2016 Lone Star Le Mans

The 2016 Lone Star Le Mans was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on September 17, 2016. The race was the eleventh round of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015.^[1] It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2016 Lone Star Le Mans was the eleventh of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the eighth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the twenty-turn 3.426 mi (5.514 km) Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on September 17, 2016.^[2]

IMSA altered the balance of performance to try to create parity within the Prototype, GTLM, and GTD categories. The Ligier JS P2 had its weight lowered by 10 kg (22 lb). The DeltaWing DWC13 received an increase in turbo boost pressure. The Lola B12/80 had its refueling hose restrictor increased by 1 mm (0.039 in). The BMW M6 GTLM had its weight increased by 10 kg (22 lb) and received a 0.5 mm (0.020 in) larger refueling hose restrictor while the Ford GT had a 1 mm (0.039 in) refueling restrictor reduction. The Ferrari 488 GTE received an increase in turbo boost pressure, a 1-liter fuel capacity increase, and a 0.5 mm (0.020 in) larger refueling hose restrictor. The Ferrari 488 GT3 received an increase in turbo boost pressure and a 1-liter fuel capacity increase. The Porsche 911 GT3 R received a 2 mm (0.079 in) larger air restrictor, a 1-liter fuel capacity increase, and a 1 mm (0.039 in) larger refueling hose restrictor. The BMW M6 GT3 and Lamborghini Huracán GT3 had their refueling restrictors increased by 1 mm (0.039 in) while the Dodge Viper GT3-R and Ferrari 488 GT3 received their fuel restrictors reduced by 0.5 mm (0.020 in).^[3]

Before the race, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 253 points, ahead of Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in second by one point, and Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in third with 242 points.^[4] With 293 points, Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande led the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 7 points.^[4] In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 287 points, 7 ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook.^[4] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 268 points; the duo held a twenty-point advantage over Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating.^[4] Chevrolet and Audi were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.^[4]

Thirty-nine cars were officially entered for the Lone Star Le Mans, with most of the entries in the Prototype Challenge (PC), Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) categories. Action Express Racing (AER) fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars while VisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) fielded one. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 cars and Michael Shank Racing (MSR) entered one Ligier JS P2 chassis with a Honda HR35TT twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine. Panoz brought the DeltaWing car to Circuit of the Americas for the fourth successive year.^[5] The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of eight Oreca FLM09 cars: three from Starworks Motorsports and two from BAR1 Motorsports. JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entered one car each.^[5] Although it was listed as an entrant,^[5] CORE Autosport's No. 54 car withdrew from the event due to the team prepping for 2017.^[6] GTLM was represented by nine entries from five different brands. In the list of GTD entrants, fourteen GT3-specification vehicles were represented by seven different manufacturers.^[5] The No. 007 The Racer's Group Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 was reinstated to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after making its first appearance since the Laguna Seca round.^[7]

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third on Friday morning lasted an hour.^[8]

In the first session, Barbosa set the fastest time in the No. 5 AER Corvette DP with a time of 1 minute, 58.813 seconds, 0.105 seconds faster than teammate Cameron in the sister No. 31 AER car.^[9] The fastest PC car was Kimber-Smith's No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car with a lap of 2 minutes, 01.131 seconds.^[10] With a 2:04.638 lap, Dirk Müller led the GTLM class in the No. 66 CGR Ford GT, followed by Pilet's No. 911 Porsche.^[9][10] Jens Klingmann's No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 recorded the fastest time in GTD.^[9]

In the second session, Cameron led with a lap of 1 minute, 58.139 seconds, ahead of Jordan Taylor's WTR car.^[11] The eight-vehicle PC class was led by Starworks' No. 88 car, driven by Bradley with a time of 2 minutes, 01.367 seconds.^[12] Ford paced GTLM with Westbrook's No. 67 CGR car lapping 2:04.107 from Giancarlo Fisichella's second-placed Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.^[11] With a 2:08.174 lap, Markus Palttala led the GTD class in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, followed by Balzan's Scuderia Corsa 488 GT3.^[13][12]

Miller led the final practice session in the No. 70 Mazda with a lap of 1 minute, 58.033 seconds. Ricky Taylor's WTR car was second-fastest.^[14] A 2:00.238 lap saw Kimber-Smith's PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car lead PC over van der Zande's No. 8 Starworks entry.^[15] Ferrari paced GTLM with Risi Competizione's 488 of Vilander lapping 2:03.380, ahead of the two Ford GTs.^[14][15] Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche was fastest in GTD with a time of 2 minutes, 07.116 seconds.^[15]

Friday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM, PC, and Prototype had three separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arranged the grid to put all Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM, and GTD cars.^[8][16]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

• ¹ The No. 60 MSR Ligier was sent to the back of the Prototype grid as per 43.1 of the Sporting regulations (Starting driver change).^[16]
• ² The No. 88 Starworks Motorsport had its fastest lap deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
• ³ The No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge was sent to the back of the GTD grid as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).^[16]

With a total of 285 points, Curran and Cameron's second-place finish allowed them to take the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship.^[19] Popow and van der Zande's victory allowed them to increase their advantage in the PC Drivers' Championship by 3 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith.^[19] The final results of GTLM meant that Gavin and Milner extended their advantage to 11 points in the Drivers' Championship over Briscoe and Westbrook.^[19] Balzan and Nielsen's third-place finish allowed them to increase their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 32 points over Bleekemolen and Keating.^[19] Chevrolet and Audi continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships with one round left in the season.^[19]

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.