After the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Watkins Glen yesterday, the championship standings have moved even closer together, on an almost unreal level, considering how many hours and rounds that have been run.
The Mustang Sampling Cadillac #5 leads the championship for prototypes with a single point ahead of their Action Express teammates Whelen Engineering #31, while Acura Team Penske #6 and Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac #10 are equal on points, just 13 from the lead of the championship – with #6 leading due to taking their third podium in a row at Watkins Glen.
The winner yesterday, JDC-Miller Motorsports #99 are currently 5th in the championship, one point ahead of Acura Team Penske #7, who are one point ahead of CORE autosport #54. So we have 21 points between top 7 – and with 35 points awarded for a win, everything is still open.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Jake Galsted
Should we say something a bit on the negative side, then it would be that there are only two LMP2 cars in this top 7, and that they are 5th and 7th respectively. The rest are DPi cars with three times Cadillac and two times Acura, who are built on Dallara and ORECA chassis’s respectively.
Cadillac leads in the constructors by 9 points to Acura, while Nissan and Mazda are 18 and 19 points behind the lead.
Changing to the GTLM, the picture is exactly the same. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing #66 leads one point ahead of the teammates in #67, who are 3 points ahead of Corvette Racing #3. They are followed by Porsche #912 and #911, Corvette Racing #4, and at the end, BMW Team RLL #25 and #24. The BMWs are running a bit behind, but top 6 are separated by only 10 points!
Amongst the constructors we have Ford leading too, 4 points ahead of Porsche, a further point ahead of Chevrolet, while BMW lacks 12 points up to the lead.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Jake Galsted
The GTD Championship is led by Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini #48, who is – well guessed – one point ahead of Meyer Shank Racing Acura #86, with a massive points gap of 20 points to Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports #33, with Scuderia Corsa Ferrari #63 further 8 points behind. 3GT Racing Lexus #15 are lacking three more points. Turner Motorsport BMW #96 makes it 6 different manufacturers in top 6. The best Porsche team is Wright Motorsports Porsche #58 in 10th only, with Magnus Racing Audi #44 being the best car from Ingolstadt.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Richard Dole
Lamborghini leads in the constructors, 7 points ahead of Acura, who are 15 points in front of Lexus and Mercedes-AMG. Lexus has the advantage over Mercedes-AMG since they won the race in Mid-Ohio, which is their only podium so far this season. Mercedes-AMG has three podiums this season, but all of them has been the lower step. If Ferrari, BMW, Audi and Porsche are going to give themselves any hope of grabbing the lead, they have 25, 27, and 39/39 points to catch up.
With almost 20 hours of racing left to do, a lot of things can still happen.
