IMSA Preview: Deroit Sports Car Classic

Written by Sean McKean

Credit: Brett Farmer / LAT Images & IMSA

For our last 100-minute sprint of the season, the IMSA field will take to the tricky streets of Detroit for the fifth round of the season. Coming off a weekend with both GTD and GTD Pro present, this event will be exclusive to GTD Pro, alongside GTP. 

There are 22 entries expected: 11 in GTP and 11 in GTD Pro.

This event will be 100 minutes long, as previously mentioned. This will also be the final street race of the season.

Despite not winning an unprecedented fourth race in a row in Laguna Seca, the No. 7 Porsche of Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr remain the team to beat. Considering that their “weak” days are finishing second to their teammates, it’s safe to say that all is well in the Porsche Penske camp.

The team who took that Monterey Classic victory was the No. 6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell. Now that they’ve finally found their way into victory lane, expect to see this entry contending more closely to their teammates across the hall.

In the GTD Pro class, the No. 77 Porsche of Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler became the first GTD Pro team to win back-to-back races. Now having shown their strength in both endurance and sprint races, there’s no reason to believe that this team can’t make it three in a row.

Not close behind, however, is the No. 3 Corvette of Alexander Sims and Antonio García. As the only other entry in the class with two podiums this season, the pair have made it clear that they will consistently be there in the end.