Acura Teams Battle for Top-Five Finishes at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
- Acura Team Penske's Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves finish fifth in fuel strategy run
- Meyer Shank Racing battles to finish fifth and sixth in GTD class
- MSR's Katherine Legge, Acura remain second in close GTD championship battle
BOWMANVILLE, ON, Canada – A hard-fought race saw both Acura Team Penske and Meyer Shank Racing net fifth-place finishes in their respective classes today during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Using an alternative pit strategy, Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves brought their Acura ARX-05 home fifth overall and in the prototype division, while Katherine Legge remains in the thick of the GTD championship fight after she and Alvaro Parente finished fifth in class in their Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3.
Acura Team Penske Prototype An early caution flag just 20 minutes into Sunday's two-hour, 40-minute contest saw Acura Team Penske elect to split its pit strategies, bringing Castroneves in for an early stop and driver change to Taylor in the #7 ARX-05, while leaving starting driver Dane Cameron on track in the #6 Acura.
As a result, Taylor went into a fuel-conservation mode for the remainder of the race in an attempt to move up the order as the rest of the field made its scheduled pit stops. But the high number of cautions in the race – seven – blunted that strategy and resulted in a fifth-place finish for Taylor and Castroneves.
Issues in the pit lane also ended the challenge of the #6 ARX-05 of Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya. After leading the race early, Cameron cut a tire due to on-track debris during a full-course caution at the one-hour, 24-minute mark. He pitted for a replacement, but ran a red light at Pit Exit, resulting in a stop-plus-60-second-hold penalty, taking the #6 Acura out of contention for the victory. Later, an issue with the left-front wheel while Montoya was driving dropped the #6 to 10th-place in the Prototype class at the checkers.
Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Unable to match the front-running pace in GTD due to a combination of recent Balance of Performance adjustments and handling issues, the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3s persevered to score fifth and sixth-place finishes in the production-based class after a hard-fought race.
Starting sixth in the #86 NSX GT-3, Parente extended his fuel mileage during his opening stint to gain several positions, before handing off to Legge at their second scheduled pit stop. Fighting deteriorating handling in the final 30 minutes, Legge held on for a fifth-place finish in GTD to keep her within three points of the lead in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Dealing with issues similar to their teammates throughout the weekend, Lawson Aschenbach and Justin Marks combined to bring their #93 Acura home sixth in GTD.
Next After consecutive races for all three WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen, the series next runs one of two GT class-only races, the July 21 Northeast Grand Prix at the tight, fast, Lime Rock Park road course in Lakeville, Connecticut.
Video recaps from this weekend's Acura Motorsports racing activities at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park – as well as James Hinchcliffe's Honda IndyCar Series win at Iowa Speedway – will be posted on the "Honda Racing/HPD" YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the video packages can be found in the 2017 HPD Trackside Video Playlist at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.
Quotes Ricky Taylor (driver, #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) finished 5th: "I don't think I have ever fought so hard for an entire race. It was a long day out there, but the No. 7 Acura was really fast. We had an aggressive [pit] strategy, but things just didn't fall our way to make it happen. It's certainly not easy to pass here at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, in addition to having to save fuel as much as we did. Sometimes we just got stuck, and couldn't go anywhere in traffic. But we kept at it and never gave up. This is a strong team and we will be ready when we get to Road America."
Katherine Legge (driver, #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3) finished fifth in GTD, remains second in GTD Drivers' Championship points standings, three points out of first place: "It was a tough race for us, and I really tried everything I could to get Acura another podium finish. I tried to hold [eventual third-place finisher] Andy [Lally] off, but just came up short. I wish we could have driven to another podium this weekend, but we will take a top five result. It keeps us in the fight for the championship, and that's the ultimate goal for MSR, myself and Acura."
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Circuit: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (2.459-mile road course) Bowmanville, ON, Canada Weather: Sunny, warm, 78 degrees F
Top-6 Prototype Results: Ps. Class Drivers Team Chassis Laps/Notes 1. Prototype Colin Braun / Jonathan Bennett CORE Autosport ORECA 07 Gibson 116 laps 2. Prototype Renger VanDer Zande / Jordan Taylor Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi VR +3.431 seconds 3. Prototype Fellipe Nasr / Eric Curran Action Express Cadillac DPi VR 4. Prototype Felipe Albuquerque/Christian Fittipaldi Action Express Cadillac DPi VR 5. Prototype Ricky Taylor / Helio Castroneves Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 6. Prototype Oliver Jarvis / Tristan Nunez Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT24P 10. Prototype Dane Cameron/Juan Pablo Montoya Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 111 laps - running
Top-6 GTD Results: Ps. Class Drivers Team Chassis Laps/Notes 1. GTD Jeroen Bleekemolen / Ben Keating Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 107 laps 2. GTD Kyle Marcelli / Dominik Baumann 3 GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 +2.919 seconds 3. GTD Andy Lally / John Potter Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS 4. GTD Bryan Sellers / Madison Snow Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan 5. GTD Alvaro Parente / Katherine Legge Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 6. GTD Lawson Aschenbach / Justin Marks Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3
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