2019 Northeast Grand Prix

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Track map of Lime Rock Park

The 2019 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 20, 2019, as the eighth round of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the 2019 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background[edit]

Lime Rock Park, where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018.[1] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the twenty-seventh annual running of the race. The 2019 Northeast Grand Prix was the eighth of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the fourth of seven rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[2] The race was held at the seven-turn 1.530 mi (2.462 km) Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 20, 2019.[3] The race was the first of two GT-only rounds on the 2019 IMSA calendar in which the prototype classes, Daytona Prototype international (DPi) and Le Mans Prototype (LMP2) would not take part.[3]

On July 11, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. The GT Le Mans (GTLM) balance of performance constraints would remain as they were in the previous round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In the GT Daytona (GTD) class, after winning the previous round, the BMW M6 GT3 was given a power reduction of 12 horsepower, as well as a 2-liter fuel capacity reduction and a restriction of turbo boost. The Ferrari 488 GT3 and the Porsche 911 GT3 R were made 10 and five kilograms lighter, respectively.[4]

Before the race, Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 186 points, ahead of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy in second.[5] In GTD, Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman led the Drivers' Championship with 151 points; the duo held a nineteen-point advantage over Frankie Montecalvo and Townsend Bell in second followed by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley with 123 points in third.[5] Porsche and Acura were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche GT Team and Meyer Shank Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[5]

Entries[edit]

Further information: 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total 21 cars took part in the event split across two classes. There were eight cars entered in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. The most notable change to the grid included the return of Blancpain GT World Challenge America full-time team Wright Motorsports, with drivers Anthony Imperato and Porsche Junior Professional driver Matt Campbell. Pfaff Motorsports regular driver Scott Hargrove would sit out the Lime Rock Park event as well as the following event at Road America, replaced instead by Porsche Junior driver Dennis Olsen for the Lime Rock event. Olsen and Campbell would switch places for Road America.[6][7] Due to this event happening 50 years and one day after the Apollo 11 Moon landing, GTD team Magnus Racing decided to commemorate the anniversary of the mission by launching a one-off livery designed to look like the Saturn V rocket, and run under the number 11. As Magnus Racing usually ran under car number 44, the team received special dispensation by IMSA to count the points they would score as number 11 towards their full-season points under number 44.[8]

Practice[edit]

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Friday morning and two on Friday afternoon. The first session on Friday morning lasted 90 minutes while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour. The third session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour.[9]

Practice 1[edit]

The first practice session took place at 11:25 am ET on Friday and ended with Nick Tandy topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 50.065. Oliver Gavin was second fastest in the No. 4 Corvette followed by Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL entry.[10] Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette was fourth fastest and Richard Westbrook's No. 67 Ford GT rounded out the top five.[11] The GTD class was topped by the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Mario Farnbacher with a time of 1:16.885. Jeroen Bleekemolen was second fastest in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG followed by the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers in third position.[11] Patrick Long's No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche was fourth fastest and Matt Campbell in the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche rounded out the top five.[12]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy 50.050 _
2 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin 50.398 +0.333
3 GLTM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi 50.416 +0.351
Sources:[13][14]

Practice 2[edit]

The second practice session took place at 2:20 PM ET on Friday and ended with Antonio García topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 50.302. Connor De Phillippi was second fastest in the No. 6 BMW Team RLL entry followed by Jesse Krohn in the sister No. 24 BMW.[15] Richard Westbrook was fourth fastest in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry followed by teammate Joey Hand in the sister No. 66 Ford GT in fifth.[16] The GTD class was topped by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen with a time of 51.715. Toni Vilander was second fastest in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari followed by Dennis Olsen in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche in third position.[17] Marco Seefried's No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche was fourth fastest and Matt Campbell in the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche rounded out the top five.[17]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García 50.302 _
2 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi 50.320 +0.018
3 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL Jesse Krohn 30.467 +0.165
Sources:[18][19]

Practice 3[edit]

The third and final practice session took place at 4:55 pm ET Friday and ended with Nick Tandy topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 49.782. Laurens Vanthoor was second fastest in the sister No. 912 Porsche followed by Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry.[20] Oliver Gavin was fourth fastest in the No. 4 Corvette and Dirk Müller's No. 66 Ford GT rounded out the top five.[17] The GTD class was topped by the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Bryan Sellers with a time of 51.797. Patrick Long in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche was second fastest followed by Mario Farnbacher's No. 86 Acura in third position. The No. 11 Magnus Racing Lamborghini of Andy Lally was fourth fastest and Zacharie Robichon's No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche rounded out the top five.[21] The Turner Motorsport entry did not set a lap time.[22] Marcel Fässler crashed the No. 4 Corvette Racing entry at turn five, damaging his vehicle's front nose, but managed to managed to return to the pitlane for repairs.[20][22]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy 49.782 _
2 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor 49.938 +0.156
3 GTLM 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Richard Westbrook 50.314 +0.582
Sources:[23][24]

Qualifying[edit]

Laurens Vanthoor (pictured in 2009) helped take the No. 912 Porsche's first pole position of 2019.

Saturday's morning qualifying session was divided into two groups that lasted 15 minutes each.[9] Cars in GTD were sent out first and, after a ten-minute interval, GTLM 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.[25] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the GTLM field started in front of all GTD cars.

The first was for cars in the GTD class. Trent Hindman qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 86 car for Meyer Shank Racing, beating Ben Keating in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG by less than one-tenth of a second. The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán of Corey Lewis set the third fastest time.[26] 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 Lamborghini was found to not have complied with mandated ride height.[27] As a result, Robby Foleys No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW was promoted to third position followed by Zacharie Robichon's No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche in fourth, and Richard Heistand's No. 12 Lexus in fifth position.[28]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Laurens Vanthoor qualified on pole driving the No. 912 car for Porsche GT Team, beating teammate Nick Tandy in the sister No. 911 Porsche by 0.052 seconds.[29] Following in third was Connor De Phillippi's No. 25 BMW followed by Dirk Müller in the No. 66 Ford GT in fourth.[26][30] The Corvette Racing entries started fifth and sixth followed by Ryan Briscoe's No. 67 Ford GT in seventh position.[29] John Edwards in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL entry rounded out the GTLM qualifiers.[29]

Qualifying results[edit]

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

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 GTLM 912 United States Porsche GT Team Belgium Laurens Vanthoor 49.133 _ 1 ‡
2 GTLM 911 United States Porsche GT Team United Kingdom Nick Tandy 49.185 +0.052 2
3 GTLM 25 United States BMW Team RLL United States Connor De Phillippi 49.322 +0.189 3
4 GTLM 66 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Germany Dirk Müller 49.458 +0.325 4
5 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García 49.690 +0.557 5
6 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin 49.748 +0.615 6
7 GTLM 67 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Australia Ryan Briscoe 49.808 +0.675 7
8 GTLM 24 United States BMW Team RLL United States John Edwards 49.864 +0.731 8
9 GTD 86 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian United States Trent Hindman 51.456 +2.323 9‡
10 GTD 33 United States Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports United States Ben Keating 51.482 +2.349 10
11 GTD 48 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Corey Lewis 51.532 +2.399 211
12 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Robby Foley 51.536 +2.403 11
13 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon 51.575 +2.442 12
14 GTD 14 Canada AIM Vasser Sullivan United States Richard Heistand 51.642 +2.509 13
15 GTD 73 United States Park Place Motorsports Germany Marco Seefried 51.661 +2.528 14
16 GTD 63 United States Scuderia Corsa United States Cooper MacNeil 51.719 +2.586 15
17 GTD 91 United States Wright Motorsports United States Anthony Imperato 51.785 +2.652 16
18 GTD 76 Canada Compass Racing United States Matt Plumb 52.008 +2.875 17
19 GTD 57 United States Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Denmark Christina Nielsen 52.059 +2.926 18
20 GTD 11 United States Magnus Racing United States John Potter 52.226 +3.093 19
21 GTD 12 Canada AIM Vasser Sullivan United States Frankie Montecalvo 52.236 +3.103 20
Sources:[31][32]
  • The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for violating competition rules regarding the car's ride height.[33]

Race[edit]

Post-race[edit]

The final results of GTLM kept Bamber and Vanthoor atop the Drivers' Championship as they extended their advantage to eight points over Pilet and Tandy. Briscoe and Westbrook advanced from sixth to fourth.[34] The final results of GTD meant Farnbacher and Hindman extended their advantage to 30 points as Auberlen and Foley took over second position. Long advanced from fifth to third while Montecalvo and Bell dropped from second to fourth.[34] Porsche and Acura continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche GT Team and Meyer Shank Racing kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships with four rounds left in the season.[34]

Race Results[edit]

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 GTLM 67 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Australia Ryan Briscoe
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook 		Ford GT 182 2:40:17.361 ‡
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
2 GTLM 912 United States Porsche GT Team New Zealand Earl Bamber
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor 		Porsche 911 RSR 182 +7.003s
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
3 GTLM 66 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United States Joey Hand
Germany Dirk Müller 		Ford GT 182 +7.526s
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
4 GTLM 911 United States Porsche GT Team France Patrick Pilet
United Kingdom Nick Tandy 		Porsche 911 RSR 182 +26.058s
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
5 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García
Denmark Jan Magnussen 		Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 182 +48.911s
Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
6 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner 		Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 181 +1 lap
Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
7 GTLM 25 United States BMW Team RLL United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United States Connor De Phillippi 		BMW M8 GTE 181 +1 lap
BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
8 GTLM 24 United States BMW Team RLL United States John Edwards
Finland Jesse Krohn 		BMW M8 GTE 180 +2 laps
BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
9 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Norway Dennis Olsen
Canada Zacharie Robichon 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 178 +4 laps‡
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
10 GTD 86 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Germany Mario Farnbacher
United States Trent Hindman 		Acura NSX GT3 178 +4 laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
11 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley 		BMW M6 GT3 178 +4 laps
BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8
12 GTD 73 United States Park Place Motorsports United States Patrick Long
Germany Marco Seefried 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 178 +4 laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
13 GTD 91 United States Wright Motorsports Australia Matt Campbell
United States Anthony Imperato 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 178 +4 laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
14 GTD 14 Canada AIM Vasser Sullivan United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United States Richard Heistand 		Lexus RC F GT3 177 +5 laps
Lexus 5.0 L V8
15 GTD 48 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Corey Lewis
United States Bryan Sellers 		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 177 +5 laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
16 GTD 11 United States Magnus Racing United States Andy Lally
United States John Potter 		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 177 +5 laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
17 GTD 33 United States Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
United States Ben Keating 		Mercedes-AMG GT3 177 +5 laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
18 GTD 76 Canada Compass Racing United States Paul Holton
United States Matt Plumb 		McLaren 720S GT3 175 +7 laps
McLaren M480T 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
19 GTD 63 United States Scuderia Corsa United States Cooper MacNeil
Finland Toni Vilander 		Ferrari 488 GT3 174 +8 laps
Ferrari F154 3.9 L Turbo V8
20

DNF

GTD 57 United States Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Denmark Christina Nielsen 		Acura NSX GT3 173 Suspension
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
21 GTD 12 Canada AIM Vasser Sullivan United States Townsend Bell
United States Frankie Montecalvo 		Lexus RC F GT3 159 +22 laps
Lexus 5.0 L V8
Sources:[35][36]

Standings after the race[edit]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Klein, Jamie (August 4, 2018). "IMSA reveals largely unchanged 2019 schedule". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  2. ^ Pruett, Marshall (August 3, 2018). "IMSA releases 2019 schedule". racer.com. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "2019 IMSA Schedule Released". dailysportscar.com. August 4, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  4. ^ Dagys, John (11 July 2019). "BMW M6 GT3 Pegged Back for Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 9, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  6. ^ Klein, Jamie (9 July 2019). "Wright Motorsports to make IMSA return at Lime Rock". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  7. ^ Dagys, John (15 July 2019). "Olsen, Campbell to Replace Hargrove in Pfaff Porsche". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  8. ^ Klein, Jamie (18 July 2019). "Magnus Racing to run Apollo 11 tribute livery at Lime Rock". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  9. ^ a b "2019 IMSA Official Schedule and SR Lime Rock 071119 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  10. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 19, 2019). "Porsche rules opening Lime Rock practice". racer.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Dagys, John (July 19, 2019). "Tandy, Porsche Quickest in Opening Practice at Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  12. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 20, 2019). "Lime Rock IMSA: Tandy leads for Porsche, Acura tops GTD". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  13. ^ "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  14. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  15. ^ Bradley, Charles (July 19, 2019). "Lime Rock IMSA: Garcia tops FP2 for Chevy, BMW leads GTD". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  16. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 19, 2019). "Garcia's Corvette fast at hot Lime Rock". racer.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Allaway, Phil (July 5, 2019). "Nick Tandy Fastest Overall In Lime Rock WeatherTech Practice". frontstretch.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  18. ^ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  19. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  20. ^ a b O'Malley, J.J. (July 19, 2019). "Tandy's Porsche fastest in final Friday Lime Rock practice". racer.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  21. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 20, 2019). "Lime Rock IMSA: Tandy leads Porsche sweep in FP3". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  22. ^ a b Dagys, John (July 19, 2019). "Tandy, Porsche Quickest on Friday at Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  23. ^ "03_Results_Practice 3.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  24. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 3.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  25. ^ "2019 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2020. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  26. ^ a b O'Malley, J.J. (July 20, 2019). "Vanthoor leads Porsche sweep in record Lime Rock qualifying". racer.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  27. ^ "Hot fightback for Paul Miller Racing at Lime Rock Park". paulmillerracing.com. July 21, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  28. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 20, 2019). "Lime Rock IMSA: Westbrook, Briscoe triumph for Ford". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  29. ^ a b c Dagys, John (July 20, 2019). "Vanthoor Scores First Career GTLM Pole at Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  30. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 20, 2019). "Lime Rock IMSA: Vanthoor takes pole in Porsche front-row lockout". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  31. ^ "19-20 July 2019 Northeast Grand Prix Results -- Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). 19 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  32. ^ "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 20, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  33. ^ Dagys, John (July 21, 2019). "Lime Rock Post-Race Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  34. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 23, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  35. ^ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 23, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  36. ^ "2019 Northeast Grand Prix". racing-reference.info. Retrieved November 7, 2023.

External links[edit]

IMSA SportsCar Championship
Previous race:
2019 SportsCar Grand Prix 		2019 season Next race:
2019 Road Race Showcase at Road America
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