IMSA: New track layout leads to chaos at times in Michelin Pilot Challenge race in Detroit

The only thing that could be expected going into the race was that nothing could be expected.

Saturday's IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in Detroit was as chaotic as expected, if not planned that way.

IMSA was in full force this weekend and the race finished with local flavor in the podium positions.

Heading into the weekend, the star was the track. I truly wondered how it would be raced, and it delivered in terms of the uncertainty.

Passing in this race became a premium given that only a handful of areas on the track were considered good overtaking spots, and it showed in the race.

The Thaze Competition #78 Mercedes, which at the time was run by Michigan-native Marc Miller, had trouble passing the RS1 Racing #28 Porsche driven at the time of the race by Sean McAleer in the last 20 minutes.

While both drivers were battling to move up on the podium, the tightness of the track caused some drivers to be less aggressive in certain areas of this new 1.7-mile circuit constructed in the streets of Motor City.

But, as in hockey, sometimes you have to play it close to the board, or in this case, walls, and Daniel Morad did, sliding inside near the Turn 1 wall to take the lead over the #28 Porsche for RS1 and seemingly running away with the victory from then on out as a 6-car battle ensued for podium spots.

Surprisingly, the pit lane configuration, which is a double-sided pit lane and the only one of its kind on the season, did not play at all in terms of entry and exit, as no team struggled in that aspect;. However, with previous practice, that may have been a key point to work on during those times that could have led to teams excelling at it.

The race featured some troubles at certain areas of the circuit, including Turns 6 and 7, just before the race finish line, which have been bumpy for drivers all weekend and have created less tire grip in that section of the track.

The track truly made the race what it was and created some compelling storylines heading out of Round 4 of the season.

The Crash

It appears that over the past week, big and scary race incidents have resulted.

After the Kyle Kirkwood crash in IndyCar at the Indy 500, where he miraculously came out ok after flipping on his side, as race fans, you’ve thought you would have seen it all, but this race showed that is just false.

The #95 Turner Motorsports BMW, had made a stop for fuel, which they were conserving before the stop, and a driver switch for Randolph, New Jersey native Robby Foley, came out of the pits aggressively, trying to push back up the grid.

Foley tried to quickly regain position on the grid as he approached Turn 3, getting too close to the inside lane, resulting in the car practically surfing over the Van Der Steur Racing #19 Aston Martin, which was driven by Rory Van Der Stuer.

Shockingly, both cars were able to drive off, but not without significant damage, taking out the Turner Motorsports entry. What may have been more surprising out of it was the fact that Van der Steur Racing ended up finishing 5th after what was truly a disappointing start to the afternoon, spinning out 15 minutes into the race and putting itself behind the 8-ball.

Will Turner, team owner of Turner Motorsports, wasn’t exactly sure how the incident happened, saying it could have been a multitude of things and potentially a braking issue; but the incident ended up messing up the day completely for the Turner entries, with their #96 sister car pitting before the caution and ultimately putting themselves towards the back of the field and out of contention.

Coming into the weekend 2nd in the Cup championship, it was a truly unfortunate weekend for both the #19 Aston Martin and #95 BMW, which put in fast lap times all weekend and were towards the top of the grid for the first half of the race, with the Turner Motorsport #95 leading all of the first 27 laps of the race and winning the pole heading into Saturday.

Local Flavor

Having seen no one race on this track leading into the weekend, it felt as though the local talent took care of business, and it seemed like they had an idea of how this track ran as well.

The competition was truly the feel-good story of the weekend.

The Detroit-born and bred race team, led by team principal Faisal Ahmad, truly did not make any rookie mistakes all weekend.

Starting 5th after a quick qualifying, the #78 Mercedes driven by Michigan-native Miller and his teammate Michael Dimeo, who is a nearby Canadian, as the race overlooks Canada across the rDetroit iver, solidified themselves in their performance.

They were consistent and didn’t make any risky pit decisions that cost them spots on the grid.

Beyond the performance of the actual car, both DiMeo and Miller were aggressive and did not give an inch, bumping and getting physical with the RS1 #28 Porsche for a silver finish on the podium.

Also, with the added fact that it was the team’s home race, it seemed as though there was some added motivation to finish as well as possible, and they truly delivered.

As for the race winners, Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad, who piloted the Winward Racing #57 Mercedes and are Toronto, Ontario, natives, there seemed to be a bit of added motivation for them as well, especially Morad, who made a stellar pass with about 30 minutes to spare in the race in his RS1 Porsche.

Pit strategy also helped the cause, as they were one of the first teams to pit at the midway point in the race, which ended up benefiting the team late, especially as teams decided to go longer on their first stints.

In this race, most teams chose not to go with tire changes; however, fuel became a factor towards the end of the first driver stint, and it cost many of the teams, including the #13 Ford Mustang for McCumbee McAleer Racing with AEROSPORT and Murillo Racing's #72 Aston Martin, which leads the championship in points, as both teams got stuck towards the back of the pack due to late stops, resulting in a tougher road back to the top of the grid.

Final Thoughts

While the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship won’t be back for another two weeks with the 24 Hours of Le Mans for IMSA teams next weekend, Detroit delivered a compelling taste of IMSA racing for the Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Detroit being the Motor City, it truly brought out the best of drivers and teams this weekend, and for local talent, it also brought out a bit of extra motivation towards finishing strong.

The track itself did bring up its own set of troubles for drivers, whether that be grip levels or just simply passing opportunities, but it did create a much more technical and strategic race.

This race felt like drivers were more successful at being the hunter to move up the grid than the hunted, and Detroit truly brought that, something that many other tracks in the series don’t have.

It is surprising that the double pit lane did not play a true factor considering how wide these Grand Sport cars are in terms of their size, but the strategy for when to pit came more into play than everything.