The 2017 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at The Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan on June 3, 2017. The race was the fifth round of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Background
Similar to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, this event was held in conjunction with the Detroit Grand Prix 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.
IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016. It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the eighth annual running of the race, counting the period between 2007 and 2013 when it was a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series respectively. The 2017 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, the shortest in terms of time, and was the third round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the fourteen-turn Belle Isle Park on June 3, 2017. After the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown four weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 141 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 119 points, and Dane Cameron and Eric Curran with 111 points. With 108 points, PC was led by James French and Patricio O'Ward with a twenty-point advantage over Don Yount and Buddy Rice. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 133 points, ahead of Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 109 points. Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Riley Motorsports Team AMG each led their own Teams' Championships.
On May 25, 2017, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In P, the Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 0.6 mm smaller air restrictor as well as a fuel capacity reduction of 2 liters and changes to the cars rear wing angle. The Mazda RT24-P received a fuel capacity increase of 1 liter and an increase in turbo boost. The Nissan Onroak DPi received a 0.5 mm reduction of refueling restriction and gained 1 liter of fuel capacity. In GTD, Mercedes-AMG GT3 received a 20 kilogram weight increase and an air restrictor reduction of 0.5 millimeters. The Porsche 911 GT3 R received a 10 kilogram weight increase. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and Audi R8 LMS were given fuel capacity increases of 2 and 1 liters, respectively.
Entries
With the absence of the GTLM class from the field, only three racing classes were represented in Belle Isle. A total of 28 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, and 15 in GTD. In P, Kenton Koch and Ryan Lewis shared the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry. In PC, Ryan Lewis joined Don Yount in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry. Tomy Drissi joined Bruno Junqueira in the No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTD, Lone Star Racing and TRG skipped the event.
Practice There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday. The first ninety-minute session was on Friday morning. The second on Friday afternoon lasted 90 minutes.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 8:30 am ET on Friday and ended with Christian Fittipaldi topping the charts for Mustang Sampling Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.750. The PC class was topped by the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Patricio O'Ward with a time of 1:27.851. Jeroen Mul set the fastest time in GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1P5Mustang Sampling RacingChristian Fittipaldi1:23.750_2P10Wayne Taylor RacingJordan Taylor1:24.230 +0.4803P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsMisha Goikhberg1:24.808 +0.578Sources:
Practice 2 The second and final practice session took place at 1:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.058. Patricio O'Ward set the fastest time in PC. Lawson Aschenbach was fastest in GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1P31Whelen Engineering RacingDane Cameron1:23.058_2P5Mustang Sampling RacingChristian Fittipaldi1:23.224 +0.1663P10Wayne Taylor RacingRicky Taylor1:23.405 +0.347Sources:
Qualifying
Friday afternoon's 65-minute three-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC and GTD cars.
The first was for cars in GTD class. Lawson Aschenbach qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports entry, besting Katherine Legge in the No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry.
The second session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.
The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Renger van der Zande's No. 30 Riley was fastest overall, lapping at 1 minute, 24.693 seconds. Jonathan Bomarito set the second fastest time before Ricky Taylor, driving the No. 10 Cadillac, crashed at turn four. The red flag was thrown and caused the session to be abandoned. Christian Fittipaldi was handed pole position as the session did not reach minimum time to be declared official and Starting positions were set by Teams' Championship standings. For causing the red flag, Taylor had his time from the session deleted.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡. ClassTeamDriverTime1P90 VisitFlorida Racing Renger van der Zande1:24.693_92P55 Mazda Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito1:25.055 +0.36253P85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mikhail Goikhberg1:25.510 +0.81734P70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long1:25.875 +1.18275P5 Mustang Sampling Racing Christian Fittipaldi1:25.931 +1.23816P31 Whelen Engineering Racing Eric Curran1:26.048 +1.35527P2 Tequila Patrón ESM Scott Sharp1:26.092 +1.39948P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor1:26.736 +2.043129PC38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French1:28.494 +3.8011010P22 Tequila Patrón ESM Ed Brown1:28.621 +3.928611GTD57 Stevenson Motorsports Lawson Aschenbach1:30.200 +5.5071412GTD93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Katherine Legge1:30.541 +5.8481513GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers1:30.763 +6.0701614GTD16 Change Racing Corey Lewis1:30.802 +6.1091715GTD14 3GT Racing Scott Pruett1:30.878 +6.1851816GTD28 Alegra Motorsports Daniel Morad1:30.944 +6.2511917GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen1:31.016 +6.3232018GTD33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG Ben Keating1:31.511 +6.8182119GTD15 3GT Racing Robert Alon1:31.557 +6.8642120GTD75 SunEnergy1 Racing Kenny Habul1:31.759 +7.0662221GTD50 Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil1:31.856 +7.1632322GTD96 Turner Motorsport Bret Curtis1:32.459 +7.7662423GTD54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett1:33.097 +8.4042524PC26 BAR1 Motorsports Tomy Drissi1:33.166 +8.4731225PC20 BAR1 Motorsports Don Yount1:34.968 +10.2751126P52 PR1/Mathiasen MotorsportsNo Time Established827GTD73 Park Place MotorsportsNo Time Established2728GTD86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianNo Time Established28Sources:
The No. 90 VisitFlorida Racing entry was moved to the back of the P field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry had its fastest lap deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session. The No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the PC field after failing post qualifying technical inspection. The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry moved to the back of the P field as per Article 40.2.10 of the Sporting regulations (car did not participate in qualifying and no starting driver was nominated). The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Articles 43.5 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver) and (Change of starting tires).
Race
Post-race With a total of 177 points, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed him to increase their advantage over Fittipaldi and Barbosa in the Prototype Drivers' Championship to 30 points. With a total of 144 points, French and O'Ward's victory allowed him to increase their advantage over Yount in the PC Drivers' Championship to 26 points. The result kept Bleekemolen and Keating atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Negri Jr. and Segal advanced from seventh to fifth. Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Riley Motorsports kept their respective advantages in the trio of Teams' Championships with seven races left in the season.
Results Class winners are denoted in bold and . +Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine1P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor Jordan TaylorCadillac DPi-V.R651:40:49.514Cadillac 6.2 L V82P31 Whelen Engineering Racing Dane Cameron
Eric CurranCadillac DPi-V.R65 +4.948Cadillac 6.2 L V83P70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long
Joel MillerMazda RT24-P65 +34.502Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I44P5 Mustang Sampling Racing João Barbosa
Christian FittipaldiCadillac DPi-V.R65 +40.007Cadillac 6.2 L V85P55 Mazda Motorsports Tristan Nunez
Jonathan BomaritoMazda RT24-P65 +41.888Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I46P85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mikhail Goikhberg
Stephen SimpsonOreca 0765 +1:07.765Gibson GK428 4.2 L V87P22 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek
Ed BrownNissan Onroak DPi65 +1:19.995Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V68PC38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French Patricio O'WardOreca FLM0964+1 lapChevrolet 6.2 L V89PC26 BAR1 Motorsports Tomy Drissi
Bruno JunqueiraOreca FLM0963 +2 LapsChevrolet 6.2 L V810PC20 BAR1 Motorsports Don Yount Ryan LewisOreca FLM0962 +3 LapsChevrolet 6.2 L V811GTD93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Andy Lally
Katherine LeggeAcura NSX GT362+3 LapsAcura 3.5 L Turbo V612GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen
Alessandro BalzanFerrari 488 GT362 +3 LapsFerrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V813GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers
Madison SnowLamborghini Huracán GT362 +3 LapsLamborghini 5.2 L V1014GTD96 Turner Motorsport Jens Klingmann
Bret CurtisBMW M6 GT362 +3 LapsBMW 4.4L Turbo V815GTD86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Jeff Segal Oswaldo Negri Jr.Acura NSX GT362 +3 LapsAcura 3.5 L Turbo V616GTD14 3GT Racing Scott Pruett
Sage KaramLexus RC F GT362 +3 LapsLexus 5.0L V817GTD15 3GT Racing Robert Alon
Jack HawksworthLexus RC F GT362 +3 LapsLexus 5.0L V818GTD54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett
Colin BraunPorsche 911 GT3 R62 +3 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-619GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Patrick LindseyPorsche 911 GT3 R62 +3 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-620GTD28 Alegra Motorsports Mathieu Jaminet
Daniel MoradPorsche 911 GT3 R62 +3 LapsPorsche 4.0 L Flat-621GTD16 Change Racing Corey Lewis
Jeroen MulLamborghini Huracán GT361 +4 LapsLamborghini 5.2 L V1022GTD50 Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil
Gunnar JeannetteMercedes-AMG GT360 +5 LapsMercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V823 DNFP2 Tequila Patrón ESM Scott Sharp
Ryan DalzielNissan Onroak DPi56Rear endNissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V624 DNFGTD57 Stevenson Motorsports Andrew Davis
Lawson AschenbachAudi R8 LMS43DrivelineAudi 5.2L V1025 DNFPC90 VisitFlorida Racing Marc Goossens