The 2018 Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio on May 6, 2018. The race was the fourth of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017.[1] The race marked IMSA's return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the first time since 2013 as the track replaced Circuit of the Americas after the 2017 season.[2] [3] The 2018 Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio was the fourth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and it was the second round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the thirteen-turn 2.258miles Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on May 6, 2018. On April 11, 2018, Acura was announced as a title sponsor for the event.[4] On April 30, 2018, IMSA announced NBC Sports as its broadcasting partner from 2019 onwards.[5] Michael Shank Racing was renamed to Meyer Shank Racing following Jim Meyer becoming a co-owner of the team.[6]
After the BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix three weeks earlier, Filipe Albuquerque and João Barbosa led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 91 points, ahead of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr with 86 points, and Jon Bennett and Colin Braun with 79 points.[7] With 95 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook with a seven-point advantage over Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 65 points, ahead Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating, and Luca Stolz with 58 points. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Mustang Sampling Racing, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.
On April 27, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the prototype class.[8] The Acura ARX-05, Mazda RT24-P, and Nissan Onroak DPi received less turbo boost. The Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 0.6 mm smaller air restrictor while the LMP2 cars didn't get any changes. In GTD, The BMW M6 GT3 received a 20 kilogram weight break and a fuel capacity reduction of 2 liters.[9]
A total of 34 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 14 cars were entered in P, 8 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD.[10] In P, Spencer Pigot subbed for Harry Tincknell in the Mazda Team Joest #55 entry due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps.[11] In GTD, Park Place Motorsports, and Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, CJ Wilson Racing, and Sqaudra Corse Garage Italia were absent. HART skipped due to a lack of funding.[12] Álvaro Parente joined Katherine Legge in the Meyer Shank Racing #86 entry.[13] Wright Motorsports added a second entry featuring Wolf Henzler and Michael Schein.[14] Bill Auberlen joined Dillon Machavern in the Turner Motorsport entry.[15] Maro Engel replaced Thomas Jäger in the SunEnergy1 Racing entry.[16]
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.[17]
The first practice session took place at 9:45 am ET on Friday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:13.601.[18]
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Ricky Taylor | 1:13.601 | _ |
| 2 | P | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Juan Pablo Montoya | 1:14.089 | +0.488 |
| 3 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing | Filipe Albuquerque | 1:14.608 | +1.007 |
| Source:[19] | ||||||
The second practice session took place at 3:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:36.867.[20]
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Juan Pablo Montoya | 1:36.867 | _ |
| 2 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:36.997 | +0.130 |
| 3 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:37.215 | +0.348 |
| Source:[21] | ||||||
The third and final practice session took place at 8:35 am ET on Saturday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:12.675.[22]
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Dane Cameron | 1:12.675 | _ |
| 2 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:12.763 | +0.457 |
| 3 | P | 55 | Mazda Team Joest | Jonathan Bomarito | 1:13.767 | +0.566 |
| Source:[23] | ||||||
Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups. All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.[24]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .
The result kept Albuquerque and Barbosa atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 119 points, 10 points ahead of second-place finishers Nasr and Curran. Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor advanced from tenth to fourth while Bennett and Braun dropped from third to fifth.[27] The result kept Briscoe and Westbrook atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 121 points. Bamber and Vanthoor advanced from sixth to second. The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 95 points. Legge and Parente advanced from third to second. Cadillac and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships. Porsche took the lead of the GTLM Manufactures' Championship while Mustang Sampling Racing, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with eight rounds remaining.
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
| +Prototype Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa | 119 | ||
| 2 | 109 | |||
| 3 | 1 |  Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande | 104 | |
| 4 | 6 |  Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor | 98 | |
| 5 | 2 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun | 97 |
| +GTLM Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook | 121 | ||
| 2 | 4 |  Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor | 114 | |
| 3 | Joey Hand Dirk Müller | 112 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | 111 | |
| 5 |  Antonio García Jan Magnussen | 111 |
| +GTD Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryan Sellers Madison Snow | 95 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Katherine Legge Álvaro Parente | 87 | |
| 3 | 1 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating | 80 | |
| 4 | Cooper MacNeil Alessandro Balzan | 76 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Jack Hawksworth David Heinemeier Hansson | 76 |
| +Prototype Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing | 119 | ||
| 2 | No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing | 109 | ||
| 3 | 1 | No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing | 104 | |
| 4 | 6 | No. 7 Acura Team Penske | 98 | |
| 5 | 2 | No. 54 CORE Autosport | 97 | |
| +GTLM Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | 121 | ||
| 2 | 4 | No. 912 Porsche GT Team | 114 | |
| 3 | 1 | No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | 112 | |
| 4 | 2 | No. 4 Corvette Racing | 111 | |
| 5 | 1 | No. 3 Corvette Racing | 111 | |
| +GTD Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No. 48 Paul Miller Racing | 95 | ||
| 2 | 1 | No. 86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | 87 | |
| 3 | 1 | No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports | 80 | |
| 4 | No. 63 Scuderia Corsa | 76 | ||
| 5 | 1 | No. 15 3GT Racing | 76 | |
| +Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cadillac | 132 | ||
| 2 |  Nissan | 128 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Acura | 123 | |
| 4 | 1 | Mazda | 122 | |
| +GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Porsche | 126 | |
| 2 | 1 | Ford | 125 | |
| 3 | 1 | Chevrolet | 123 | |
| 4 | BMW | 120 | ||
| 5 | Ferrari | 58 | ||
| +GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamborghini | 100 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Acura | 88 | |
| 3 | 3 | Lexus | 86 | |
| 4 | 2 | Ferrari | 85 | |
| 5 | 2 | Mercedes-AMG | 84 | |
Dominik Baumann