JULY 12, 2023
Sunday, July 9, 2023 at 01:18PM 
Justin Marks (No. 99 Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro) earned his second win of the season in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at Road America. Marks engaged in a tight battle with Chris Dyson (No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang) and Boris Said (No. 79 ECC/Anchor Bolt & Screw Dodge Challenger) for much of the race, but at the end, no one could compete with Marks' Camaro’s speed, earning him the victory in the Denny Lamers Tribute 100. Dyson crossed the finish line second, and Said rounded out the podium with a third-place finish. “My car was really, really good today; big thanks to all of my guys,” said Marks in GYM WEED Victory Lane. “This is an awesome racetrack. I love coming to this side of the country and seeing all the fans here. I’ve gotten to race here in IMSA, World Challenge and Xfinity, and I’ve always wanted to win here, so I’m really excited that it happened today. That’s three wins in a row for this Trackhouse brand and hopefully we can keep doing it tomorrow in Atlanta. It was really nice to race against both of these guys; we can race hard, and we can all race clean. Overall, it was just a good day for us.” (Thank you to Trans Am Series Media)
Colin Braun didn’t need to answer questions about whether his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 had enough fuel to finish the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. An accident involving Renger van der Zande’s No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R with five minutes remaining caused the two-hour, 40-minute round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to end under caution Sunday. For Braun, attempting to stretch his final tank of fuel for 75 of those minutes, the finish behind the safety car eased any worries he and co-driver Tom Blomqvist had about running dry. The No. 60 Acura dropped from the lead to third place during a round of pit stops under caution just past the halfway mark. The decision was immediately taken to try and reach the finish without stopping again, hoping for at least one more full-course caution. Circumstances couldn’t have played into their hands any better. After the first half of the race ran caution-free, the second half saw three more full-course yellows after the initial one, giving Braun the ability to strategically manage his hybrid-powered prototype’s energy reserves. Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor (No. 10 Konica Minolta Racing Acura ARX-06) finished second, while the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 shared by Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly earned a fourth podium finish in the last five races to close within 10 points of the GTP championship lead. The win was the 24th in IMSA competition for Braun, an amazing six of which have come at CTMP – including last year in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor chased down the leaders Sunday and won the GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class of the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The victory was the first for the Corvette Racing team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since March 2022. Before the slump, Corvette had won five of the previous seven season championships in IMSA GT classes. Taylor pitted from fourth place just 33 minutes into the race. Garcia replaced him and drove the No. 3 C8.R up to second place in just 10 minutes and into the lead shortly after that. The two combined to hold the lead to the finish of the two-hour, 40-minute race. “We deserved this win for a long time,” Garcia said. “We came so close many times. We were really struggling to pace at most of the races. … Finally, we got what we deserved.” The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), co-driven by Patrick Pilet and Klaus Bachler, finished second on the team’s home soil as the race ended under caution. Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon brought the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 home in third place. (Thank you to Jeff Olson/IMSA Wire Service)
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Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers (No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3) won the GTD class on Sunday. Snow drove to the lead just 10 minutes into the race, and the two maintained control from there. “Madison drove a great stint at the beginning,” Sellers said. “The best part is, you really love going out there and mixing it up. … They keep you on your toes the whole time.” The race ended under caution, with the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO co-driven by Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff finishing second. The No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 co-driven by Mike Skeen and Mikael Grenier finished third. “I thought it was going to get tough in the last few laps,” Sellers said. “The yellow helped us, again, but I would have loved to battle it out with them.” The WeatherTech Championship resumes for the GTD and GTD PRO classes on July 22 with the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix presented by LIQUI MOLY at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. (Thank you to Jeff Olson/IMSA WIre Service)
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG
