2016 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

The layout of The Raceway on Belle Isle

The 2016 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 4, 2016. The race was the fifth round of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background

Preview

The Raceway on Belle Isle, where the race was held.

Similar to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, this event was held 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.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the seventh 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 2016 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2016 by IMSA, the shortest in terms of time, and was the third round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.350 mi (3.782 km) Belle Isle Park on June 4, 2016.

IMSA altered the balance of performance to try to create parity within the Prototype category. The Lola B12/80 had its weight increased by 15 kg (33 lb).

Before the race, Eric Curran and Dane Cameron led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 121 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 118 points, and Marc Goossens in third with 117 points. With 128 points, PC was led by Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson on countback over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 95 points; the duo held a six-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Honda and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing, JDC-Miller MotorSports, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entry list

Twenty-seven cars were officially entered for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, with most of the entries being in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category. Action Express Racing (AER) fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars while VisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and WTR fielded one. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 cars and Michael Shank Racing (MSR) entered one Ligier JS P2. Panoz skipped the event. The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of seven Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsports. BAR1 Motorsports, CORE Autosport, JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entered one car each. In the list of GTD entrants, twelve GT3-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers. Lone Star Racing and TRG skipped the event. With the absence of the Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) class from the field, only three racing classes were represented in Belle Isle.

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday. The first ninety-minute session was on Friday morning. The second on Friday afternoon lasted 90 minutes.

In the first session, Barbosa set the fastest time in the No. 5 AER Corvette DP with a time of 1 minute, 24.239 seconds, 0.732 seconds faster than Cameron's No. 5 car. Jordan Taylor was third fastest in the No. 10 WTR vehicle, Oswaldo Negri Jr.'s No. 60 MSR Ligier placed fourth, and Ryan Dalziel's No. 90 Corvette DP rounded out the top five. The fastest PC class car was Renger van der Zande in the No. 8 Starworks entry with 1 minute, 27.030 seconds, followed by Colin Braun in the No. 54 CORE Autosport car. Porsche paced GTD with PPM's 911 of Bergmeister lapping at 1:31.253, followed by Jeroen Bleekemolen's No. 33 Viper.

Cameron led the final session in AER's No. 31 car with a lap of 1 minute, 23.860 seconds. Fittipaldi's No.5 Corvette DP was second fastest. Goossens in the No. 90 VFR vehicle was third fastest. CORE Autosport topped PC after a lap by Braun. Mowlem caused a stoppage early when his BAR1 car suffered a suspension failure and stopped on the track. Bergmeister was fastest again GTD.

Qualifying

Friday afternoon's 60-minute three-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in PC, and Prototype had two separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arranged the grid to put all Prototypes ahead of the PC, and GTD cars.

Qualifying results

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

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	5	Action Express Racing	Christian Fittipaldi	1:23.815	—	1‡
2	P	90	VisitFlorida Racing	Marc Goossens	1:23.863	+0.048	2
3	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Ricky Taylor	1:24.253	+0.438	3
4	P	31	Action Express Racing	Eric Curran	1:24.337	+1.380	4
5	P	60	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Katherine Legge	1:25.195	+1.550	5
6	P	55	Mazda Motorsports	Tristan Nunez	1:25.365	+1.934	6
7	P	70	Mazda Motorsports	Tom Long	1:25.749	+3.756	7
8	PC	52	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Robert Alon	1:27.571	+3.756	8‡
9	PC	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	James French	1:27.851	+4.036	9
10	PC	8	Starworks Motorsport	Alex Popow	1:27.878	+4.063	10
11	PC	85	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Misha Goikhberg	1:28.005	+4.190	271
12	PC	54	CORE Autosport	Jon Bennett	1:28.903	+5.088	11
13	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers	1:31.340	+7.525	14‡
14	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Patrick Lindsey	1:31.637	+7.536	15
15	GTD	6	Stevenson Motorsports	Robin Liddell	1:31.637	+7.822	16
16	GTD	16	Change Racing	Spencer Pumpelly	1:31.917	+8.102	17
17	GTD	9	Stevenson Motorsports	Matt Bell	1:32.017	+8.202	18
18	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports	Ben Keating	1:32.073	+8.258	19
19	GTD	27	Dream Racing	Cédric Sbirrazzuoli	1:32.106	+8.291	252
20	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Christina Nielsen	1:32.275	+8.460	20
21	GTD	22	Alex Job Racing	Cooper MacNeil	1:32.673	+8.858	21
22	GTD	97	Turner Motorsport	Michael Marsa	1:33.073	+9.258	22
23	GTD	23	Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing	Mario Farnbacher	1:33.200	+9.385	23
24	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bret Curtis	1:33.266	+9.451	24
25	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	1:34.020	+10.205	263
26	PC	20	BAR1 Motorsports	Tomy Drissi	1:34.081	+10.266	12
27	PC	88	Starworks Motorsport	Mark Kvamme	1:35.857	+12.042	133
Sources:

• ¹ The No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports was sent to the rear of the PC grid for not starting on the grid.
• ² The No. 27 Dream Racing Lamborghini was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 43.1 of the Sporting regulations (Starting driver change).
• ³ The No. 44 Magnus Racing, and No. 88 Starworks Motorsport entries were sent to the rear of their respective class fields as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).

Race

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor Ricky Taylor Corvette Daytona Prototype C 57 01:40:11.998‡ Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 2 P 5 Action Express Racing João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi Corvette Daytona Prototype C 57 +1.740 Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 3 PC 8 Starworks Motorsport Alex Popow Renger van der Zande Oreca FLM09 C 57 +33.643‡ Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 4 PC 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Oreca FLM09 C 57 +37.117 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 5 PC 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Robert Alon Tom Kimber-Smith Oreca FLM09 C 57 +48.082 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 6 PC 38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French Kyle Marcelli Oreca FLM09 C 57 +51.278 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 7 P 55 Mazda Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito Tristan Nunez Mazda Prototype C 57 +1:00.977 Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo 8 PC 20 BAR1 Motorsports Tomy Drissi Johnny Mowlem Oreca FLM09 C 57 +1:01.468 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 9 P 70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long Joel Miller Mazda Prototype C 56 +1 Lap Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo 10 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Dodge Viper GT3-R C 56 +1 Lap‡ Dodge 8.3L V10 11 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Porsche 911 GT3 R C 56 +1 Lap Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen Alessandro Balzan Ferrari 488 GT3 C 56 +1 Lap Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 13 GTD 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher Alex Riberas Porsche 911 GT3 R C 56 +1 Lap Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 14 GTD 6 Stevenson Motorsports Andrew Davis Robin Liddell Audi R8 LMS C 56 +1 Lap Audi 5.2L V10 15 GTD 16 Change Racing Corey Lewis Spencer Pumpelly Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 56 +1 Lap Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 16 GTD 22 Alex Job Racing Cooper MacNeil Leh Keen Porsche 911 GT3 R C 56 +1 Lap Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 17 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 56 +1 Lap Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 18 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Bret Curtis Jens Klingmann BMW M6 GT3 C 56 +1 Lap BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 19 GTD 44 Magnus Racing John Potter Andy Lally Audi R8 LMS C 56 +1 Lap Audi 5.2L V10 20 GTD 97 Turner Motorsport Michael Marsal Markus Palttala BMW M6 GT3 C 56 +1 Lap BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 21 GTD 27 Dream Racing Cédric Sbirrazzuoli Lawrence DeGeorge Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 56 +1 Lap Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 22 P 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr. Katherine Legge Ligier JS P2 C 54 +3 Laps Honda HR35TT 3.5 Turbo V6 23 P 31 Action Express Racing Eric Curran Dane Cameron Corvette Daytona Prototype C 40 +17 Laps Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 24 DNF PC 88 Starworks Motorsport Mark Kvamme Ashley Freiberg Oreca FLM09 C 29 Crash Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 25 GTD 9 Stevenson Motorsports Lawson Aschenbach Matt Bell Audi R8 LMS C 25 +32 Laps Audi 5.2L V10 26 DNF PC 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg Stephen Simpson Oreca FLM09 C 18 Withdrew Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 27 DNF P 90 VisitFlorida Racing Marc Goossens Ryan Dalziel Corvette Daytona Prototype C 9 Crash Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 Sources:

Tyre manufacturer Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental