Meyer Shank Acura win the IMSA Detroit Sportscar Classic, after an action packed race

Written by Aaron Carroll

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The No.93 Acura crew have taken victory in the IMSA Detroit Sportscar classic, ending the Porsche Penske win streak in 2025. The No.64 Ford Mustang won in GTD PRO, after some aggressive battles in both classes.

Round five of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar championship got underway at 3:40pm local time in Detroit, with the pair of Acuras leading the field away at the green flag. They led the pair of RLL BMWs in a hectic qualifying session yesterday. You can read all about it here.

At the start the two Acuras held formation at the front, along with the No.25 BMW. Behind them the No.7 Porsche jumped up to fourth, with the No.10 Cadillac coming all the way up to fifth off the start, with an aggressive move down the inside on the No.24 BMW. In GTD PRO the two Fords also kept formation, the No.64 ahead of the No.65.

Very early on some bodywork came off the No.4 Corvette, after a light collision with the No.77 AO Racing Porsche. The discarded piece of carbon fibre brought out a short safety car.

Nick Yelloly restarted the field well, getting the jump on the rest of the GTPs. Nick Tandy in the No.7 Porsche went up the inside on the BMW ahead, the championship leading car up to third. Back in GTD PRO the No.4 Corvette came in for repairs on the restart lap too, along with the No.81 Ferrari.

The No.77 'Roxy' Porsche was spun around into a tyre barrier by the No.14 Lexus in a battle towards the back of the GTD field. Klaus Bachler was able to keep going, albeit five seconds off the back of the main field. The No.14 later got penalised for the incident.

The second placed Ford had some light bodywork hanging off the back of the car as we crossed the 10 minute mark, likely from a small tap against one of the walls.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The No.81 Ferrari that had already been in the pits went straight on at turn three, and into the tyre barrier. Albert Costa reversed the car back out though, and kept running. Similarly the No.1 BMW ended up in the wall, reversing out and straight into the pit lane.

While they were taking their stop, the No.65 Ford was leaving the pits after their stop caused by a black and orange flag for their damage. Even though there was 85 minutes still to go, both of the cars looked to see if they could finish the race without another stop.

The strategy would prove to be a crucial part of the race in Detroit, with some teams pitting early and attempting to go very long on their second stint to the end.

Up at the front of the field, the No.25 BMW of Sheldon Van Der Linde tried to find a way by the No.7 Porsche of Tandy. The BMW driver tried a move at the turn three hairpin, but Tandy held his line and kept the place.

The No.1 BMW experienced more disaster, when they received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Strangely, the leading No.93 of Yelloly had a small piece of wire flying around the cockpit as he circulated the Detroit Street Circuit. This didn't affect his pace however, the gap to the No.60 behind was over five seconds, with 75 minutes to go.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The No.1 BMW found the runoff area again, with a big lock up at turn eight. Madison Snow had some trouble reversing back out, but eventually got back running again.

At the same time, the No.23 Aston Martin was the first GTP to pit. They were followed in by the No.31 Cadillac, the JDC No.85 Porsche and the second placed No.60 Acura.

A few minutes later the leading No.93 Acura took to pit lane, coming back out just ahead of the No.40 Cadillac in sixth place. This left the No.7 Porsche out at the front of the field with clean air to push on.

The next GTP car to pit was the No.24 BMW, who managed to come out ahead of both the sister No.25 car and the No.60 Acura. The overcut working for the RLL team.

The next lap, both of the Porsche Penske cars came in, with the No.7 jumping the No.93 car to take the net lead of the race. The No.6 got very close to making it an effective Porsche 1-2, but stayed just behind the red and black Acura.

Back in the GTD race, all of the pit stops had almost been completed, with the No.14 Lexus in the lead, but they needed another stop. They were followed by the No.64 Ford in second and the No.3 Corvette in third.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The last GTP car to pit was the No.10 Cadillac, leaving the No.7 Porsche to lead the race overall for the first time. The Cadillac managed to emerge back out in second however, 3 seconds ahead of the No.93 Acura.

The No.15 Lexus was the next car to take a trip down the run off, reversing back on and continuing on the way. Meanwhile, Marco Wittmann in the No.25 BMW sent a late move on the No.60 Acura, going down the inside to take sixth place.

The No.14 Lexus finally pit, coming out in third place. A massive jump up the order by the Vasser Sullivan car, after they started at the very back of the grid. Disaster would strike though, as they got a drive-through penalty for a pit stop infringement.

The No.48 BMW went for a very ambitious move on the No.65 Ford for fifth in class, going straight into the Mustang GT3. Both cars lost bits of bodywork, bringing out the Full-Course Yellow (FCY) with just over 35 minutes remaining in the race.

When the pits opened for the GTPs, no one came in for a stop. All of the teams prioritising track position. In GTD it was a similar situation, with only the No.65 Ford coming in for repairs to the damage from the incident that caused this caution period.

Felipe Nasr in the No.7 Porsche got away well on the restart, creating a small gap between him and Ricky Taylor in the Cadillac behind.

After the restart, the No.3 Corvette was attacking the No.64 Ford for the lead in GTD PRO, with a train all the way down to fifth in the battle for the lead. In GTP there was a train of eight cars behind the leader too, both races were all to play for with 20 minutes to go.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Taylor in the Cadillac GTP went for a move on Nasr, staying behind on the original move after some contact but getting the switchback and muscling past the No.7 at the next corner. This put Nasr offline for the next corner, allowing the No.93 Acura and No.6 Porsche through. The No.7 was down from the lead to fourth in just two corners.

With just three and a half minutes left on the clock, the No.93 Acura went for a move on the No.10 for the lead of the race. Renger Van Der Zande made the move stick on Taylor, taking the lead of the race in the dying laps.

Just before the end of the race, the No.65 Ford went down the run off, seemingly an issue for the Mustang. There was also an off for the No.77 Porsche, falling down to fifth in class.

Meanwhile back at the front, Van Der Zande took the white flag with a 1.5 second lead in the lead of the race. Behind them the No.6 Porsche fended off the sister No.7 for third.

The Acura held on to win, and break the Porsche win streak in IMSA. The No.10 Cadillac finished second ahead of the pair of Porsches, No.6 ahead of No.7. The two BMWs followed, and then the No.60 Acura. The No.23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, the No.40 Cadillac and No.31 Cadillac rounded out the GTP top 10.

In GTD PRO the No.64 Ford took the win from the No.3 Corvette. The No.9 Lamborghini finished third, followed by the No.77 Porsche who managed to hold on after its spin. The No.14 Lexus rounded out the top five.