2019 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic Explained

The 2019 Chevrolet Sports Car 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 1, 2019. This race was the fifth round of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the second round of the 2019 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018.^[1] It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the tenth 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. The 2019 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, the shortest in terms of time, and it was the second of seven rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.^[2] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.35miles Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan on June 1, 2019.^[3]

Similar to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, this event ran in conjunction with the Detroit Grand Prix in the IndyCar Series, with one event held on the same day as the IMSA event, and another held a day after as a double-header.

Before the race, Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 120 points, ahead of Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor in second followed by Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande with 113 points in third.^[4] In GTD, Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman led the Drivers' Championship with 84 points, 4 points ahead of Frankie Montecalvo and Townsend Bell. Cadillac and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing and Meyer Shank Racing each led their own Teams' Championships. The event did not count towards the overall in GTD as it only contented towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, in an attempt to cut costs for the class.^[5]

Entries

On May 22, 2019, the entry list for the event was released, featuring 23 cars in total. There were 11 cars in the Daytona Prototype International class and 12 entries in the GTD class. The Le Mans Prototype (LMP2) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) classes would not be participating in the event. Due to only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, full-season GTD entries Riley Motorsports, Pfaff Motorsports, and Moorespeed decided to forego the Detroit event in favor of pursuing the full-season championship. Meyer-Shank Racing were initially among the teams that decided to miss the Detroit event, until confirming at the eleventh hour a full-time program in both the full-time and sprint championships with both of their cars.^{[6] [7]}

Pfaff Motorsports driver Zach Robichon, who was initially due to miss the event, filled a vacant spot at Park Place Motorsports, replacing Patrick Lindsey, who was preparing for the official test sessions for the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[8]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday morning and one on Friday afternoon. The session on Friday morning lasted 90 minutes while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted 110 minutes.^[9]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 8:30 am ET on Friday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:20.583. Hélio Castroneves was second fastest in the No. 7 Acura followed by Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac.^[10] The GTD class was topped by the No. 57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Katherine Legge with a time of 1:30.304, ahead of Bryan Sellers in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Zacharie Robichon was third fastest in the No. 73 Porsche followed by Richard Heistand in the No. 14 Lexus in fourth position.^{[11] [12]} The Mazda Team Joest entries did not set a time due to mechanical issues. The session was red flagged two times. Simon Trummer crashed the No. 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and brought out the first red flag. The final stoppage came when Misha Goikhberg crashed the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac at turn 2 and collided with Matt Plumb's McLaren. The No. 85 Cadillac suffered extensive damage while the No. 76 McLaren lost a door.

	Class		Team	Driver	Time
1	DPi	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Pipo Derani	1:20.583	_
2	DPi	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:20.835	+0.252
3	DPi	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Filipe Albuquerque	1:21.446	+0.863
Sources:^[13] ^[14]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 12:50 PM ET on Friday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:20.387. Jordan Taylor was second fastest in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac entry followed by Hélio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura.^[15] The GTD class was topped by the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Zacharie Robichon with a time of 1:30.011, ahead of Christina Nielsen in the No. 57 Acura. Bill Auberlen was third fastest in the No. 96 BMW followed by Mario Farnbacher in the No. 86 Acura in fourth and Jack Hawksworth's No. 14 Lexus rounded out the top five.^[16] The Compass Racing did not set a time.

	Class		Team	Driver	Time
1	DPi	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Pipo Derani	1:20.387	_
2	DPi	10	Konica Minolta Cadillac	Jordan Taylor	1:20.506	+0.119
3	DPi	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:20.610	+0.223
Sources:^[17] ^[18]

Qualifying

Friday's late afternoon qualification session was broken into two sessions that lasted 15 minutes each. Cars in GTD were sent out first and, after a ten-minute interval, DPi vehicles drove onto the track. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap.^[19] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi field started in front of all GTD cars.

The first was for cars in the GTD class. Robby Foley set the fastest time driving the No. 96 car for Turner Motorsport.^[20] However, the team were sent to the back of the GTD grid after the car failed post-qualifying technical inspection where it was discovered that the BMW was found to not have complied with mandated camber range settings. As a result, Zacharie Robichon's No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche was promoted to pole position.^[21] Christina Nielsen in the No. 57 Acura started in second position followed by Trent Hindman's No. 86 Acura. The No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Audi of Parker Chase did not set a time due to suspension problems.^[22]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi class. Juan Pablo Montoya qualified on pole driving the No. 6 car for Acura Team Penske, beating teammate Hélio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura by 0.207 seconds.^[23] Jonathan Bomarito qualified the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest entry in third position followed by Pipo Derani's No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac. João Barbosa in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac started from fifth place.^[24] Following in sixth was the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande followed by Tristan Nunez's No. 77 Mazda in seventh place. The duo of JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillacs were eighth and tenth: Simon Trummer in the No. 84 car was faster than the sister No. 85 entry of Misha Goikhberg. They were separated by the ninth-placed Victor Franzoni in the No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Qualifying Results

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

	Class		Team	Driver	Time
1	DPi	6	Acura Team Penske	Juan Pablo Montoya	1:19.373	_	1
2	DPi	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:19.580	+0.207	2
3	DPi	55	Mazda Team Joest	Jonathan Bomarito	1:19.960	+0.587	3
4	DPi	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Pipo Derani	1:19.991	+0.618	4
5	DPi	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa	1:20.239	+0.866	5
6	DPi	10	Konica Minolta Cadillac	Renger van der Zande	1:20.448	+1.075	6
7	DPi	77	Mazda Team Joest	Tristan Nunez	1:20.508	+1.135	7
8	DPi	84	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Simon Trummer	1:20.663	+1.290	8
9	DPi	50	Juncos Racing	Victor Franzoni	1:21.075	+1.702	9
10	DPi	85	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Misha Goikhberg	1:23.313	+3.940	10
11	DPi	54	CORE Autosport	Jon Bennett	1:24.631	+5.258	11
12	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley	1:29.704	+10.331!23|-style="font-weight:bold"! scope="row" |13|GTD|73| Park Place Motorsports| Zacharie Robichon|1:29.735|+10.362	12
14	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing	Christina Nielsen	1:30.126	+10.753!13|-! scope="row" |15|GTD|86| Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian| Trent Hindman|1:30.242|+10.869!14|-! scope="row" |16|GTD|14| AIM Vasser Sullivan| Richard Heistand|1:30.453|+11.080!15|-! scope="row" |17|GTD|12| AIM Vasser Sullivan| Frankie Montecalvo|1:30.505|+11.132!16|-! scope="row" |18|GTD|48| Paul Miller Racing| Ryan Hardwick|1:30.763|+11.390	17
19	GTD	76	Compass Racing	Matt Plumb	1:30.814	+11.441!18|-! scope="row" |20|GTD|44| Magnus Racing| John Potter|1:30.926|+11.553!19|-! scope="row" |21|GTD|63| Scuderia Corsa| Cooper MacNeil|1:31.953|+12.580!20|-! scope="row" |21|GTD|74| Lone Star Racing| Gar Robinson|1:31.970|+12.597!21|-! scope="row" |22|GTD|8| Starworks Motorsport|None|None|N/A!22|-! colspan="8" |Sources:^[25] ^[26] |-|} The No. 96 Turner Motorsport entry initially qualified on pole position for the GTD class. However, the car was found to not have complied with mandated camber range settings. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the GTD field on the starting grid.^[27] Race Post-race With a total of 152 points, Derani and Nasr's second place finish kept them atop DPi Drivers' Championship while Cameron and Montoya's victory allowed them to advance from fourth to second. Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande dropped from third to fifth.^[28] GTD drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Cadillac continued to top the DPi Manufactures' Championship while Whelen Engineering Racing continued to top the DPi Teams' Championship with seven rounds left in the season. Race Results Class winners are denoted in bold and . Pos Class Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 DPi 6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya Acura ARX-05 58 1:40:15.563 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani Felipe Nasr Cadillac DPi-V.R 58 +0.820s Cadillac 5.5 L V8 3 DPi 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor Acura ARX-05 58 +14.887s Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 4 DPi 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Stephen Simpson Simon Trummer Cadillac DPi-V.R 58 +15.050s Cadillac 5.5 L V8 5 DPi 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Misha Goikhberg Tristan Vautier Cadillac DPi-V.R 58 +16.205s Cadillac 5.5 L V8 6 DPi 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa Cadillac DPi-V.R 58 +22.583s Cadillac 5.5 L V8 7 DPi 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Nissan DPi 58 +26.978s Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 8 DPi 50 Juncos Racing Victor Franzoni Will Owen Cadillac DPi-V.R 58 +27.390s Cadillac 5.5 L V8 9 DPi 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande Cadillac DPi-V.R 57 +1 lap Cadillac 5.5 L V8 10 DPi 77 Mazda Team Joest Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez Mazda RT24-P 57 +1 lap Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 11 GTD 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Jack Hawksworth Richard Heistand Lexus RC F GT3 56 +2 laps Lexus 5.0 L V8 12 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Long Zacharie Robichon Porsche 911 GT3 R 56 +2 laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13 GTD 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Lexus RC F GT3 56 +2 laps Lexus 5.0 L V8 14 GTD 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally John Potter Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 56 +2 laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 15 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Ryan Hardwick Bryan Sellers Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 56 +2 laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 16 GTD 8 Starworks Motorsport Parker Chase Ryan Dalziel Audi R8 LMS Evo 56 +2 laps Audi 5.2 L V10 17 GTD 74 Lone Star Racing Lawson Aschenbach Gar Robinson Mercedes-AMG GT3 56 +2 laps Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 18 GTD 76 Compass Racing Paul Holton Matt Plumb McLaren 720S GT3 56 +2 laps McLaren M480T 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8 19 GTD 57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Katherine Legge Christina Nielsen Acura NSX GT3 Evo 56 +2 laps Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 20DNF GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen Robby Foley BMW M6 GT3 53 Transmission BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 21DNF DPi 55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito Ryan Hunter-Reay Mazda RT24-P 39 Crash Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 22DNF GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman Acura NSX GT3 Evo 20 Crash Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 23DNF GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Ferrari 488 GT3 0 Crash Ferrari F154 3.9 L Turbo V8 Sources:^[29] ^[30] Standings after the race +DPi Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Pipo Derani Felipe Nasr 152 2 2 Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya 147 3 1 Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor 146 4 1 Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa 137 5 2 Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande 135 Source: +LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Cameron Cassels Kyle Masson 99 2 Matt McMurry 95 3 Gabriel Aubry 60 4 Sebastián Saavedra Pastor Maldonado Ryan Cullen Roberto González 35 5 Andrew Evans 35 Source: +GTLM Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor 126 2 Antonio García Jan Magnussen 119 3 Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy 117 4 Connor De Phillippi 111 5 Dirk Müller Sebastien Bourdais 108 Source: +GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman 84‡ 2 Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell 80‡ 3 Richard Heistand Jack Hawksworth 77‡ 4 Patrick Long 77‡ 5 Andy Lally John Potter 76‡ Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only. +DPi Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 152 2 2 #6 Acura Team Penske 147 3 1 #7 Acura Team Penske 146 4 1 #5 Mustang Sampling Racing 137 5 2 #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac 135 Source: +LMP2 Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #38 Performance Tech Motorsports 99 2 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 95 3 #18 DragonSpeed 35 4 #81 DragonSpeed 30 Source: +GTLM Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #912 Porsche GT Team 126 2 #3 Corvette Racing 119 3 #911 Porsche GT Team 117 4 #25 BMW Team RLL 111 5 #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 108 Source: +GTD Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #86 Meyer-Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian 84‡ 2 #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan 80‡ 3 #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan 77‡ 4 #73 Park Place Motorsports 77‡ 5 #44 Magnus Racing 76‡ Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only. +DPi Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 167 2 Acura 166 3 Mazda 146 4 Nissan 146 Source: +GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Porsche 135 2 BMW 121 3 Chevrolet 120 4 Ford 118 5 Ferrari 32 Source: +GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lamborghini 100‡ 2 Lexus 91‡ 3 Audi 86‡ 4 Acura 85‡ 5 Ferrari 81‡ Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only. External links ]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Klein . Jamie . August 4, 2018 . IMSA reveals largely unchanged 2019 schedule . July 26, 2023 . motorsport.com.
2. Web site: Pruett . Marshall . August 3, 2018 . IMSA releases 2019 schedule . July 26, 2023 . racer.com.
3. Web site: August 4, 2018 . 2019 IMSA Schedule Released . July 26, 2023 . dailysportscar.com.
4. Web site: May 7, 2019 . 00_Championship Points - Official.pdf . November 6, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
5. Web site: Dagys . John . 3 August 2018 . IMSA Launches Sprint Cup for GTD . 28 May 2019 . sportscar365.com . John Dagys Media.
6. Web site: Riley, Pfaff Among GTD Teams Set to Forgo Detroit. Dagys. John. 21 May 2019. sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. 28 May 2019.
7. Web site: MSR Commits to Detroit, Sprint Cup With Both Acura NSX GT3s. Dagys. John. 21 May 2019. sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. 28 May 2019.
8. Web site: Robichon Joins Park Place for Detroit in Sprint Cup Bid. Dagys. John. 22 May 2019. sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. 28 May 2019.
9. Web site: April 26, 2019 . Detroit Grand Prix 2019: Here's the full schedule, ticket info . November 16, 2023 . clickondetroit.com.
10. Web site: Dagys . John . May 31, 2019 . Derani Quickest; JDC-Miller Crashes in Opening Practice . November 16, 2023 . sportscar365.com.
11. Web site: May 31, 2019 . Derani speeds through opening Detroit GP practice . November 16, 2023 . racer.com.
12. Web site: Malsher-Lopez . David . May 31, 2019 . Detroit IMSA: Derani, Legge lead opening practice . November 16, 2023 . motorsport.com.
13. Web site: May 31, 2019 . 03_Results_Practice 1.PDF . November 16, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
14. Web site: May 31, 2019 . 06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF . November 16, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
15. Web site: Dagys . John . May 31, 2019 . Derani Quickest Again in Practice 2 in Detroit . November 16, 2023 . sportscar365.com.
16. Web site: Malsher-Lopez . David . May 31, 2019 . Detroit IMSA: Derani on top again in second practice . November 16, 2023 . motorsport.com.
17. Web site: May 31, 2019 . 03_Results_Practice 2.PDF . November 16, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
18. Web site: May 31, 2019 . 06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF . November 16, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
19. Web site: 2019 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200205235113/https://competitors.imsa.com/sites/default/files/reults/downlods/2019_imsa_sporting_regulations_and_ssr_iwsc_blackline_082119.pdf . February 5, 2020 . 2023-11-19.
20. Web site: June 1, 2019 . Montoya Puts Acura On Pole At Detroit (Updated) . November 16, 2023 . dailysportscar.com.
21. Web site: O'Malley . J.J. . May 31, 2019 . Robichon awarded Detroit IMSA GTD pole . November 16, 2023 . racer.com.
22. Web site: O'Malley . J.J. . May 31, 2019 . Montoya saves best for last lap in Detroit IMSA qualifying . November 16, 2023 . racer.com.
23. Web site: Malsher-Lopez . David . June 1, 2019 . Detroit IMSA: Acura Team Penske locks out front row . November 16, 2023 . motorsport.com.
24. Web site: Dagys . John . May 31, 2019 . Montoya Leads Acura Penske Front Row Sweep in Detroit . November 16, 2023 . sportscar365.com.
25. Web site: 05/31-06/01 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic--03 Results Qualifying. 31 May 2019. 21 June 2019.
26. Web site: June 1, 2019 . 01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF . November 7, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
27. Web site: Dagys . John . May 31, 2019 . Turner BMW Loses GTD Pole . November 7, 2023 . sportscar365.com.
28. Web site: June 4, 2019 . 00_Championship Points - Official.pdf . November 7, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
29. Web site: June 4, 2019 . 03_Results_Race_Official.PDF . November 7, 2023 . results.imsa.com.
30. Web site: 2019 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic . November 7, 2023 . racing-reference.info.