IMSA releases 49-car entry list for Road America

IMSA has revealed the 49-car entry list for next week's Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America - the only sprint round to feature all four WeatherTech SportsCar Championship categories.

All 11 full-time GTP cars are back in action as Acura Meyer Shank Racing looks to keep the momentum going after consecutive victories in Detroit and Watkins Glen for each of its Acura ARX-06es.

Porsche Penske Motorsport still has commanding leads in all three GTP championships, and will be coming back to the track where it finished 1-2 last year. But the two factory Porsche 963s have traded places at the top of the Drivers' and Teams' standings: The No. 6 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell now has a 12-point lead over the No. 7 of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, which crashed out of the Six Hours of the Glen.

Behind them on the table, the No. 93 MSR Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly leads a four-team fight for third in the standings, covered by just 46 points. BMW M Team RLL's Philipp Eng/Dries Vanthoor, Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing's Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque, and the other MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist/Colin Braun are all in the mix.

In LMP2, a season-high 14 cars have entered, including a new addition to the field: Team Tonis, led by Estonian driver Tonis Kasemets – the final champion of the IMSA Prototype Challenge Series in 2022, and notable for a brief tenure in the Champ Car World Series back in 2006.

Kasemets will partner third-generation pro driver Matthew Brabham in the No. 61 ORECA 07-Gibson, which has tested at Road America in preparation for its race debut. Brabham was the Michelin Endurance Cup driver for AO Racing's LMP2 program last season, while Kasemets drove for Sean Creech Motorsport at this same venue last year in what turned out to be the last race for the team's Ligier JS P217.

JDC-Miller MotorSports will also bring the No. 79 ORECA back for drivers Gerry Kraut and Scott Andrews. They were a late scratch from the race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park due to limited track time. AF Corse's No. 88 car is back in the field, driven by Luis and Matias Perez Companc.

Most LMP2 regulars are back in their usual rides after they had to miss the Chevrolet Grand Prix at CTMP due to WEC clashes, such as Paul Di Resta, who rejoins LMP2 points leader Daniel Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA. But there are some other changes to note.

Sebring and Le Mans class winner Tom Dillmann will miss Road America after suffering an injury in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. His place in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car has been taken by BMW M factory driver Connor De Phillippi, who will partner Jeremy Clarke.

In the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA, Honda works driver Kakunoshin Ohta will make his second LMP2 start of the year alongside the returning Tobias Lütke. Ohta returns to America off the back of his third Super Formula win of the season at Fuji.

PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports has shuffled its line-up since the last race, bringing in American Bronze driver Naveen Rao to join Benjamin Pedersen in the No. 52 car. Rao is also a former champion of the IMSA Prototype Challenge series, winning the title in 2020 alongside Matthew Bell.

Canadian Phil Fayer will also return to the cockpit of the No. 2 United Autosports USA car after making his LMP2 race debut at CTMP.

GTD PRO features 10 cars, where there is now a three-way battle at the top of the standings between Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports' Antonio Garcia/Alexander Sims, AO Racing's Laurin Heinrich/Klaus Bachler, and DragonSpeed's Albert Costa, who along with Giacomo Altoe, parlayed an aggressive pit strategy into their first win of the season.

And in GTD, there are 14 cars listed, including the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, which sat out the CTMP round amidst some turbulent weeks for the team.

Mike Skeen, a mainstay of the Korthoff team during its brief IMSA tenure, will return and join Endurance Cup driver Daniel Morad in the car that began the season with Seth Lucas and Kenton Koch as its drivers. Morad also finished third in the team's last appearance at Watkins Glen.

Meanwhile, Koch, who recently announced his departure from the Korthoff team, will make his second start in the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 alongside Onofrio Triarsi.

In addition, Tom Gamble has returned to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 after missing CTMP due to WEC obligations.

Winward Racing's Russell Ward and Philip Ellis take a 93-point lead into next Sunday's two-hour, 40-minute race.

ENTRY LIST