Mathiasen’s Guasch, Kimber-Smith,Take Third PC Victory In Northeast Grand Prix At Lime Rock Park

Winners of the two longest races on the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship schedule, Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith gave PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports the Prototype Challenge (PC) victory at the shortest track, capturing Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.

 

After trouble struck down the two dominant cars on the seven-turn, 1.474-mile circuit, Kimber-Smith passed Bruno Junqueira with 35 minutes remaining and went on to win in the No. 52 Cuttwood ORECA FLM09. It was the fourth podium finish of the season for Guasch and Kimber-Smith, who won the class at both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida.

 

Junqueira and Chris Cumming finished second in the No. 11 RSR Racing AutoMaxUSA ORECA FLM09, followed by the lapped No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Martini entry of Renger van der Zande and Mirco Schultis.

 

Stephen Simpson captured the TOTAL Pole Award and dominated the opening hour in the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports UndergroundCellar.com ORECA FLM09. However, the car suddenly stopped in Turn 3 with an electrical problem at the one-hour, four-minute mark, bringing out a caution.  The car was taken to the garage, losing several laps for repairs. Simpson and co-driver Mikhail Goikhberg eventually finished sixth.

 

That gave the lead to Conor Daly, who had taken over from James French in the No. 38 Ric-Man Construction/GO-PUCK/Braille Batteries ORECA FLM09 for Performanc Tech Motorsports.  Daly attempted to follow Renger van der Zande – who had just regained one of his two lost laps – through the final Downhill turn when he had contact with the GT Daytona (GTD) class-leading No. 48 Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS of Christopher Haase. Both cars slammed into the tire barrier and were eliminated, although both drivers emerged unscathed.

 

That gave the lead to Junqueira, who led 41 laps before Kimber-Smith took the lead in traffic. Kimber-Smith retained the lead when both leaders pitted two laps later, and led the final 23 circuits, winning by 8.304 seconds.

Adam Sinclair