Tough Day at Lime Rock for GTD Title Contenders

While Joerg Bergmeister did what he almost always does at Lime Rock Park to give Park Place Motorsports and co-driver Patrick Lindsey their first victory since 2015, the Northeast Grand Prix wasn’t particularly kind to any of the top championship contenders in the WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class.

Defending champions Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen came into the race with podium finishes in six consecutive races, but still looking for their first 2017 victory in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.

Early season points co-leaders Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who took GTD victories in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida and at Circuit of The Americas in their No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3, came into the race looking to rebound from a tough stretch that saw them finish seventh or lower in three straight races.

No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian co-drivers Andy Lally and Katherine Legge, meanwhile, came into the race carrying significant momentum. They won back-to-back races in Detroit’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic and the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the former being the first victory anywhere for the new NSX GT3, and finished second at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

And while Bergmeister’s record of success at Lime Rock is somewhat legendary (his victory on Saturday was his seventh in just 10 races there), Lally considers Lime Rock a home track and won there a year ago with a different team in a different car. With that in mind, the No. 93 was sure to be a top contender.

Well, not entirely. Legge incurred a pair of drive-through penalties for incident responsibility within the first 30 minutes, knocking the No. 93 off the lead lap. Somewhat miraculously, given that the entire two-hour-and-40-minute race was run without a full-course caution on a 1.5-mile circuit, Lally battled back to salvage a fifth-place result.

“It was a rough day, but that’s what we expect from Lime Rock,” Lally said. “This is the Bristol of endurance racing. We did some beating and banging today. Katherine had been here only once before, so I got after her to be aggressive early, and she was.

“She really helped me learn something today with TC [traction control] management. I’m usually pretty stubborn and shut it all off, but at a place like Lime Rock, you really abuse that left rear [tire] lap after lap.  She came up with something early in the race, and was the fastest car at the end of her stint. I jumped onboard with her strategy and driving style, and it helped us go forward from there.”

The struggles continued for Keating and Bleekemolen, who endured a suspension failure, leaving them 15th in final GTD results. Nielsen and Balzan, meanwhile, saw their consecutive podium finish streak snapped with a sixth-place run. However, the result coupled with the No. 33 team’s misfortunes actually enabled them to stretch their championship lead to 17 points, 228-211, over Keating and Bleekemolen.

“Today is a race with mixed feelings,” Nielsen said. “I’m happy because we extended our lead in the championship, the team keeps improving with the setup and it’s a huge plus to have such a good car to drive. I think we’ve proven that consistency is the key, the Ferrari has been a good car to race lately, and we know what we need to do to improve and move on to Road America.”