The 2019 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was a sports car race sanctioned by the

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

(IMSA). The race was held at The Raceway on Belle Isle in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, on June 1, 2019. This race was the fifth round of the

2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 49th motor racing championship sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) (which traces its lin ...

, and the second round of the 2019 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background

's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the

2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship The 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 49th motor racing championship sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) (which traces its lin ...

(IMSA SCC) in August 2018. 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 The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

and the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

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. The race was held at the fourteen-turn

Belle Isle Park Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (), is a island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada bor ...

on June 1, 2019. Similar to the

Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. It was the premier race on the CART/Champ Car Worl ...

, this event ran in conjunction with the

Detroit Grand Prix The title of Detroit Grand Prix (United States Grand Prix – East) was applied to the Formula One races held at the Detroit street circuit in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America from 1982 through 1988. History In 1982, the U ...

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 Luís Felipe "Pipo" Derani (born 12 October 1993) is a Brazilian race car driver who is currently a factory driver for the Genesis Magma Racing program. He is an overall winner of the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2023 ...

and

Felipe Nasr Luiz Felipe de Oliveira Nasr (born 21 August 1992) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Porsche. Nasr competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Nasr has won three IMSA SportsCar Cham ...

led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 120 points, ahead of

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

and

Ricky Taylor Ricky Scott Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American professional racing driver, most notably in the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. His career highlights include an ...

in second followed by Jordan Taylor and

Renger van der Zande Renger is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Annemarie Renger (1919–2008), German politician * Thomas Renger (born 1972), German sitting volleyball player * Renger van der Zande (born 1986), Dutch racing driv ...

with 113 points in third. In GTD,

Mario Farnbacher Mario Farnbacher (born 14 May 1992) is a German racecar driver. He won the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTD class in 2019 and 2020, and also won the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am title in 2022. He has class victories at the Petit Le ...

and Trent Hindman led the Drivers' Championship with 84 points, 4 points ahead of

Frankie Montecalvo Frank Montecalvo (born December 28, 1990) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Early life A native of Highlands, New Jersey, Montecalvo attended high school at St. John Vianney High Scho ...

and

Townsend Bell Townsend Lorenz Bell (born April 19, 1975) is an American professional motor racing driver competing in the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and also as a motorsports commentator for FOX Sports’ I ...

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

and

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing and

Meyer Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR; formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American motorsport organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank, co-owner of 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.

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 A Daytona Prototype International (DPi) was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the International Motor Sports Association's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as their top class of car, acting as a direct replaceme ...

class and 12 entries in the GTD class. The

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

(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 Riley Technologies LLC is an American auto racing constructor and team specializing in the design and manufacture of complete race cars, as well as prototype development for racing and manufacturing applications. The team currently fields the N ...

, 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. 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 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dic ...

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.

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 8:30 am ET on Friday and ended with

topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:20.583.

was second fastest in the No. 7 Acura followed by

Filipe Albuquerque Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque (born 13 June 1985) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving an Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the Europea ...

in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac. The GTD class was topped by the No. 57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship. She holds the record for the fastest qu ...

with a time of 1:30.304, ahead of

Bryan Sellers Bryan Sellers (born August 19, 1982 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American racing driver. Sellers won the title in the U.S. F2000 in 2002 and later competed in the Atlantic Championship and in racing sports cars. Racing career Bryan Sellers first co ...

in the No. 48

Paul Miller Racing Paul Miller Racing is an American auto racing team that is part of Paul Miller Auto Group and associated with former racing driver . The team has operations that are headquartered in Buford, Georgia; the Racing team also has operations in Pars ...

Lamborghini. Zacharie Robichon was third fastest in the No. 73 Porsche followed by Richard Heistand in the No. 14 Lexus in fourth position. The Mazda Team Joest entries did not set a time due to mechanical issues. The session was red flagged two times.

Simon Trummer Simon Trummer (born 8 June 1989 in Frutigen, Canton of Bern) is a Auto racing, racing driver from Switzerland. Career Karting Trummer began his motorsport career in karting back in 2003, finishing second in the Swiss Junior Championship. He also ...

crashed the No. 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and brought out the first red flag. The final stoppage came when

Misha Goikhberg Mikhail "Misha" Goikhberg (born 24 November 1986), is a Russian-born Canadian race car driver who is best known for competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Early career Goikhberg's first foray into driving happened in 2003 at the Russia ...

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.

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 12:50 PM ET on Friday and ended with

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

in the No. 7 Acura. The GTD class was topped by the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports

Porsche 911 GT3 R The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

of Zacharie Robichon with a time of 1:30.011, ahead of

Christina Nielsen Christina Nielsen (born 10 January 1992 in Hørsholm, Denmark) is a Danish racing driver who is the first female driver to win a IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series title. She is the daughter of racing driver La ...

in the No. 57 Acura.

Bill Auberlen William Anthony Auberlen (born October 12, 1968) is an American factory race car driver known for his affiliation with BMW, driving cars made and run by the famous German marque for a number of years. Auberlen currently competes for Turner Mot ...

was third fastest in the No. 96 BMW followed by

in the No. 86 Acura in fourth and

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

's No. 14 Lexus rounded out the top five. The Compass Racing did not set a time.

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. 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 Robby Foley (born July 20, 1996) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Raised in Randolph, New Jersey, Foley's motorsports career was kickstarted in 2010 by a severe injury sustain ...

set the fastest time driving the No. 96 car for

Turner Motorsport Turner Motorsport (Also known as TMS Racing, Turner motorsport(s) or Turner racing) is a professional sports car racing team located in Newton, NH, and is the most prolific BMW race team in the world. As of May 2024 Turner motorsport has compet ...

. 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.

in the No. 57 Acura started in second position followed by Trent Hindman's No. 86 Acura. The No. 8

Starworks Motorsport Starworks Motorsport was an American automobile racing team based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, last competing in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship fielding the No. 8 Oreca 07 in LMP2. The team was established in 2010 by Peter Baron. History ...

Audi of

Parker Chase Parker B. Chase (born February 22, 2001) is an American professional racing driver who competes full-time in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Michelin Pilot Challenge and driving the No. 98 Hyundai Veloster N TCR for Bryan Herta ...

did not set a time due to suspension problems. 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

in the No. 7 Acura by 0.207 seconds.

Jonathan Bomarito Jonathan Lewis Bomarito (born January 23, 1982) is an American professional racing driver from Monterey, California. After much success in karting and two years driving in Grand-Am Cup, Jonathan Bomarito moved to Formula Ford 2000 USA in 2003 an ...

qualified the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest entry in third position followed by

's No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac.

João Barbosa João Ricardo da Silva Coelho Barbosa (born 11 March 1975 in Porto, Portugal) is a Portuguese auto racing driver. He currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Sean Creech Motorsport in the LMP2 class. He was runner ...

in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac started from fifth place. Following in sixth was the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Cadillac DPi-V.R of

followed by

Tristan Nunez Tristan Nunez (born October 31, 1995 in Boynton Beach, Florida) is an American racing driver from Boca Raton, Florida. He is the son of Juan Nunez, a former professional tennis player and coach. Nunez has a fraternal twin brother, Dylan, who was ...

's No. 77 Mazda in seventh place. The duo of JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillacs were eighth and tenth:

in the No. 84 car was faster than the sister No. 85 entry of

. They were separated by the ninth-placed

Victor Franzoni Victor Coelho Franzoni da Silva (born 5 October 1995) is a Brazilian racing driver who most recently competed in Copa Truck. Franzoni raced in Formula Renault in Europe before switching to competition in the United States on the USF Pro Champion ...

in the No. 50

Juncos Racing Juncos Hollinger Racing (, ), formerly Juncos Racing, is an Argentine-American racing team competing in the IndyCar Series. Owned by Ricardo Juncos, who formed the team in 1997, the team was initially based in Argentina before limited racing opp ...

Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Qualifying Results

Pole positions In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

in each class are indicated in bold and by . * 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.

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. 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 .

Standings after the race

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.

References

External links

{{Detroit Sports Car Classic Detroit Sports Car Classic Detroit Sports Car Classic Detroit Sports Car Classic Detroit Sports Car Classic