The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will return to Belle Isle Park for the final time in this weekend’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic. 16 teams will take on the bumpy street circuit.
In the DPi class, the six full-time teams will do battle for 100 minutes. Traditionally, street courses heavily favor the Cadillacs. GM-based vehicles have won all but one of the races at Belle Isle since the Grand-Am/ALMS merger. The sole exception to the rule was when Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron won in 2019.
Last year’s race was won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kevin Magnussen and Renger van der Zande. With Magnussen back in Formula 1, van der Zande could defend his victory with Sebastien Bourdais. Pipo Derani and Tristan Nunez could also threaten. The two Acura teams will still be competitive despite the ORECA 07-based Acura ARX-05 not being the biggest fan of bumpy surfaces.
In the GTD class, only 10 teams are entered, down from 13 that were originally entered and 11 that raced at Mid-Ohio. The team that has opted out of Belle Isle is Inception Racing, but for a different reason. The Belle Isle weekend is a clash with the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup Paul Ricard 1000k. As a result, the team is back in Europe to focus on the endurance event.
With the GTD Pro class not competing at Belle Isle, VasserSullivan is once again fielding two Lexus RCF GT3s in the GTD. The regular No. 12 lineup of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz is unchanged. However, the No. 17 team has had a late change. Jack Hawksworth was recently injured in a motocross accident. As a result, he will have to sit out the race this weekend. Ben Barnicoat, Hawksworth’s regular teammate in the GTD Pro class, will take his place.
. @jackhawkrace sustained an injury in a motocross incident that will prohibit him from competing in Saturday’s #IMSA race at @detroitgp. Fellow Lexus factory racer @BenBarnicoat will replace Hawksworth…
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