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]
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 1.530mi (2.462km)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.
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
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]
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]
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
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
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
Post-race
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]
↑ "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.
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