2019 Road Race Showcase at Road America
[1] It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
[2] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 4.048 mi (6.515 km) Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on August 4, 2019.
On July 24, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race.
The GT Le Mans (GTLM) balance of performance constraints would remain the same as they were in the previous event at Lime Rock Park.
In the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, after winning the previous two events of the championship, the Mazda RT24-P was hit with a two-liter fuel capacity reduction and a power reduction of 17 horsepower and restriction in higher-RPM turbo boost, as well as being made 20 kilograms heavier.
The Ferrari 488 GT3 was given improvements in the same fields, albeit smaller, along with a one liter fuel capacity increase.
After winning the 6 Hours of the Glen and finishing 2nd in the previous two championship-scoring rounds, The Acura NSX GT3 was made 20 kilograms heavier.
[4] Before the race, Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya led the Drivers' Championship with 207 points, ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in second followed by Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor in third with 198 points.
[5] Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 218 points; the duo held an eight-point advantage over Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy in second.
[5] On the same day as the Balance of Performance bulletin, the entry list for the event was released, featuring 35 cars.
After suffering a heavy crash at the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, Cadillac DPi customer team Juncos Racing decided not to take part in the Road America event, for not having built a new chassis in time.
[6] In GTD, Starworks Motorsport made their return for Road America, with their regular drivers Ryan Dalziel and Parker Chase after missing the previous two events.
Porsche junior drivers Matt Campbell and Dennis Olsen made appearances for Pfaff Motorsports and Wright Motorsports, respectively, after driving for the opposite teams in Lime Rock Park.
[9] The first practice session took place at 11:15 am CT on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:50.007.
[12] The second practice session took place at 4:25 PM CT on Friday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:50.256.
911 Porsche GT Team entry of Nick Tandy rounded out the top five.
14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 2:05.162.
48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini was second fastest followed by Ben Keating's No.
[15] The third and final practice session took place at 8:55 am CT Saturday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:49.590.
33 car for Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports, beating Corey Lewis in the No.
[26] However, both BMW Team RLL entries were sent to the back of the GTLM field after both cars failed the post-qualifying technical inspection where it was discovered that the BMWs were found to not have complied with mandated ride height.
6 car for Acura Team Penske, beating teammate Hélio Castroneves in sister No.
[10] In LMP2, The Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca of James French set the fastest time in the session.
McMurry stopped on track with 8 minutes remaining after spinning at turn three and getting stuck in the gravel trap.
As a result, the PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports car would start the race from pole position.
[34] The final results of GTD kept Farnbacher and Hindman atop the Drivers' Championship while Robichon advanced from seventh to third.
Zacharie Robichon Robby Foley Frankie Montecalvo Gar Robinson
