Photo Courtesy of Honda Performance
Numbers are significantly down this year at the Raceway at Belle Isle, as only 24 teams are scheduled to compete in Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic. However, that is far from tagging the fifth round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship as a watered down prequel to next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Although the GT Le Mans division is absent due to multiple teams preparing for Sunday’s test day at Circuit de la Sarthe in France, there are many story lines among those who are left to challenge for the winner’s trophies.
Expect the Daytona Prototypes to once again dominate the proceedings at Detroit. Although two LMP-2 eligible runners will be present on the grid Saturday, neither Michael Shank Racing nor SpeedSource is likely to feature based the results shown at the only other street circuit round contested so far in 2015 in Long Beach, California. Although MSR’s Ligier-Honda coupe was very competitive, the car was off target at the Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase, on a track that did not favor a low downforce runner. This is part of the reason why DeltaWing Racing has elected to skip this round and also an influence to a downsized effort by SpeedSource with their Mazda SkyActiv-D diesel coupe.
Obviously, Chevrolet’s Corvette DP has the strength in numbers, with the challenger claiming three of the first four races so far this season, with three different outfits claiming the triumphs. Action Express Racing won the second leg of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup at Sebring, Wayne Taylor Racing won the street race in Long Beach, and in the most recent event at Laguna Seca Visitflorida.com Racing took the checkers first. The season opening event at Daytona was won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ford EcoBoost-powered Riley DP, but not with their full season squad, but with an all star squad including IndyCar’s Scott Dixon and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson. The Scott Pruett, Joey Hand guided No. 01 entry is winless in 2015, despite earning three overall wins in 2014.
The battle for overall honors last year went to down to a last lap duel between Action Express and WTR, in which the former got the wrong end of contact in turns three and four, resulting in victory for brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor, whose victory celebration was cut short to allow them to hustle to the airport for a red-eye flight to Le Mans for the test day. Jordan Taylor will be the only one to head overseas this time around, as joins forces once again with Corvette Racing.
After being left out in favor of a last minute move to a stand alone event at Kansas Speedway that was not highly publicized, nor well attended by fans, the Prototype Challenge will be present at Belle Isle in 2015. That fact should bolster the challenge posted by Paul Gentilozzi, more or less the home team in this division. The former Trans-Am Series champion’s RSR Racing squad earned their first 2015 class win at Laguna Seca after suffering through mechanical issues at both Daytona and Sebring. The previous two round were claimed by PR1-Mathiasen Motorsports’ Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith, however a bad result in race three has brought the competition back within range, including reigning PC champions CORE autosport who are surprisingly 0 for 3 this season.
Only ten teams will be present in the GT Daytona division on Saturday, however all three winners to date will be track side including Park Place Motorsports, who with Patrick Lindsey and Spencer Pumpelly at the controls pulled off a surprising victory at Laguna Seca. Also looking to claim a second win in 2015 are Daytona winners Riley Motorsports with their Dodge Viper and Alex Job Racing Team Seattle who earned the top step of the podium at Sebring. As is the case in PC, the reigning champions in GTD are also minus a victory so far this season as Turner Motorsport have struggled for pace with their BMW Z4, while a similar story has played out for Audi R8 runners Paul Miller Racing.
Of course, the focus after the checkered flag falls shifts across the Atlantic to Le Mans, where 56 teams and three alternates get important track time in ahead of the Grand Prix of Endurance Racing.
Stay tuned to OnPitRoad.com for full coverage from Detroit, plus a preview of the Le Mans test day.
