- Olly Shakesby
- Jun 9, 2025
- 4 min read
IMSA - IMSA BoP finally sees Porsche go winless as the Streets of Detroit cause racing havoc
In the latest round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, the tight streets of Detroit saw tight racing, on-track clashes, and more missed braking zones than you could count on both hands!
RACE
The first lap was impressively clean for the IMSA SportsCar Championship, with the first major battle on track between the #1 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and #48 Paul Miller BMW making some side by side contact whilst racing for third in the GTD Pro class. Just five minutes into the race the first full course yellow was implemented by race control to clear up debris from some of the early lap contacts due to the narrow nature of the Detroit street circuit.
The full course yellow was a short one, with racing resuming just three minutes after it was called, immediately the #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and #81 Ferrari of Rasmus Lindh both made their first pitstops. The #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari found itself in trouble just a few minutes later as Albert Costa missed the braking zone into turn one and was forced to reverse out of the runoff to be able to resume racing.
The first real incident of the race was when the #1, driven by Neil Verhagen, came to a stop just before the pit entry, when he got the car restarted he came straight into the pit lane and for his troubles received a drive through penalty for speeding once he had completed his stop. After having served the drive through penalty the #1 car suffered yet another lockup into turn one, the corner had caught out many teams across the weekend but none as many as the #1 crew.
As the first forty minutes of the race drew to a close the first round of GTP pitstops commenced, and against the best efforts of the IMSA BoP updates the #7 in the hands of Felipe Nasr jumped the #93 of Renger van der Zande who had been leading up until the pitstop. Just ten minutes later the #93 lost another position through the pit cycle, with the #10 in the hands of Felipe Albuquerque also jumped the Acura team for second place on the road.
With just forty minutes left on the clock a major skirmish unfolded in the GTD Pro class, the #9 and #65 cars both passing the #48 of Max Hesse in the space of a few corners before Hesse made a desperate dive up the inside and caused a collision with the #65 whilst also taking the position. This resulted in a drive through penalty for the #48 car for incident responsibility.
After a brief full course yellow to clear up the debris from the contact between the GTD Pro contact the racing got back underway for the final time with the #7 of Felipe Nasr still leading the #10 of Ricky Taylor and the #93 of Renger van der Zande. Almost immediately after the full course yellow was lifted the #77, being driven by Laurin Heinrich, moved ahead of the #14 for fifth in class.
With less than a quarter of an hour remaining the #7 Porsche Penske 963 was relieved of first place by the #10 of Ricky Taylor, the #7 would continue to fall down the order, being passed by the #93 Renger van der Zande and his teammate, the #6 of Mathieu Jaminet. This dropped the #7 from first to fourth in the space of just a few corners.
In the final ten minutes the #77 Laurin Heinrich had some side by side contact with the #4 of Nicky Catsburg as the pair fought over fourth and fifth in GTD Pro. Just five minutes later the #93 in the hands of Renger van der Zande finally made the overtake to get back to the lead, moving ahead of the #10. On the final lap of the race there was contact between the #77 and #4 cars at turn one, the Corvette spinning the Porsche before Laurin Heinrich throttled up to tap the #4 into a spin as well.
PODIUMS IN EACH CLASS
CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS
After five rounds, and the first non-Porsche win, the #93 Acura-ARX 06 in the hands of Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande move up to fourth in the championship with 1481 points, while Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 still remain in the lead of the championship with 1795 points, with the sister #6 crew with 1725 points.
“Rexy” still remains in the lead of the championship despite their fifth place finish in Detroit with 1298 points, while the #3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims sits just eleven points behind, and the race winning #64 Mustang of Sebastian Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller take third position off the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari, and sit just 55 points behind “Rexy”.
The next round of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship heads to the Watkins Glen circuit for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen on the 21st - 22nd June, where all four classes, GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD will compete once again. This sixth round of the championship also marks the third round of the Michelin Endurance Cup, where we will expect to see the Lamborghini SC63 return to the track for the first time since the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.
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