LAKEVILLE, Connecticut – Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams WeatherTech Racing, Team Korthoff Motorsports and Winward Racing compete in the first of this year’s two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring (GT) feature races this weekend in the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, July 21 – 22. Featuring the GT Daytona (GTD) and GTD Pro classes, Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix can be viewed live on the USA Network at Noon EDT, with free live streaming coverage available for international viewers at IMSA.com. The Northeast Grand Prix joins next month’s event at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) as the only GT feature races on the IMSA schedule.
Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 team have been battling for the GTD Pro driver and team championships all year and look forward to continuing the fight on the 1.4-mile Lime Rock “bullring,” which is the shortest track on the IMSA circuit. WeatherTech has a class-leading two race wins this year at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The No. 79 team and drivers have led or ranked second in the GTD Pro points standings all season and narrowed the gap to the current leaders with a third-place finish one race ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). Heading into Lime Rock, the No. 79 team and drivers are second in the GTD Pro championships with 2,014 points, 96 points shy of the current class leaders.
WeatherTech’s success has also singlehandedly moved Mercedes-AMG into the GTD Pro manufacturer championship picture this season with the same points differential to the first-place competitor as the team and driver title races.
WeatherTech was one of two Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams reaching the podium at CTMP. In GTD competition, the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 team and co-drivers Mikael Grenier and Mike Skeen broke through for their first podium of the season with a third-place finish. Korthoff was also competitive and in line for a podium result last year at Lime Rock only to be just edged at the line to place fourth in a frenzied finish.
The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team and co-drivers Russell Ward and Philip Ellis are next in line at Lime Rock Park to have a change of fortune after a challenging season to date. Ellis was running in second place two weeks ago at CTMP only to be forced to pit late in the race with a cut tire.
Winward is also determined to avenge another late misfortune in last year’s Lime Rock race when Ellis took the white flag in the lead only to slow with a mechanical issue with the checkered flag in sight. Despite the disappointments, Winward’s pace and performance at both CTMP and Lime Rock last year bode well for an overdue strong race result Saturday.
The Northeast Grand Prix is bookended by a pair of IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge series sprint races that will see Murillo Racing and team driver Tim Probert carry the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing flag.
The new-for-2023 VP Racing series runs consecutive races for the first time following a return to competition two weeks ago at CTMP after being idle since March. Unlike the multiple driver WeatherTech Championship, the VP Challenge is a single-driver series featuring 45-minute sprints and no scheduled pit stops.
Longtime Murillo Racing driver Probert drives the team’s No. 65 Mercedes-AMG GT4 and showed no rust from the four-month break with a Bronze Cup class victory and top-five overall finish in the opening race at CTMP.
The overall fifth-place finish was the best for Probert since placing fourth in the second race of the debut VP Racing weekend at Daytona last January.
A literal twist for some of the Mercedes-AMG Motorsports customer teams and drivers and their competitors this weekend will be the use of Lime Rock’s chicane just before the track’s uphill section that leads to the fast run down to the front straight. The chicane has traditionally been used for the WeatherTech series and will also be in place for all VP Racing series on-track sessions this weekend.
A tight, two-day event weekend, on-track action at Lime Rock gets underway Friday with morning and afternoon practice sessions for all series to set the stage for VP Racing qualifying at 4:20 p.m. EDT and GTD/GTD Pro qualifying at 5:40 p.m. EDT.
Saturday’s first on-track activity is the opening VP Racing sprint at 9:05 a.m. EDT. The featured FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix goes green at 12:10 p.m. EDT for a two-hour and 40-minute race that will be followed by the final VP race at 3:05 p.m. EDT.
Daniel Juncadella, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I really like Lime Rock. It is short and pretty cool. I had my first experience there in Formula BMW where I won my first international race. So, I have very good memories of Lime Rock. It is a different layout with the chicane going up the hill. I think the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be good around that short track. We have a little more horsepower, so we will focus on the set-up and our strategy. Having a GT3 only weekend is always fun. Going for an overall win and not having to deal with the prototypes makes it a little more competitive.”
Jules Gounon, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I really like the track, which I ran for the first-time racing with Cooper MacNeil last year. There are a lot of fans that surround the track on the outside and inside, so it gives a feel like you are racing in an arena. I don’t know of any other track that is this short. Since it is GT only, Lime Rock and VIR are our only chances during the season to take an overall win without the prototype cars on the track. That’s the goal this weekend!”
Mike Skeen, Driver – No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “There is always loads of effort put in and lots of performance and passion to achieve great results, but we haven’t always been able to get all of the right pieces to fall into place. Some of that is luck, but to get that monkey off our back and get a podium builds some confidence and proves that we can do it and that we deserve to be up there. Hopefully we can take the next few steps to get a win out of it. Lime Rock suits the Mercedes-AMG GT4 really well. It has lots of high-speed, fast sweepers, which are good for the car, and we did really well there last year and felt we had a really good car. We felt like we were certainly going to be on the podium and potentially challenge for the win but not everything fell into place. Going back there I feel like we have pretty high potential for being up front again.”
Tim Probert, Driver – No. 65 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I really like Lime Rock. It’s going to be a little different for us this year because we have always run the full course, but we are going to use the chicane this year. I think we are all scrambling a little bit to figure out what that means to us in terms of car setup and how we make sure we are quick there. I have been to Lime Rock many times, originally through MX5 Cup for about 10 seasons and then about 10 seasons or thereabouts in IMSA Pilot Challenge. Been there, a lot, plenty of seat time, but the first time running the chicane. It’s going to be interesting, but our Mercedes-AMG GT4 loves to corner so it might help.”
