2023 Northeast Grand Prix

Track map of Lime Rock Park

The 2023 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 22, 2023. The race was seventh round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the 2023 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

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 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2022. ^[1] It was the eighth year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the thirty-first annual running of the race. The 2023 Northeast Grand Prix was the seventh of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 by IMSA, and it was the fourth round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. ^[2] The race was held at the seven-turn 1.530 mi (2.462 km) Lime Rock Park on July 22, 2023. ^[2] As in previous years, it was the first of two GT-only rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in which only the GTD Pro and GTD classes will compete. ^[3]

After the Chevrolet Grand Prix 13 days earlier, Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 2110 points, ahead of Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella with 2014 points followed by Antonio García and Jordan Taylor with 2001 points. ^[4] With 1974 points, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow led the GTD Drivers' Championship by 212 points over Roman De Angelis and Marco Sørensen. ^[4] Lexus and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Vasser Sullivan Racing and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships. ^[4]

On July 13, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the GTD Pro, and GTD classes. ^[5] The Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo received a 10 kilogram weight increase and gained 5.9 horsepower as well as 1 liter of fuel capacity. The Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) received a 20 kilogram weight reduction. ^[6]

Entries

Further information: 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 20 cars took part in the event split across two classes. 5 cars were entered in GTD Pro, and 15 in GTD. ^[7] In GTD, Andretti Autosport made their first appearance since the Laguna Seca round. ^[8] Julien Andlauer returned to the No. 92 Kelly-Moss with Riley entry. ^[9]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday. The first session lasted an hour on Friday morning while the second session lasted for 75 minutes on Friday afternoon. ^[10]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 11:45 am ET and ended with Aaron Telitz topping the charts for Vasser Sullivan Racing, with a lap time of 51.762. ^[11] Antonio García set the fastest time in GTD Pro. ^[12]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	GTD	12	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Aaron Telitz	51.762	_
2	GTD Pro	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García	51.821	+0.059
3	GTD	78	Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics	Misha Goikhberg	51.832	+0.070
Sources: [13] [14]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 2:45 pm ET and ended with Antonio García topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 51.029. ^[15] Frederik Schandorff set the fastest time in GTD. ^[16]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	GTD Pro	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García	51.029	_
2	GTD Pro	14	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Jack Hawksworth	51.155	+0.126
3	GTD Pro	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Patrick Pilet	51.195	+0.166
Sources: [17] [18]

Qualifying

Qualifying featured one session. The only session was for cars in the GTD Pro and GTD classes. Ross Gunn qualified on pole in GTD Pro driving the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team car, beating Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing by just under two tenths of a second. ^[19] Mike Skeen qualified on pole in GTD driving the No. 32 car for Team Korthoff Motorsports, besting Frederik Schandorff in the Inception Racing entry. ^[20]

Qualifying results

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

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	GTD Pro	23	Heart of Racing Team	Ross Gunn	50.593	_	1‡
2	GTD Pro	14	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Jack Hawksworth	50.784	+0.191	2
3	GTD Pro	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García	50.897	+0.304	3
4	GTD Pro	79	WeatherTech Racing	Jules Gounon	50.932	+0.339	4
5	GTD Pro	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Patrick Pilet	51.074	+0.481	5
6	GTD	32	Team Korthoff Motorsports	Mike Skeen	51.157	+0.564	6‡
7	GTD	70	Inception Racing	Frederik Schandorff	51.164	+0.571	7
8	GTD	78	Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics	Misha Goikhberg	51.184	+0.591	8
9	GTD	27	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis	51.283	+0.690	9
10	GTD	12	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Frankie Montecalvo	51.400	+0.807	10
11	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Patrick Gallagher	51.419	+0.826	11
12	GTD	97	Turner Motorsport	Bill Auberlen	51.469	+0.876	12
13	GTD	92	Kelly-Moss with Riley	Alec Udell	51.476	+0.883	13
14	GTD	1	Paul Miller Racing	Madison Snow	51.643	+1.050	14
15	GTD	57	Winward Racing	Russell Ward	51.758	+1.165	15
16	GTD	80	AO Racing Team	P.J. Hyett	51.834	+1.241	16
17	GTD	94	Andretti Autosport	Jarett Andretti	52.030	+1.437	17
18	GTD	91	Kelly-Moss with Riley	Alan Metni	52.051	+1.458	18
19	GTD	77	Wright Motorsports	Alan Brynjolfsson	52.095	+1.502	19
20	GTD	66	Gradient Racing	Sheena Monk	52.632	+2.039	20
Sources: [21] [22]

Race

Post-race

The result kept Barnicoat and Hawksworth atop the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 2462 points. García and Taylor advanced from third to second. ^[23] The results kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 2226 points, 86 points ahead of race winners De Angelis and Sørensen. Brynjolfsson and Hindman advanced from eighth to fifth while Grenier and Skeen dropped from fifth to ninth. ^[23] Lexus and BMW continued to lead their respective Manufactures' Championships while Vasser Sullivan Racing and Paul Miller Racing kept their advantages in the Teams' Championships with four rounds left in the season. ^[23]

Results

Class winners denoted in bold and with ‡

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	GTD Pro	23	Heart of Racing Team	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	168	2:40.25.371‡
					Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
2	GTD Pro	14	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Ben Barnicoat Jack Hawksworth	Lexus RC F GT3	168	+0.336
					Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V8
3	GTD Pro	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	168	+0.859
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
4	GTD Pro	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD	168	+1.138
					Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
5	GTD	27	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Marco Sørensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	168	+14.443‡
					Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
6	GTD	92	Kelly-Moss with Riley	Julien Andlauer Alec Udell	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	168	+14.998
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
7	GTD	77	Wright Motorsports	Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	168	+15.451
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
8	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley Patrick Gallagher	BMW M4 GT3	168	+17.228
					BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Turbo I6
9	GTD	78	Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics	Misha Goikhberg Loris Spinelli	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	168	+19.880
					Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
10	GTD	66	Gradient Racing	Katherine Legge Sheena Monk	Acura NSX GT3 Evo22	168	+25.336
					Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
11	GTD	80	AO Racing Team	P.J. Hyett Sebastian Priaulx	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	168	+25.893
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
12	GTD Pro	79	WeatherTech Racing	Jules Gounon Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	168	+26.841
					Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
13	GTD	1	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	BMW M4 GT3	168	+30.943
					BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Turbo I6
14	GTD	57	Winward Racing	Philip Ellis Russell Ward	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	168	+37.213
					Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
15	GTD	32	Team Korthoff Motorsports	Mikaël Grenier Mike Skeen	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	168	+38.011
					Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
16	GTD	97	Turner Motorsport	Bill Auberlen Chandler Hull	BMW M4 GT3	167	+1 lap
					BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Turbo I6
17	GTD	12	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz	Lexus RC F GT3	166	+2 Lqps
					Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V8
18	GTD	70	Inception Racing	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	102	Did Not Finish
					McLaren M840T 4.0 L Turbo V8
19	GTD	91	Kelly-Moss with Riley	Kay van Berlo Alan Metni	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	46	Did Not Finish
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
20	GTD	94	Andretti Autosport	Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	41	Did Not Finish
					Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
Source: [24]

Standings after the race

GTP Drivers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Pipo Derani Alexander Sims 1872 2 Connor De Phillippi Nick Yelloly 1862 3 Filipe Albuquerque Ricky Taylor 1843 4 Nick Tandy Mathieu Jaminet 1809 5 Sébastien Bourdais Renger van der Zande 1743

LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Ben Hanley George Kurtz 973 2 Mikkel Jensen Steven Thomas 970 3 Paul-Loup Chatin Ben Keating 967 4 Ryan Dalziel Dwight Merriman 906 5 Giedo van der Garde 850

LMP3 Drivers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Felipe Fraga Gar Robinson 1115 2 Wayne Boyd Anthony Mantella 934 3 Garett Grist 928 4 Matt Bell Orey Fidani 916 5 João Barbosa Lance Willsey 788

GTD Pro Drivers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Ben Barnicoat Jack Hawksworth 2462 2 1 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 2311 3 1 Jules Gounon Daniel Juncadella 2302 4 Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet 2281 5 Ross Gunn Alex Riberas 2083

GTD Drivers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Bryan Sellers Madison Snow 2226 2 Roman De Angelis Marco Sørensen 2140 3 Aaron Telitz Frankie Montecalvo 1971 4 Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff 1920 5 3 Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman 1748

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

GTP Teams' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 1872 2 #25 BMW M Team RLL 1862 3 #10 WTR with Andretti Autosport 1843 4 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 1809 5 #01 Cadillac Racing 1743

LMP2 Teams' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR 973 2 #11 TDS Racing 970 3 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 967 4 #18 Era Motorsport 906 5 #8 Tower Motorsports 889

LMP3 Teams' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #74 Riley Motorsports 1115 2 #17 AWA 934 3 #30 Jr III Motorsports 928 4 #13 AWA 916 5 #4 Ave Motorsports 808

GTD Pro Teams' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing 2462 2 1 #3 Corvette Racing 2311 3 1 #79 WeatherTech Racing 2302 4 #9 Pfaff Motorsports 2281 5 #23 Heart of Racing Team 2083

GTD Teams' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #1 Paul Miller Racing 2226 2 #27 Heart of Racing Team 2140 3 #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing 1971 4 #70 Inception Racing 1920 5 3 #77 Wright Motorsports 1748

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

GTP Manufacturers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 2079 2 BMW 2032 3 Acura 2029 4 Porsche 1985

GTD Pro Manufacturers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lexus 2462 2 1 Chevrolet 2311 3 1 Mercedes-AMG 2302 4 Porsche 2281 5 Aston Martin 2094

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings [23] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 BMW 2435 2 Aston Martin 2319 3 1 Porsche 2194 4 1 Lexus 2141 5 1 McLaren 2117

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

References

1. Malsher-Lopez, David (August 5, 2022). "IMSA reveals 2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
2. Allaway, Phil (August 5, 2022). "IMSA Announces 2023 Schedules in State of the Sport Address". frontstretch.com. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
3. "IMSA Reveals Schedule For 2023 Season". dailysportscar.com. August 6, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
4. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
5. Dagys, John (July 13, 2023). "IMSA Sets GT BoP for Next Three Events". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
6. "TB-IWSC-23-62-GTD-GTD_PRO-BoP-LRP-IMS_test-RoadAm-07132023.pdf" (PDF). imsa.com. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
7. Dagys, John (July 12, 2023). "20 Entries for Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
8. "20 Cars For IMSA Northeast Grand Prix". dailysportscar.com. July 12, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
9. Dagys, John (July 21, 2023). "Lime Rock Friday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
10. "2023 IMSA Official Schedule and SR Lime Rock 071223 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
11. Kish, Ryan (July 21, 2023). "Telitz tops opening Lime Rock Park IMSA practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
12. Dagys, John (July 21, 2023). "Telitz Leads Opening Practice at Lime Rock". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
13. "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
14. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
15. Dagys, John (July 21, 2023). "Corvette's Garcia Tops Lime Rock Practice 2". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
16. Kish, Ryan (July 21, 2023). "Garcia puts Corvette ahead in second Lime Rock Park practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
17. "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
18. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
19. Dagys, John (July 21, 2023). "Gunn Storms to Lime Rock Pole". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
20. Kish, Ryan (July 21, 2023). "Heart of Racing Aston leapfrogs Corvette to land on Lime Rock pole". racer.com. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
21. "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
22. "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
23. "00_Championship Points - Provisional.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
24. "03_Results_Race_Unofficial.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.

External links

IMSA SportsCar Championship
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