IMSA: Mazda P2 destroyed, pole-sitting Aston knocked out at Road America

The crash that brought the morning warm-up session to a premature end for TUDOR United SportsCar Championship cars at Road America has also resulted in the immediate withdrawal for both entries involved.

A clash between the polesitting No. 007 TRG Aston Martin V12 GT Daytona car piloted by James Davison and the No. 70 Mazda P2 driven by SpeedSource owner Sylvain Tremblay at the wickedly fast Kink led to both cars striking the concrete barrier at approximately 100mph.

Damage sustained by both cars will see the field reduced by two, with the Mazda suffering extensive damage to its carbon-fiber tub and Davison's Aston Martin requiring significant repairs before it can return to competition.

Tremblay and Davison suffered heavy bruising in the crash where the Prototype attempted to pass the GTD car on the inside of the Kink. Other than extreme soreness, the crash is not expected to have lasting physical effects.

"Sylvain nosed in, primarily, but also hit the right-front corner," Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan told RACER. "It punctured the tub in two locations with the control arms, and up near the shock, [it] ripped that part away from the tub. It shattered the brake disc as well. The car did all of the safety things it was supposed to, and all of the driver safety items worked as intended."

Davison was understandably dejected after seeing his weekend come to an end hours before the race.

"I'm very sore from hitting a concrete wall, and ultimately, there's no time to repair the car," he said. "It's extremely disappointing after having the best weekend of our season. We were all executing at our best, and instead of having a chance at winning, we're sitting on the sidelines for no reason."

Doonan agreed with Davison's final assessment.

"Thank God everyone's OK," he added. "It's one of those warmup incidents that didn't need to happen. It was a big hit. The car's going straight to Multimatic in Toronto to do what we need to do to get back to two cars."

The sister No. 07 Mazda P2 will race as scheduled.