2017 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase

IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016.^[1] It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2017 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase was the ninth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, and was the sixth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup.^[2] The race was held at the ten-turn 4.048 mi (6.515 km) Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on August 6, 2017.^[2] After the Northeast Grand Prix two weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 226 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 207 points, and Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson with 200 points.^[3] With 216 points, the PC Drivers' Championship was led by James French and Patricio O'Ward with a thirty-four point advantage over Don Yount.^[3] Antonio García and Jan Magnussen led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 211 points, ahead of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with 204 points.^[3] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 228 points, ahead of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 211 points. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.^[3]

During this race weekend, IMSA holds their "State of the Series" annual press conference, in which they confirm and announce their future plans for the series they sanction.

On July 27, 2017, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of performance for the event.^[4] In GTLM, the Ford GT received an increase in turbo boost pressure.

A total of 34 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 8 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, 8 in GTLM, and 15 in GTD.^[5] In P, José Gutiérrez and Olivier Pla replaced David Ostella and Nicholas Boulle in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry.^[5] VisitFlorida Racing switched from the Riley Mk. 30 to the Ligier JS P217.^[6][7] Mazda Motorsports were absent after Joest Racing took over the RT24-P program and undergo extensive testing.^[8] As a result, the team would not contest the remaining races of the season and SpeedSource would shut down.^[9][10] In PC, Gustavo Yacamán joined Mark Kvamme in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTD, Alex Job Racing and TRG skipped the event.^[5][11] Lone Star Racing made their first appearance since the Circuit of the Americas round.^[5] Michael de Quesada returned to the Alegra Motorsports entry. Scott Pruett and Robert Alon swapped seats in the 3GT Racing entries.^[12] Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing switched from the Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the Porsche 911 GT3 R due to BOP concerns.^[13]

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.^[14]

The first practice session took place at 11:20 am CT on Friday and ended with Marc Goossens topping the charts for VisitFlorida Racing, with a lap time of 1:59.977.^[15] The PC class was topped by the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of James French with a time of 2:07.523.^[15] Patrick Pilet was fastest in GTLM while Patrick Lindsey set the fastest time in GTD.^[16]

The second practice session took place at 4:10 pm CT on Friday and ended with Stephen Simpson topping the charts for JDC-Miller MotorSports, with a lap time of 1:55.057.^[19] Patricio O'Ward set the fastest time in PC.^[20] The GTLM class was topped by the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Dirk Müller with a time of 2:03.967. Antonio García was second in the #3 Corvette Racing entry and Bill Auberlen rounded out the top 3.^[19] Colin Braun was fastest in GTD.^[20]

The third and final practice session took place at 8:55 am CT on Saturday and ended with Ryan Dalziel topping the charts for Tequila Patrón ESM, with a lap time of 1:53.851.^[23] Patricio O'Ward set the fastest time PC by 2.984 seconds ahead of Buddy Rice in the #20 BAR1 Motorsports entry.^[24] The GTLM class was topped by the #24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Martin Tomczyk with a time of 2:02.129.^[24] Lawson Aschenbach was fastest in GTD.^[23] The session ended early after Katherine Legge crashed at Canada Corner. The car suffered heavy damage to the front, but Legge was uninjured and exited her car.^[25]

In Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-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 arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.^[28][14]

The first was for cars in GTD class. Jeroen Mul qualified on pole for the class driving the #16 car for Change Racing, besting Jesse Krohn in the Turner Motorsport entry.^[29]

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Dirk Müller qualified on pole driving the #66 car for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, beating Ryan Briscoe in the sister #67 entry Ford Chip Ganassi Racing by over seven tenths of a second.^[30][31]

The third session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.^[32]

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Ricky Taylor qualified on pole driving the #10 car for Wayne Taylor Racing, besting José Gutiérrez in the #52 entry from PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.^[32]

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

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Ricky Taylor	1:53.058	_	1‡
2	P	52	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	José Gutiérrez	1:54.075	+1.017	2
3	P	2	Tequila Patrón ESM	Scott Sharp	1:54.088	+1.030	3
4	P	90	VisitFlorida Racing	Marc Goossens	1:54.186	+1.128	4
5	P	22	Tequila Patrón ESM	Johannes van Overbeek	1:54.189	+1.131	5
6	P	31	Whelen Racing Engineering	Eric Curran	1:54.222	+1.164	6
7	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Christian Fittipaldi	1:54.588	+1.530	111
8	P	85	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Mikhail Goikhberg	1:54.648	+1.590	7
9	PC	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	James French	1:59.149	+6.091	8‡
10	GTLM	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Dirk Müller	2:01.422	+8.364	12‡
11	PC	20	BAR1 Motorsports	Don Yount	2:02.128	+9.070	9
12	GTLM	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Ryan Briscoe	2:02.203	+9.145	13
13	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Alexander Sims	2:02.211	+9.153	14
14	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Gianmaria Bruni	2:02.440	+9.382	15
15	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Martin Tomczyk	2:02.583	+9.525	332
16	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Patrick Pilet	2:02.670	+9.612	16
17	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin	2:03.358	+10.300	17
18	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Jan Magnussen	2:03.581	+10.523	18
19	PC	26	BAR1 Motorsports	Mark Kvamme	2:04.817	+11.759	10
20	GTD	16	Change Racing	Jeroen Mul	2:06.649	+13.591	19‡
21	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Jesse Krohn	2:06.823	+13.765	20
22	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Patrick Lindsey	2:07.149	+14.091	21
23	GTD	15	3GT Racing	Scott Pruett	2:07.170	+14.112	22
24	GTD	57	Stevenson Motorsports	Andrew Davis	2:07.403	+14.345	23
25	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Madison Snow	2:07.415	+14.357	353
26	GTD	86	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Oswaldo Negri Jr.	2:07.469	+14.411	24
27	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Christina Nielsen	2:07.477	+14.419	25
28	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports - Team AMG	Ben Keating	2:07.793	+14.735	26
29	GTD	14	3GT Racing	Robert Alon	2:07.984	+14.926	27
30	GTD	50	Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing	Cooper MacNeil	2:08.979	+15.921	28
31	GTD	75	SunEnergy1 Racing	Kenny Habul	2:09.321	+16.263	324
32	GTD	54	CORE Autosport	Jon Bennett	2:09.547	+16.489	29
33	GTD	28	Alegra Motorsports	Michael de Quesada	2:10.442	+17.384	345
34	GTD	80	Lone Star Racing	Dan Knox	Disqualified		30
35	GTD	93	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Did Not Participate			316
Sources:[33][34]

• ¹ The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing entry was moved to the back of the P field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[28]
• ² The No. 24 BMW Team RLL entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Articles 40.2.12 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Engine change) and (Change of starting tires).^[28]
• ³ The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing entry initially qualified sixth for the GTD class. However, their car failed post qualifying inspection after the team's Lamborghini was using unhomologated parts as well as not meeting technical compliance. The car's ECU was also confiscated by IMSA. As a result, Paul Miller Racing were fined $7,500, and received a 15-point penalty in the Drivers' and Teams' Championships.^[35][36]
• ⁴ The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[28]
• ⁵ The No. 28 Alegra Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[28]
• ⁶ The No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry was moved to the back of the GTD as per Article 43.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver).^[28]

The result kept Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 258 points, 26 points ahead of sixth-place finishers Barbosa and Fittipaldi.^[37] As a result of winning the race, French and O'Ward clinched the PC Drivers' Championship with 1 race left for the category.^[37][38] In the GTLM Drivers' Championship, Hand and Müller advanced from third to second.^[37] The result kept Balzan and Nielsen atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Aschenbach and Davis advanced from fifth to third.^[37] Cadillac, and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships. Ford took the lead of the GTLM Manufactures' Championship while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with three rounds left in the season.^[37]

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek Pipo Derani Nissan Onroak DPi C 71 2:40.35.461‡ Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 2 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor Cadillac DPi-V.R C 71 +2.356 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 3 P 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel Nissan Onroak DPi C 71 +2.718 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 4 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Dane Cameron Eric Curran Cadillac DPi-V.R C 71 +5.385 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 5 P 90 VisitFlorida Racing Marc Goossens Renger van der Zande Ligier JS P217 C 71 +6.999 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 6 P 5 Mustang Sampling Racing João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi Cadillac DPi-V.R C 71 +9.714 Cadillac 6.2 L V8 7 P 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mikhail Goikhberg Stephen Simpson Oreca 07 C 71 +11.219 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 8 P 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Olivier Pla José Gutiérrez Ligier JS P217 C 71 +1:37.992 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 9 PC 38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French Patricio O'Ward Oreca FLM09 C 70 +1 lap‡ Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 10 PC 26 BAR1 Motorsports Gustavo Yacamán Mark Kvamme Oreca FLM09 C 70 +1 lap Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 11 GTLM 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Müller Joey Hand Ford GT M 69 +2 Laps‡ Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Twin-turbo V6 12 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Gianmaria Bruni Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 RSR M 69 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13 GTLM 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Ford GT M 69 +2 Laps Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Twin-turbo V6 14 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen Antonio García Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 69 +2 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 15 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 69 +2 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 16 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Alexander Sims BMW M6 GTLM M 69 +2 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 17 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Jens Klingmann Jesse Krohn BMW M6 GT3 C 68 +3 Laps‡ BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 18 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Porsche 911 GT3 R C 68 +3 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 19 GTD 57 Stevenson Motorsports Andrew Davis Lawson Aschenbach Audi R8 LMS C 68 +3 Laps Audi 5.2L V10 20 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 68 +3 Laps Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 21 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen Alessandro Balzan Ferrari 488 GT3 C 68 +3 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 22 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 67 +4 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 23 GTD 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Porsche 911 GT3 R C 67 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 24 GTD 14 3GT Racing Robert Alon Sage Karam Lexus RC F GT3 C 67 +4 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 25 GTD 50 Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil Gunnar Jeannette Porsche 911 GT3 R C 67 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 26 GTD 15 3GT Racing Scott Pruett Jack Hawksworth Lexus RC F GT3 C 67 +4 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 27 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Martin Tomczyk BMW M6 GTLM M 67 +4 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 28 GTD 28 Alegra Motorsports Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad Porsche 911 GT3 R C 66 +5 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 29 GTD 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Tristan Vautier Kenny Habul Mercedes-AMG GT3 C 64 +7 Laps Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 30 GTD 16 Change Racing Corey Lewis Jeroen Mul Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 64 +7 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 31 PC 20 BAR1 Motorsports Don Yount Buddy Rice Oreca FLM09 C 60 +11 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 32 DNF GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Dirk Werner Porsche 911 RSR M 55 Gearbox Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 33 DNF GTD 86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Jeff Segal Oswaldo Negri Jr. Acura NSX GT3 C 47 Puncture Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 34 DNF GTD 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Andy Lally Katherine Legge Acura NSX GT3 C 43 Crash Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 35 DNF GTD 80 Lone Star Racing Dan Knox Mike Skeen Mercedes-AMG GT3 C -- Did Not Start Mercedes AMG M159 6.2 L V8 Sources:[39][40]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin

PC Drivers' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Driver	Points
1		James French Patricio O'Ward	252
2		Don Yount	212
3		Buddy Rice	150
4	1	Gustavo Yacamán	121
5	1	Kyle Masson	108

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Driver	Points
1		Antonio García Jan Magnussen	239
2	1	Bill Auberlen Alexander Sims	231
3	1	Joey Hand Dirk Müller	230
4		Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook	225
5		Patrick Pilet Dirk Werner	217

GTD Drivers' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Driver	Points
1		Alessandro Balzan Christina Nielsen	254
2		Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating	239
3	2	Lawson Aschenbach Andrew Davis	225
4	1	Andy Lally Katherine Legge	221
5	1	Jens Klingmann	220

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

PC Teams' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Team	Points
1		#38 Performance Tech Motorsports	252
2		#26 BAR1 Motorsports	217
3		#20 BAR1 Motorsports	212
4		#8 Starworks Motorsport	58
5		#88 Starworks Motorsport	28

GTLM Teams' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Team	Points
1		#3 Corvette Racing	239
2	1	#66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	231
3	1	#25 BMW Team RLL	230
4		#67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	225
5		#911 Porsche GT Team	217

GTD Teams' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Team	Points
1		#63 Scuderia Corsa	254
2		#33 Riley Motorsports Team AMG	239
3	2	#57 Stevenson Motorsports	225
4	1	#93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	221
5	1	#96 Turner Motorsport	220

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

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Manufacturer	Points
1	1	Ford	254
2	1	Chevrolet	253
3		BMW	244
4		Porsche	241
5		Ferrari	112

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings^[37]

Pos.	+/–	Manufacturer	Points
1		Ferrari	264
2		Mercedes-AMG	263
3	2	Porsche	257
4	1	Acura	255
5	1	Audi	251

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