2022 Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio

The 2022 Lexus Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio was a sports car race held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, Ohio on May 15, 2022. It was the fifth round of the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the third round of the 2022 WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Wayne Taylor Racing's #10 car piloted by Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque collected their second victory of the season.[1]

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2021.[2] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2022 Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2022 by IMSA , and it was the third of eight rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[3] The race was held at the thirteen-turn 2.258 mi (3.634 km) Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, Ohio on May 5, 2022.[4]

On May 5, 2022, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In DPi, the Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 10 kilogram weight break. In GTD, The Porsche 911 GT3 R received a 10 kilogram weight increase.[5]

Before the race, Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis led the DPi Drivers' Championship, ahead of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor on countback followed by Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook with 1308 points in third.[6] In LMP2, Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman led the Drivers' Championship by 33 points over John Farano and Louis Delétraz.[6] With 374 points, João Barbosa, Lance Willsey, and Malthe Jakobsen led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with a 31 point advantage over Ari Balogh, Dakota Dickerson, and Garett Grist.[6] The GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Ryan Hardwick and Jan Heylen with 985 points followed by Stevan McAleer with 955 points.[6] Acura and Porsche were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Meyer Shank Racing, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Sean Creech Motorsport, and Wright Motorsports each led their own Teams' Championships.[6]

Entries

A total of 31 cars took part in the event, split across four classes. 6 were entered in DPi, 6 in LMP2, 8 in LMP3, and 11 in GTD.[7] In LMP2, Will Stevens subbed for Louis Deletraz in the Tower Motorsport entry due to a clash with the European Le Mans Series round at Imola.[8] In LMP3, MLT Motorsports made its debut in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In GTD, Team Hardpoint was absent while Vasser Sullivan Racing added a second entry featuring Jack Hawksworth and Richard Heistand. NTE Sport withdrew from the event due to a lack of funding.[9] Jordan Pepper joined Brendan Iribe in the Inception Racing entry.

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday; one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday afternoon ran for 90 minutes while the second session on Saturday morning lasted 105 minutes.[10]

Qualifying

Saturday's afternoon qualifying was broken into three sessions, with one session for the DPi and LMP2, LMP3, and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions.[10] The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (LMP2/LMP3/GTD) classes requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put DPis ahead of the LMP2, LMP3, and GTD cars.[11]

Qualifying results

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

Pos. Class PIC No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 DPi 1 01 Cadillac Racing Sébastien Bourdais 1:10.439 - 1‡
2 DPi 2 10 WTR - Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque 1:10.661 +0.222 2
3 DPi 3 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Oliver Jarvis 1:10.791 +0.352 3
4 DPi 4 02 Cadillac Racing Alex Lynn 1:10.995 +0.556 4
5 DPi 5 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Tristan Nunez 1:11.053 +0.614 5
6 DPi 6 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Tristan Vautier 1:11.083 +0.644 6
7 LMP2 1 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Patrick Kelly 1:14.340 +3.901 7‡
8 LMP2 2 11 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Steven Thomas 1:15.276 +4.837 8
9 LMP2 3 81 DragonSpeed - 10 Star Henrik Hedman 1:15.332 +4.893 9
10 LMP2 4 18 Era Motorsport Dwight Merriman 1:16.077 +5.638 10
11 LMP2 5 8 Tower Motorsport John Farano 1:16.313 +5.874 11
12 LMP2 6 20 High Class Racing Dennis Andersen 1:16.515 +6.076 12
13 LMP3 1 36 Andretti Autosport Jarett Andretti 1:17.104 +6.665 13‡
14 LMP3 2 58 MLT Motorsports Josh Sarchet 1:17.441 +7.002 14
15 LMP3 3 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Dan Goldburg 1:17.788 +7.349 15
16 LMP3 4 74 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson 1:17.892 +7.453 16
17 LMP3 5 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett 1:18.448 +8.009 17
18 LMP3 6 30 Jr III Motorsports Ari Balogh 1:19.279 +8.840 18
19 LMP3 7 13 AWA Orey Fidani 1:19.819 +9.380 19
20 LMP3 8 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Lance Willsey 1:19.924 +9.485 20
21 GTD 1 1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow 1:20.525 +10.086 21‡
22 GTD 2 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Stevan McAleer 1:20.725 +10.286 22
23 GTD 3 27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis 1:20.822 +10.383 23
24 GTD 4 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley 1:21.012 +10.573 24
25 GTD 5 57 Winward Racing Russell Ward 1:21.016 +10.577 25
26 GTD 6 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo 1:21.120 +10.681 26
27 GTD 7 17 Vasser Sullivan Racing Richard Heistand 1:21.410 +10.971 27
28 GTD 8 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Robert Megennis 1:21.450 +11.011 28
29 GTD 9 51 RWR Eurasia Motorsport Aidan Read 1:21.469 +11.030 29
30 GTD 10 70 Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsport Brendan Iribe 1:22.044 +11.605 30
31 GTD 11 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick 1:22.652 +12.213 31

Sources:[12][13]

Race

Post-Race

Albuquerque and Taylor took the lead of the DPi Drivers' Championship with 1707 points while Blomqvist and Jarvis dropped to second with 1675 points. Bamber and Lynn jumped from fourth to third.[14] The result in LMP2 meant Montoya and Hedman took the lead of the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 972 points while Bomarito and Thomas advanced from fourth to third.[14] Grist and Balogh took the led of the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with 688 points while Braun and Bennett advanced from fifth to second with 661 points.[14] The result in GTD meant McAleer retook the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 1237 points while Hardwick and Heylen dropped to second with 1225 points. Megennis and Westphal jumped from fifth to fourth while Montecalvo advanced from eighth to fifth.[14] PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports continued to top the LMP2 Teams' Championship while Wayne Taylor Racing, Jr III Motorsports, and Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports became the leaders of their respective class Teams' Championships.[14] Acura and Mercedes-AMG assumed the lead of their respective Manufacturers' Championships with seven rounds remaining.[14]

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class PIC No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 DPi 1 10 WTR - Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque
Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 121 2:40:20.108‡
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
2 DPi 2 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Oliver Jarvis
Tom Blomqvist
Acura ARX-05 121 +2.098
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
3 DPi 3 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Tristan Nunez
Pipo Derani
Cadillac DPi-V.R 121 +16.910
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
4 DPi 4 02 Cadillac Racing Alex Lynn
Earl Bamber
Cadillac DPi-V.R 121 +36.916
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
5 DPi 5 01 Cadillac Racing Sebastien Bourdais
Renger van der Zande
Cadillac DPi-V.R 121 +37.104
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
6 DPi 6 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Tristan Vautier
Richard Westbrook
Cadillac DPi-V.R 121 +1:02.301
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
7 LMP2 1 81 DragonSpeed - 10 Star Henrik Hedman
Juan Pablo Montoya
Oreca 07 118 +3 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
8 LMP2 2 11 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Steven Thomas
Jonathan Bomarito
Oreca 07 118 +3 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
9 LMP2 3 20 High Class Racing Dennis Andersen
Anders Fjordbach
Oreca 07 118 +3 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
10 LMP2 4 8 Tower Motorsport John Farano
Will Stevens
Oreca 07 117 +4 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
11 LMP2 5 18 Era Motorsport Dwight Merriman
Ryan Dalziel
Oreca 07 117 +4 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
12 LMP2 6 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Patrick Kelly
Josh Pierson
Oreca 07 117 +4 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
13 LMP3 1 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett
Colin Braun
Ligier JS P320 114 +7 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
14 LMP3 2 30 Jr III Motorsports Ari Balogh
Garett Grist
Ligier JS P320 113 +8 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
15 LMP3 3 36 Andretti Autosport Jarett Andretti
Gabby Chaves
Ligier JS P320 113 +8 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
16 LMP3 4 74 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson
Felipe Fraga
Ligier JS P320 113 +8 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
17 LMP3 5 58 MLT Motorsports Josh Sarchet
Dakota Dickerson
Ligier JS P320 113 +8 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
18 LMP3 6 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Lance Willsey
João Barbosa
Ligier JS P320 112 +9 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
19 GTD 1 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley
Bill Auberlen
BMW M4 GT3 110 +11 Laps
BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6
20 GTD 2 1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow
Bryan Sellers
BMW M4 GT3 110 +11 Laps
BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6
21 GTD 3 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo
Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 110 +11 Laps
Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V8
22 GTD 4 39 CarBahn With Peregrine Racing Robert Megennis
Jeff Westphal
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 110 +11 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
23 GTD 5 57 Winward Racing Russell Ward
Philip Ellis
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 110 +11 laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
24 GTD 6 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Stevan McAleer
Mike Skeen
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 110 +11 laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
25 GTD 7 17 Vasser Sullivan Racing Richard Heistand
Jack Hawksworth
Lexus RC F GT3 110 +11 Laps
Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V8
26 GTD 8 27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis
Maxime Martin
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 110 +11 Laps
Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
27 GTD 9 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick
Jan Heylen
Porsche 911 GT3 R 110 +11 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
28 GTD 10 51 RWR with Eurasia Motorsport Aidan Read
Ryan Eversley
Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 109 +12 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
29 GTD 11 70 Inception Racing Brendan Iribe
Jordan Pepper
McLaren 720S GT3 110 +11 laps (Post race penalty)
McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8
30 LMP3 7 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Dan Goldburg
Rasmus Lindh
Ligier JS P320 106 +15 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
31 LMP3 8 13 AWA Orey Fidani
Kuno Wittmer
Ligier JS P320 100 +21 Laps
Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8
Sources:[15][16]

Standings after the race

  • 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.

References

  1. ^ Ryan, Nate (May 15, 2022). "IMSA Mid-Ohio results: Wayne Taylor Racing wins again; Montoya triumphs in LMP2". NBC Sports. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  2. ^ Pruett, Marshall (August 6, 2021). "IMSA's 2022 schedule signals a return to normalcy". racer.com. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  3. ^ Allaway, Phil (August 6, 2021). "IMSA Reveals 2022 Schedules, Changes". frontstretch.com. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  4. ^ Beaver, Dan (August 7, 2021). "IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series announces 2022 schedule". nbcsports.com. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  5. ^ Dagys, John (May 5, 2022). "Cadillac Returns to Pre-Laguna Minimum Weight". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Dagys, John (May 4, 2022). "Vasser Sullivan Adds Second GTD Class Lexus for Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  8. ^ Dagys, John (May 13, 2022). "Stevens Drafted into Tower Motorsport Lineup for Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  9. ^ Dagys, John (May 10, 2022). "NTE Sport Lamborghini Withdraws From Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "2022 IMSA Official Schedule and SR M-O 050422 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
  11. ^ "2022 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 22, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
  12. ^ "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 15, 2022. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  13. ^ "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 15, 2022. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 17, 2022. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  15. ^ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  16. ^ "2022 Lexus Grand Print at Mid-Ohio". racing-reference.info. Retrieved October 27, 2023.