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2021 Northeast Grand Prix

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Track map of Lime Rock Park

The 2021 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 17, 2021. This race was the seventh round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the 2021 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Initially scheduled to run for two hours and 40 minutes, severe weather in the area caused just under 90 minutes of the event to be completed. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor scored overall victory for Corvette Racing; their fourth class victory of the season.[1]

Background

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Lime Rock Park, where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the sixth year it was part of the IMSA SCC.[2] The 2021 Northeast Grand Prix was the seventh of twelve sports car races of 2021 by IMSA, and it was the fourth round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the seven-turn 1.530 mi (2.462 km) Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 17, 2021.[3]

The race marked IMSA's return to Lime Rock Park following the 2020 edition's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] As in previous years, the event was also the first GT-only round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship season, in which only the GTLM and GTD classes were scheduled to compete.[3]

On July 8, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event.[5] In GTLM, after a 1-2 finish at the WeatherTech 240, the Corvette received a 10 kilogram weight increase. The Porsche, meanwhile, received a 20 kilogram weight break. No changes were made in GTD.

Before the race, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 1082 points, 81 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy followed by Cooper MacNeil in third.[6] With 1296 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley, ahead of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn.[6] Chevrolet and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Corvette Racing and Turner Motorsport each led their own Teams' Championships.[6]

Entries

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Further information: 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 16 cars took part in the event, split across two classes. 3 cars were entered in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. 17 cars were featured on the pre-event entry list, and the final tally of 16 was reached following Alegra Motorsports' withdrawal due to sponsorship issues.[7]

GTLM saw an identical entry list from the previous round at Watkins Glen, comprising the pair of Corvette Racing entries and the lone Porsche from WeatherTech Racing. In GTD, Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports didn't return after completing their planned single outing at Watkins Glen, while Pfaff Motorsports, Wright Motorsports, and Magnus Racing returned after skipping the most recent round, which only paid points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Practice

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There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday morning while the second session lasted 75 minutes on Friday afternoon.[8]

Practice 1

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The first practice session took place at 11:45 am ET and ended with Antonio García topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 50.456. Nick Tandy's No. 4 Corvette was second fastest followed by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 79 Porsche.[9] The GTD class was topped by the No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Franck Perera with a time of 52.499, ahead of Patrick Long in the No. 16 Porsche.[10]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García 50.456 _
2 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Nick Tandy 50.493 +0.037
3 GTLM 79 WeatherTech Racing Mathieu Jaminet 50.796 +0.340
Sources:[11][12]

Practice 2

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The second and final practice session took place at 1:55 pm ET on Friday and ended with Tommy Milner topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 50.961, 0.329 seconds faster than Jordan Taylor's No. 3 Corvette.[13] The GTD class was topped by the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Zacharie Robichon with a time of 52.380. Aaron Telitz's No. 14 Lexus was second fastest followed by Trent Hindman in the Wright Motorsports entry.[14] The session was red flagged for 15 minutes to due severe weather.[15]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner 50.961 _
2 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor 51.290 +0.329
3 GTD 9 Pfaff Motorsports Zacharie Robichon 52.380 +1.419
Sources:[16][17]

Qualifying

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Jordan Taylor (pictured in 2023) secured the overall pole position for Corvette Racing.

Qualifying was broken into two sessions.[8] The first was for cars in the GTD class. Roman De Angelis qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 23 car for Heart of Racing Team, beating Aaron Telitz in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry by 0.045 seconds. Richard Heistand was third in the No. 39 Audi followed by Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Lexus.[18]

The final session of qualifying was for the GTLM and GTD classes. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 3 car for Corvette Racing, beating teammate Tommy Milner in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry by less than 0.150 seconds.[19] Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.[20] The session saw one incident when Cooper MacNeil, driving the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche, spun at turn 3 and got stuck on the grass. For causing a red flag, MacNeil had his best two laps from the session deleted.[18]

Qualifying results

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

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing United States Jordan Taylor 49.958 _ 1‡
2 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner 50.100 +0.142 31
3 GTLM 79 United States WeatherTech Racing United States Cooper MacNeil 50.833 +0.875 2
4 GTD 23 United States Heart Of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis 51.729 +1.771 4‡
5 GTD 14 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Aaron Telitz 51.774 +1.816 5
6 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand 51.784 +1.826 6
7 GTD 12 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo 51.937 +1.979 7
8 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Madison Snow 51.989 +2.031 8
9 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon 52.023 +2.065 9
10 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Robby Foley 52.053 +2.095 10
11 GTD 16 United States Wright Motorsports United States John Potter 52.142 +2.184 11
12 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer 52.271 +2.313 12
13 GTD 76 United States Compass Racing Canada Jeff Kingsley 52.278 +2.320 13
14 GTD 19 Austria GRT Grasser Racing Team Canada Misha Goikhberg 52.400 +2.442 14
15 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol 53.333 +3.375 15
16 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports United States John Potter 53.396 +3.438 16
Sources:[21][22][23]
  • 1 The No. 4 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.5 of the Sporting regulations (Engine change).[24]

Race

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Post-race

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With a total of 1852 points, García and Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Milner and Tandy in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Jaminet advanced from eighth to fifth.[25] As a result of winning the race, De Angelis and Gunn took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship.[25] Chevrolet continued to took the GTLM Manufactures' Championship while Aston Martin took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship.[25] Corvette Racing kept their advantage in GTLM Teams' Championship while Heart of Racing Team took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship with five rounds remaining in the season.[25]

Race results

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Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García
United States Jordan Taylor 		Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 100 1:28:29.019‡
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
2 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Nick Tandy 		Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 100 +18.134
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
3 GTLM 79 United States WeatherTech Racing United States Cooper MacNeil
France Mathieu Jaminet 		Porsche 911 RSR-19 100 +27.793
Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
4 GTD 23 United States Heart of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis
United Kingdom Ross Gunn 		Aston Martin Vantage GT3 98 +2 Laps‡
Mercedes-Benz M177 4.0 L Turbo V8
5 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow 		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 98 +2 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
6 GTD 14 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Aaron Telitz
United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth 		Lexus RC F GT3 98 +2 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
7 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 98 +2 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
8 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley 		BMW M6 GT3 98 +2 Laps
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
9 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand
United States Jeff Westphal 		Audi R8 LMS Evo 97 +3 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
10 GTD 19 Austria GRT Grasser Racing Team Canada Misha Goikhberg
France Franck Perera 		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 97 +3 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
11 GTD 16 United States Wright Motorsports United States Trent Hindman
United States Patrick Long 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 97 +3 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
12 GTD 76 United States Compass Racing Canada Jeff Kingsley
Germany Mario Farnbacher 		Acura NSX GT3 Evo 97 +3 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
13 GTD 12 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Zach Veach 		Lexus RC F GT3 97 +3 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
14 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer
United States Marc Miller 		Acura NSX GT3 Evo 97 +3 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
15 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 96 +4 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
16 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally 		Acura NSX GT3 Evo 95 +5 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
Sources:[26][27]

Standings after the race

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


References

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  1. ^ Dagys, John (July 17, 2021). "Garcia, Taylor Win Weather-Shortened Northeast Grand Prix". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  2. ^ Pruett, Marshall (September 9, 2020). "IMSA reveals 2021 WeatherTech Championship calendar". racer.com. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "2021 WeatherTech Championship Schedule Published". dailysportscar.com. September 9, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  4. ^ "Entry List Notebook – Northeast Grand Prix". imsa.com. July 7, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021. Welcome Back to Lime Rock: One of the oldest natural terrain road courses in the United States, Lime Rock Park was built in 1956. It has hosted IMSA events for most of the past two decades, but last year's race was canceled due to the pandemic.
  5. ^ "TB-IWSC-21-26-Lime-Rock-BoP-Tables-07082021.pdf" (PDF). imsa.com. July 8, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 7, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  7. ^ Dagys, John (July 16, 2021). "Alegra Mercedes-AMG GT3 Withdrawn from Lime Rock Park". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "2021 IMSA Official Schedule and SR Lime Rock 070721 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  9. ^ Dagys, John (July 16, 2021). "Garcia Tops Opening Practice at Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  10. ^ Kish, Ryan (July 16, 2021). "Corvette starts strongly in Lime Rock IMSA GT". racer.com. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  11. ^ "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  12. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  13. ^ Dagys, John (July 16, 2021). "Milner Tops Rain-Affected Practice 2 at Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  14. ^ Kish, Ryan (July 16, 2021). "Milner keeps Corvette ahead in second Lime Rock practice". racer.com. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  15. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 16, 2021). "Lime Rock IMSA: Milner, Robichon lead interrupted second practice". motorsport.com. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  16. ^ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  17. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  18. ^ a b Malsher-Lopez, David (July 16, 2021). "Lime Rock IMSA: Corvette and Aston Martin take poles". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  19. ^ Kish, Ryan (July 16, 2021). "Jordan Taylor edges Milner for pole at Lime Rock Park". racer.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  20. ^ "Taylor Takes Pole For GT Only Race At Lime Rock". dailysportscar.com. July 17, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  21. ^ "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Points-GTLM Position and Points.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  22. ^ "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Position.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  23. ^ "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 17, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  24. ^ "2021-IMSA-SPORTING-REGULATIONS-and-SSR-IWSC-Blackline-082621-V1.pdf" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-11-11. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 20, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  26. ^ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). July 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  27. ^ "2021 NORTHEAST GRAND PRIX". racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
[edit]
IMSA SportsCar Championship
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2021 WeatherTech 240 		2021 season Next race:
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