2021 Northeast Grand Prix

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• ¹ The No. 4 Corvette Racing entry initially qualified second for the GTLM class, However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the GTLM field on the starting grid.

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. ^[24] As a result of winning the race, De Angelis and Gunn took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship. ^[24] Chevrolet continued to took the GTLM Manufactures' Championship while Aston Martin took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship. ^[24] 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. ^[24]

Race results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos	Class	No.	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	100	1:28:29.019‡
					Chevrolet 5.5L V8
2	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	100	+18.134
					Chevrolet 5.5L V8
3	GTLM	79	WeatherTech Racing	Cooper MacNeil Mathieu Jaminet	Porsche 911 RSR-19	100	+27.793
					Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
4	GTD	23	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	98	+2 Laps‡
					Mercedes-Benz M177 4.0 L Turbo V8
5	GTD	1	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	98	+2 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2L V10
6	GTD	14	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth	Lexus RC F GT3	98	+2 Laps
					Lexus 5.0L V8
7	GTD	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 GT3 R	98	+2 Laps
					Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
8	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	BMW M6 GT3	98	+2 Laps
					BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
9	GTD	39	CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing	Richard Heistand Jeff Westphal	Audi R8 LMS Evo	97	+3 Laps
					Audi 5.2L V10
10	GTD	19	GRT Grasser Racing Team	Misha Goikhberg Franck Perera	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	97	+3 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2L V10
11	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Trent Hindman Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3 R	97	+3 Laps
					Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
12	GTD	76	Compass Racing	Jeff Kingsley Mario Farnbacher	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	97	+3 Laps
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
13	GTD	12	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Frankie Montecalvo Zach Veach	Lexus RC F GT3	97	+3 Laps
					Lexus 5.0L V8
14	GTD	66	Gradient Racing	Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	97	+3 Laps
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
15	GTD	88	Team Hardpoint EBM	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge	Porsche 911 GT3 R	96	+4 Laps
					Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
16	GTD	44	Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports	John Potter Andy Lally	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	95	+5 Laps
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
Sources: [25] [26]

Standings after the race

DPi Drivers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Filipe Albuquerque Ricky Taylor 2068 2 Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell 1987 3 Pipo Derani Felipe Nasr 1954 4 Kevin Magnussen Renger van der Zande 1849 5 Dane Cameron Olivier Pla 1793

LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Mikkel Jensen Ben Keating 1087 2 Tristan Nunez Steven Thomas 1052 3 Gabriel Aubry John Farano 964 4 Scott Huffaker 702 5 Thomas Merrill 700

LMP3 Drivers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Gar Robinson 1468 2 Jon Bennett Colin Braun 1372 3 Jim Cox Dylan Murry 1290 4 Oliver Askew 1214 5 Rasmus Lindh Dan Goldburg 1183

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 1852 2 Tommy Milner Nick Tandy 1661 3 Cooper MacNeil 1604 4 John Edwards Augusto Farfus Jesse Krohn 1001 5 3 Mathieu Jaminet 994

GTD Drivers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 1 Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn 1606 2 1 Bill Auberlen Robby Foley 1578 3 Madison Snow Bryan Sellers 1536 4 Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor 1445 5 Patrick Long 1389

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

DPi Teams' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura 2068 2 #55 Mazda Motorsports 1987 3 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 1954 4 #01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing 1849 5 #60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian 1793

LMP2 Teams' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports 1087 2 #11 WIN Autosport 1052 3 #8 Tower Motorsport 964 4 #18 Era Motorsport 640 5 #22 United Autosports 614

LMP3 Teams' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #74 Riley Motorsports 1468 2 #54 CORE Autosport 1372 3 #91 Riley Motorsports 1290 4 #38 Performance Tech Motorsports 1183 5 #36 Andretti Autosport 902

GTLM Teams' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #3 Corvette Racing 1852 2 #4 Corvette Racing 1661 3 #79 WeatherTech Racing 1604 4 #24 BMW Team RLL 1001 5 #25 BMW Team RLL 966

GTD Teams' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 1 #23 Heart of Racing Team 1606 2 1 #96 Turner Motorsport 1578 3 #1 Paul Miller Racing 1536 4 #9 Pfaff Motorsports 1445 5 #16 Wright Motorsports 1389

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

DPi Manufacturers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 2189 2 Acura 2154 3 Mazda 2059

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 1875 2 Porsche 1726 3 BMW 1052 4 Ferrari 330

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings [24] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 2 Aston Martin 1656 2 Lamborghini 1633 3 2 BMW 1627 4 Porsche 1579 5 Lexus 1545

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

References

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. "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. "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. "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. 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. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 20, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
25. "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). July 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
26. "2021 NORTHEAST GRAND PRIX". racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 28, 2023.

External links

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