United States Dane Cameron
France Olivier Pla
Acura ARX-05 66 +5.425
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
7 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 63 +3 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
8 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García
United States Jordan Taylor
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 63 +3 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
9 GTD 23 United States Heart of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis
United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 62 +4 Laps
Mercedes-Benz M177 4.0L Turbo V8
10 GTD 19 Austria GRT Grasser Racing Team Canada Misha Goikhberg
Italy Marco Mapelli
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 62 +4 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
11 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer
United States Marc Miller
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 62 +4 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
12 GTD 14 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Aaron Telitz
United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
Lexus RC F GT3 62 +4 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
13 GTD 12 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Townsend Bell
Lexus RC F GT3 62 +4 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
14 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 62 +4 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
15 GTD 75 Australia SunEnergy1 Racing Australia Kenny Habul
Canada Mikaël Grenier
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 62 +4 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
16 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley
BMW M6 GT3 55 Transmission
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
17

DNF

GTD 76 United States Compass Racing Canada Jeff Kingsley
Germany Mario Farnbacher
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 50 Brakes
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
18

DNF

GTD 28 United States Alegra Motorsports Canada Daniel Morad
United States Michael de Quesada
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 28 Crash damage
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
19

DNF

GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Porsche 911 GT3 R 3 Accident
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
20[lower-alpha 1] GTD 39 United States CarBahn with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand
United States Jeff Westphal
Audi R8 LMS Evo 62 +4 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
Sources:[31][32]
  1. The no. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing entry was moved to the rear of the GTD classification for failing to meet the minimum refueling time of 40 seconds.[30]

Standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • : Non-points event
  • : Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • : Non-points event
  • : Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • : Non-points event
  • : Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.


References

  1. Pruett, Marshall (September 9, 2020). "IMSA reveals 2021 WeatherTech Championship calendar". racer.com. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  2. "2021 WeatherTech Championship Schedule Published". dailysportscar.com. September 9, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  3. Malsher-Lopez, David (September 9, 2020). "IMSA reveals 2021 schedule, LMP3 to join WeatherTech series". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  4. Ryan, Nate (October 1, 2020). "IMSA will return to Detroit Grand Prix as standalone event for first time". motorsports.nbcsports.com. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  5. Dagys, John (March 25, 2021). "Detroit Round Moves to IndyCar Weekend; GTLM Added". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  6. Lloyd, Daniel (May 25, 2021). "Fans to Return to IMSA Paddock at Detroit". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  7. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 19, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  8. Dagys, John (June 2, 2021). "Magnus, Wright, Pfaff Opt Out of Sprint Cup; 20 Cars for Detroit". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  9. Dagys, John (June 9, 2021). "Mapelli Rejoins Grasser Lamborghini Squad for Detroit". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  10. Dagys, John (June 9, 2021). "Bell to Sub for COVID-19 Positive Veach in Detroit". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  11. "2021 IMSA Official Schedule and SR Detroit 060221 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  12. "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 11, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  13. Malsher-Lopez, David (June 11, 2021). "Detroit IMSA: Vautier puts JDC-Miller Cadillac on top in FP1". motorsport.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  14. Dagys, John (June 11, 2021). "Vautier Tops Opening Detroit Practice". sportscar365.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  15. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 11, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  16. O'Malley, J.J. (June 11, 2021). "Magnussen and GM prevail in Detroit practice 2". racer.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  17. Malsher-Lopez, David (June 11, 2021). "Detroit IMSA: Magnussen heads Cadillac 1-2-3 in FP2". motorsport.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  18. Dagys, John (June 11, 2021). "Magnussen Leads Cadillac Sweep in Second Practice". sportscar365.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  19. "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 11, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  20. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 11, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  21. Malsher-Lopez, David (June 11, 2021). "Detroit IMSA: Magnussen beats Tincknell to pole by 0.021s". motorsport.com. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  22. O'Malley, J.J. (June 11, 2021). "Magnussen prevails in sizzling Detroit qualifying with CGR Cadillac". racer.com. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  23. Dagys, John (June 11, 2021). "Magnussen Scores First IMSA Pole in Detroit". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  24. "03_Results_Qualifying - DPi Position - Points .PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  25. "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Points - GTLM Position.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  26. "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Position.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  27. "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 12, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  28. "Magnussen Scores Pole At Belle Isle In Ganassi Cadillac". dailysportscar.com. June 12, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  29. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 15, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  30. "CarBahn Loses GTD Win in Refueling Infraction". June 12, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  31. "03_Results_Race_Provisional.PDF" (PDF). June 12, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  32. "2021 CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX". racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
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