2018 IMSA Michelin Encore

Race details
Date	11 November 2018 [1]
Official name	IMSA Michelin SportsCar Encore
Location	Sebring, Florida, United States
Course	Permanent circuit 6.02 km (3.74 mi)
Distance	Main Race 4 Hours [2]
LMP3
Pole
Drivers	Matthew Bell Kay Van Berlo James McGuire Jr.	K2R Motorsports
Time	1:57.102
Podium
First	Roman De Angelis Kyle Kirkwood	ANSA Motorsports
Second	Matthew Bell Kay Van Berlo James McGuire Jr.	K2R Motorsports
Third	David Grant Keith Grant Katherine Legge	Polestar Motor Racing Inc.
GS
Pole
Drivers	Kyle Marcelli Dean Martin Nate Stacy	KohR Motorsports
Time	2:11.352
Podium
First	Kyle Marcelli Dean Martin Nate Stacy	KohR Motorsports
Second	Jason Bell Andy Lally James Sofronas	GMG Racing
Third	DJ Randall Rod Randall Kenny Wilden	KohR Motorsports
TCR
Pole
Drivers	Marco Cirone Remo Ruscitti	Mark Motors Racing
Time	2:14.426
Podium
First	Marco Cirone Remo Ruscitti	Mark Motors Racing
Second	Michael Johnson Stephen Simpson	JDC-Miller Motorsports
Third	Luke Rumburg Tanner Rumburg	Rumcastle, LLC

The 2018 IMSA Michelin SportsCar Encore was the inaugural edition of the non-championship sports car race held at Sebring International Raceway on 9 November 2018. The race was contested with LMP3 cars, GT3-spec cars, GT4-spec cars and TCR-touring car. The event was organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). ^[3]

The race was won by Roman De Angelis and Kyle Kirkwood, driving a Ligier JS P3 entered by ANSA Motorsports. Kirkwood and teammate Dakota Dickerson signed up at the last minute, given the opportunity by Onroak Automotive North America as a reward for respectively winning the F3 Americas Championship and Formula 4 United States Championship. The event marked Kirkwood's sports car debut. ^[4]

Report

The race was held as a standalone event, open to Pro-Am teams and drivers regardless of whether they had participated in any IMSA sanctioned events in 2018. Continental would not be providing tyres for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship, leaving Michelin as the sole supplier going forward. For this event, Michelin tyres were mandated to give teams the opportunity to sample them. ^{[5] [6]}

Pole position went to the #26 K2R Ligier, qualified by Kay van Berlo in his first race in the United States, from the #13 ANSA Ligier of Roman De Angelis. Van Berlo pulled away from De Angelis in the early phase of the race. The first round of pit stops started on lap 24. Van Berlo extended his stint, but the caution came out on lap 28 when Dean Baker touched the kerb with the underbody of his #4 ANSA Ligier. The cars that had stayed out were forced to pit under yellow and lined up at the tail end of the field. To add insult to injury, the #26 car was caught speeding on pit road and its second driver James McGuire was forced to take a drive-through penalty.

The #2 ANSA Ligier retired with engine issues on lap 51, leading to the race's third caution period. The #13 car had only just pitted and De Angelis inherited the lead as the other cars pitted under yellow. Lance Willsey lost control of his #33 ESM Ligier while warming his tyres and stalled his car on the grass, which brought his race to an end.

The #19 Performance Tech Ligier stopped at the end of pit lane on lap 60. The #25 P1 Ligier suffered a heavy crash on lap 87 when Kenton Koch lost the rear on entry to Turn 3. Koch escaped unharmed. All cars had already made their final pit stop, so the ensuing caution served to compress the field ahead of a 26-minute sprint finish.

At the final restart, the #13 car of De Angelis led from the #26 of Matthew Bell. Bell kept within two seconds of De Angelis but was unable to make an overtake, and the victory went to De Angelis and Kyle Kirkwood. The #11 car of Nico Rondet and the #40 car of Katherine Legge battled hard for the final step on the podium until, with four minutes to go, Rondet hit the back of Legge's car at Turn 15 and span.

The only non-Ligier LMP3 car in the field was the ADESS-03, the car making its racing debut at the event in the hands of the Atlantic Racing Team. Mechanical issues forced it into the pits after roughly 30 minutes of racing. After an extended repair period, the team were able to get the car out on track again just before the halfway point of the race. They used the remainder of the event as a test session and reached the finish albeit 33 laps down.

The GT4 class was controlled by the #60 and #59 KohR Ford Mustangs, the two cars holding first and second from the #22 GMG Audi R8. The Audi managed to take second place by the end of the race, but victory went to the #60 Ford of Nate Stacy, Kyle Marcelli and Dean Martin.

The TCR class became a battle between the two Audi RS3s after the #31 Rumcastle Volkswagen Golf lost two laps in the pits with a rear wing replacement. The #82 Mark Motors Audi led the class for most of the race but the #54 JDC-Miller Audi was ahead at the final restart. The #82 retook the lead with a lap and a half remaining, but the #54 car ran out of fuel anyway on the final lap. In the end, the all-Canadian entry driven by Marco Cirone and Remo Ruscitti were able to cruise to victory. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

The Encore proved popular, and was renewed for a second edition in 2019. ^[10]

Classes

• Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3)
• Grand Sport (GS) (run to GT4 regulations)
• Touring Car (TCR) (run to TCR regulations)

Entry List

LMP3

Team	Car	Engine	No.	Drivers
ANSA Motorsports [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	2	Jon Brownson [11]
				Dakota Dickerson [11]
				Neil Alberico
			4	Dean Baker [11]
				Michal Chlumecky [11]
				Zacharie Robichon [11]
			13	Roman De Angelis [11]
				Kyle Kirkwood [11]
Atlantic Racing Team [11]	ADESS-03	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	6	Jim Antunes [11]
				Tazio Ottis [11]
				Robin Shute
Simraceway Motorsports [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	11	Nico Rondet [11]
				Maurice Smith [11]
				John Schauerman
Performance Tech Motorsports [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	19	Bradley Baker [11]
				Jan Heylen [11]
				Bruno Junqueira [11]
P1 Motorsports [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	25	Joel Janco [11]
				Jonatan Jorge [11]
				Kenton Koch [11]
K2R Motorsports [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	26	Matthew Bell [11]
				James McGuire Jr [11]
				Kay van Berlo
			64	Alex Barron [11]
				Naveen Rao [11]
Extreme Speed Motorsports [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	33	Max Hanratty [11]
				Lance Willsey [11]
Polestar Motor Racing Inc. [11]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	40	David Grant [11]
				Keith Grant [11]
				Katherine Legge [11]
JDC-Miller Motorsports [12]	Ligier JS P3	Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8	84	Guy Cosmo [12]
				Patrick Byrne [12]

Grand Sport

Team	Car	Engine	No.	Drivers
GMG Racing [12]	Audi R8 LMS GT4	Audi 5.2 L V10	22	Jason Bell [12]
				James Sofronas [12]
				Andy Lally
KohR Motorsports [11]	Ford Mustang GT4	Ford 5.0 L Coyote V8	59	Rod Randall [11]
				Kenny Wilden [11]
				DJ Randall
			60	Kyle Marcelli [11]
				Dean Martin [11]
				Nate Stacy [11]
NOLAsport [13]	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	72	Jason Hart [13]
				Matt Travis [13]
				Mike Vess [13]
Carbahn Motorsports [11]	Audi R8 LMS GT4	Audi 5.2 L V10	93	Sameer Gandhi [11]
				Mark Siegal [11]
				Jeff Westphal [11]

Touring Car

Team	Car	Engine	No.	Drivers
Rumcastle, LLC [11]	Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	Volkswagen 2.0 L I4 T/C	31	Luke Rumburg [11]
				Tanner Rumburg [11]
JDC-Miller Motorsports [12]	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR	Audi 2.0 L TFSI	54	Michael Johnson [12]
				Stephen Simpson [12]
Mark Motors Racing [11]	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR	Audi 2.0 L TFSI	82	Marco Cirone [11]
				Remo Ruscitti [11]

Race results

Class winners denoted in bold and with

Pos	Class	No.	Team / Entrant	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	LMP3	13	ANSA Motorsports	Roman De Angelis Kyle Kirkwood	Ligier JS P3	107	4:01:53.298
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
2	LMP3	26	K2R Motorsports	James McGuire Jr Matthew Bell Kay van Berlo	Ligier JS P3	107	+2.278
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
3	LMP3	40	Polestar Motor Racing Inc.	Keith Grant David Grant Katherine Legge	Ligier JS P3	107	+22.356
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
4	LMP3	11	Simraceway Motorsports	Maurice Smith John Schauerman Nico Rondet	Ligier JS P3	107	+46.180
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
5	LMP3	64	K2R Motorsports	Naveen Rao Alex Barron	Ligier JS P3	106	+1 Lap
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
6	LMP3	84	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Patrick Byrne Guy Cosmo	Ligier JS P3	106	+1 Lap
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
7	GT4	60	KohR Motorsports	Nate Stacy Kyle Marcelli Dean Martin	Ford Mustang GT4	99	+8 Laps
					Ford 5.0 L Coyote V8
8	GT4	22	GMG Racing	Jason Bell James Sofronas Andy Lally	Audi R8 LMS GT4	99	+8 Laps
					Audi 5.2 L V10
9	TCR	82	Mark Motors Racing	Marco Cirone Remo Ruscitti	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR	99	+8 Laps
					Audi 2.0 L TFSI
10 DNF	TCR	54	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Michael Johnson Stephen Simpson	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR	98	Out of fuel
					Audi 2.0 L TFSI
11	GT4	59	KohR Motorsports	Kenny Wilden Rod Randall DJ Randall	Ford Mustang GT4	98	+9 Laps
					Ford 5.0 L Coyote V8
12	TCR	31	Rumcastle, LLC	Luke Rumburg Tanner Rumburg	Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	97	+10 Laps
					Volkswagen 2.0 L I4 T/C
13 DNF	LMP3	4	ANSA Motorsports	Dean Baker Zacharie Robichon Michal Chlumecky	Ligier JS P3	94
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
14 DNF	LMP3	25	P1 Motorsports	Kenton Koch Joel Janco Jonatan Jorge	Ligier JS P3	87	Accident
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
15	LMP3	6	Atlantic Racing Team	Robin Shute Jim Antunes Tazio Ottis	ADESS-03	74	+33 Laps
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
16 DNF	LMP3	33	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Lance Willsey Max Hanratty	Ligier JS P3	67	Stalled
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
17 DNF	LMP3	19	Performance Tech Motorsports	Bradley Baker Jan Heylen Bruno Junqueira	Ligier JS P3	60
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
18 DNF	LMP3	2	ANSA Motorsports	Jon Brownson Dakota Dickerson Neil Alberico	Ligier JS P3	51	Engine
					Nissan VK50VE 5.0L V8
19 DNF	GT4	72	NOLAsport	Mike Vess Matt Travis Jason Hart	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR	30
					Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6
20	GT4	93	Carbahn Motorsports	Sameer Gandhi Mark Siegal Jeff Westphal	Audi R8 LMS GT4	95	+12 Laps
					Audi 5.2 L V10
BOX SCORE

The #93 Carbhan Motorsports Audi R8 LMS GT4 was moved to the rear of its class for failing to meet the minimum required driving time.

References

1. "2018 Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore". imsa.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
2. "Official Race Results" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association . 2018-11-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
3. Kilshaw, Jake (6 October 2017). "IMSA Confirms Sebring Encore Race for November 2018". sportscar365.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
4. "SCCA" (8 November 2018). "Kirkwood, Dickerson set for Ligier sports car debut at Sportscar Encore". racer.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
5. IMSA Wire Service (6 November 2018). "Michelin gears up for 2019 IMSA expansion". racer.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
6. IMSA Wire Service (10 November 2018). "IMSA SportsCar Encore notebook: GMG back for first race since Daytona". racer.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
7. Volk, Stefan A. "IMSE 2018 - Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore at Sebring". americansportscar.racing (in German). Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
8. IMSA Wire Service (11 November 2018). "Kirkwood, De Angelis win Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore". racer.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
9. "SCCA" (12 November 2018). "Kirkwood continues winning ways at IMSA SportsCar Encore". racer.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
10. IMSA Wire Service (7 January 2019). "Sebring Encore event set to return Nov. 8-10". racer.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
11. Dagys, John (31 October 2018). "20 Entries for Michelin Encore; No GT3 Cars". sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
12. Dagys, John (22 October 2018). "Preparations, Interest Building for Michelin Encore". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
13. Kilshaw, Jake (26 October 2018). "NOLAsport Enters Michelin Encore With Porsche GT4". sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2018.