JP Montoya, Dane Cameron climbed again to the top podium spot

Acura Team Penske’s Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya are the winners of the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic race, the fifth round of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. For the duo in the #6 Acura ARX-05, it’s their second consecutive victory after they triumphed in the previous race at Mid-Ohio.

After one hour and 40 minutes of racing at 2.3-mile Detroit Belle Isle street circuit, Montoya and Cameron became the first non-General Motors drivers ever to score the overall victory in IMSA races Detroit. They stopped the streak of seven overall wins for GM brands.

Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya

JP Montoya started the race from pole and converted it to his second IMSA WeatherTech Championship victory and the fifth IMSA victory in a career. His partner Dane Cameron crossed the finish line as the winner for the 14th time (12 WeatherTech Championship, one Grand-Am, one ALMS).

At the finish line, Cameron was just 0.820 seconds ahead of Felipe Nasr in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. Nasr was sharing a car with Pipo Derani. Nasr and Derani extended their lead in the championship, collecting five points more (152-147) then Montoya/Cameron.

Acura Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor finished third in Detroit and picked up their third podium result in five races this season. They are also third in the DPi championship standings at the halfway point of the 10-race season.

IMSA GTD class winners at Detroit Richard Heistand and Jack Hawksworth

Parallel to DPi prototypes, the GTD class had its fourth race of the season at Detroit. The winners were the same as in the previous race at Mid-Ohio: Richard Heistand and Jack Hawksworth in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

They started the race fourth on the grid and took the victory ahead of pole-sitting #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long and Zacharie Robichon. The AIM Vasser Sullivan had a double celebration on the podium because Frankie Montecalvo and Townsend Bell finished the race third in the #12 Lexus.

The full-field IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will reunite for the sixth round of the 2019 season and third round of the Michelin Endurance Cup at Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, on June 27 – 30.