2019 Northeast Grand Prix
[1] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the twenty-seventh annual running of the race.
The 2019 Northeast Grand Prix was the eighth of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the fourth of seven rounds 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 in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 20, 2019.
The GT Le Mans (GTLM) balance of performance constraints would remain as they were in the previous round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
[4] Before the race, Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 186 points, ahead of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy in second.
[5] In GTD, Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman led the Drivers' Championship with 151 points; the duo held a nineteen-point advantage over Frankie Montecalvo and Townsend Bell in second followed by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley with 123 points in third.
The most notable change to the grid included the return of Blancpain GT World Challenge America full-time team Wright Motorsports, with drivers Anthony Imperato and Porsche Junior Professional driver Matt Campbell.
[6][7] Due to this event happening 50 years and one day after the Apollo 11 Moon landing, GTD team Magnus Racing decided to commemorate the anniversary of the mission by launching a one-off livery designed to look like the Saturn V rocket, and run under the number 11.
[9] The first practice session took place at 11:25 am ET on Friday and ended with Nick Tandy topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 50.065.
86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Mario Farnbacher with a time of 1:16.885.
[12] The second practice session took place at 2:20 PM ET on Friday and ended with Antonio García topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 50.302.
67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry followed by teammate Joey Hand in the sister No.
[17] The third and final practice session took place at 4:55 pm ET Friday and ended with Nick Tandy topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 49.782.
48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Bryan Sellers with a time of 51.797.
11 Magnus Racing Lamborghini of Andy Lally was fourth fastest and Zacharie Robichon's No.
All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap.
[25] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the GTLM field started in front of all GTD cars.
48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán of Corey Lewis set the third fastest time.
[26] However, the team were sent to the back of the GTD grid after the car failed post-qualifying technical inspection where it was discovered that the Lamborghini was found to not have complied with mandated ride height.
The final results of GTLM kept Bamber and Vanthoor atop the Drivers' Championship as they extended their advantage to eight points over Pilet and Tandy.
[34] The final results of GTD meant Farnbacher and Hindman extended their advantage to 30 points as Auberlen and Foley took over second position.
