#66 Joey Hand/Dirk Mueller Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT ahead of the #58 Patrick Long/Christina Nielson Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R Photo : Rob Ristuccia

I’m just going to come out and say it: IMSA is the premier racing series in the United States right now. I know that IndyCar is probably faster on most tracks and NASCAR probably draws bigger crowds and larger TV audiences, but none of them can offer the combination of advanced technology and racing spectacle that IMSA offers through its DP and GT classes.


When you want to tune in, IMSA offers a number of different ways to view their races. You can watch on broadcast TV on race day if you want. However, if you’ve cut the cord or live outside of the United States, you can stream races via IMSA.TV. They also offer a streaming radio service, IMSA Radio, that you can listen to during the races to keep track of the action. And if you can avoid spoilers (or just want to see a good race regardless of knowing the outcome), you can see most of their races on the IMSA Youtube channel some time after they are concluded. (Note: Are you watching, Formula 1? This is how you keep fans engaged across platforms and around the world.).



But, if you get the opportunity to attend a race in person, you should definitely take the chance to experience these machines in person. I’ve seen them race two times at Watkins Glen International Raceway in upstate New York, a race that I missed this year because I was in racing school, and so I jumped at the opportunity to see them race at Lime Rock Park in Salisbury, CT.




The Northeast Grand Prix has a slightly different format to other IMSA races in that the faster prototype classes do not take to the track at Lime Rock Park, leaving only the GTLM and GTD classes to fight for the overall win. I’m not sure if it’s because the track is too small to accommodate four classes of cars or if they’ve decided that it’s not safe enough for the faster prototypes, but I confess that I wasn’t really missing them. For me, the GT classes are the biggest draw because they look and feel like road cars and many of them also race in the World Endurance Championship. Despite being the “slowest” of the four classes, they are still a fabulous technological showcase and a wonderful spectacle to behold.



The GT class is split into two groups. The fastest, the GTLM class, contains a wonderfully diverse field of Ford GTs, Porsche 911s, Chevrolet Corvettes, and BMW M8s. The slightly less fast GTD class contains Lamborghini Huracans, Ferrari 488s, Audi R8s, Lexus RC-Fs, BMW M6s, Mercedes-AMGs, and, of course, Porsche 911s. Further enhancing the fan experience, all GTLM cars have white headlights and a red number on the side indicating their place in the race while GTD cars have yellow headlights and a green number indicating their running position so there can be no confusion over when a pass is for position and when it’s not.




The Northeast Grand Prix started with the first of only two caution periods on the first lap when the #93 Acura NSX GT3 driven by Lawson Aschenbach collected the #96 BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen in the Uphill. Both cars would retire from the race. (Side note: One of the IMSA Radio commentators described the incident as, “a bit of jiggery-pokery,” which is now my new favorite racing expression.)

Lawson Aschebach in the #93 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 collides with Bill Auberlein in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia


Lawson Aschebach in the #93 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 collides with Bill Auberlein in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia

Once green flag racing resumed, the #3 Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen Corvette C7.R led from pole for much of the race before putting all four wheels off the track in the final 15 minutes, making way for the #66 Joey Hand/Dirk Müller Ford GT to take the win. Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor occupied the last step on the GTLM podium in the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.




#3 Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#3 Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#4 Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R leads the #66 Joey Hand/Dirk Mueller Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#67 Ryan Briscoe/Richard Westbrook Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#911 Nick Tandy/Patrick Pilet Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#25 Alexander Sims/Conner De Phillippi BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#67 Ryan Briscoe/Richard Westbrook Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#25 Alexander Sims/Conner De Phillippi BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE ahead of the #911 Nick Tandy/Patrick Pilet Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#911 Nick Tandy/Patrick Pilet Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#24 Jesse Krohn/John Edwards BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#67 Ryan Briscoe/Richard Westbrook Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#4 Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#4 Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#67 Ryan Briscoe/Richard Westbrook Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Photo : Rob Ristuccia


In the GTD class, the #48 Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers took the class win ahead of the #44 Andy Lally/John Potter Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3. Gunnar Jeannette and Cooper MacNeil took the third step on the podium in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.

#48 Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#58 Patrick Long/Christina Nielson Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#14 Kyle Marcelli/Dominik Baumann 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#48 Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#15 Jack Hawksworth/Mario Farnbacher 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#3 Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R ahead of the #14 Kyle Marcelli/Dominik Baumann 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 and the #48 Madison Snow/Bryan Sellers Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#66 Alvaro Parente/Katherine Legge Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia


#63 Gunnay Jeannette/Cooper MacNeil Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia

#44 Andy Lally/John Potter Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Photo : Rob Ristuccia


Full race results can be seen here.

Each of these cars has its own unique shape and engine configuration. In fact, this uniqueness of the field is one of IMSA’s greatest strengths. Just look in the clip below at the as they pass under Bailey Bridge and enter The Downhill. The shapes and engine notes couldn’t be more different from each other. In a racing landscape that is increasingly becoming standardized, this is fantastic sight to behold.



But there is a dark side to this diversity and it’s called “Balance of Performance.” Through BoP, IMSA adds weight, restricts air intake size, and lengthens pit stop time to prevent any one team from running away from the field. While I love the way this keeps the racing close, the cynic in me sees this as artificially close. It feels like a manufactured spectacle and I wonder how the teams are incentivized to keep pushing the technological envelope.


Would the racing be better if they took more advantage of the diversity of the field? Hard to say. Would the technology be more impressive? Without a doubt. I know that IMSA is trying to control costs by removing the incentives to spend fortunes on development programs when the threat of BoP looms over your potential gains, but I’m not sure how much of a difference that is really making in the teams budgets. It’s well known that Ford created the GT specifically to race in WEC and IMSA, which could not have been cheap. Yes, it was designed for the road, but at heart it is a purpose-built race car and that is what the sanctioning bodies were trying to avoid. At the same time, Porsche built a 911 with the engine in backwards (or frontways, depending on your perspective) to accommodate their larger diffuser. This had to be the result of countless hours of testing and simulation.



Ultimately, what the sports car racing world needs is a single factor that levels the playing field without killing off the diversity of the entries and that keeps costs manageable. We’ve had several different approaches to this in the past that have all met with some success, including restrictions on fuel usage and requirements for the sale of a certain number of road-car variants. In the end, I think I’d like to see IMSA (and WEC) moving more toward requirements like these so that they can gradually phase out BoP. In the meantime, I will sit back and enjoy the new Golden Age of Sports Car Racing.


Follow me on Twitter @LtGeorgeZip