DETROIT — The Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic presents a fifth variation of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in as many events with just the Grand Touring Prototype and Grand Touring Daytona Pro categories sharing the track.
The 1.645-mile downtown Detroit street course, the shortest circuit on the schedule, may see limited courtesy, traded paint and flaring tempers on display.
These two classes may have championship shakeups too prior to the 24 Hours of Le Mans break and the all-class resumption at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June.
Manufacturer Showdown
One of motorsports’ most intense rivalries is the iconic Chevrolet vs. Ford battle. For a third consecutive year, the pair of Motown heavyweights square off with their now further developed GT3 specification challengers: the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and Ford Racing’s No. 64 and 65 Ford Mustang GT3s.
“Of course, you have Ford against Corvettes,” said Frederic Vervisch, who partnered with Christopher Mies to take the GTD PRO win in the No. 65 Mustang at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca earlier this month. “I think it’s nice. It’s cool for the sport . . . On track, we are the blues, they are the yellows, and we want to be in front of them. And I think that’s really cool.”
While it’s easy to assume the presence of the corporate heavyweights in the pits and paddock means the pressure is “on,” Corvette’s Antonio Garcia says the desire to make the folks who work behind the scenes proud more than racing under the gaze of the suits is what motivates him in Detroit.
“For sure you can see some other people that usually don’t come to the races,” he said. “For instance, all the Pratt Miller personnel usually come here, and they set up a big tent to invite most of their workers. It’s nice to see them, it’s nice to get them to see what they built. And for sure, it doesn’t bring any more pressure. For me it’s just that Detroit is somewhere that I’ve never won at, and I want to take that away.”
Nor will Chevrolet and Ford be alone in battling for Motown bragging rights. Rest assured Stuttgart-based Porsche, Maranello’s Ferrari, Woking’s McLaren, Shimoyama’s Lexus and Sant’Agata Bolognese’s Lamborghini would like nothing more than to come out on top in Detroit in the seven-manufacturer GTD PRO field (along with five in GTP). That’s a dynamic that works both ways.
“If you come up with a win, that means you won against everyone,” Garcia said. “So, for sure it is important to beat everybody out there. Obviously, every manufacturer wants theirs to be up front. It probably feels more like a good football match where you have the biggest teams out there competing against each other. Let’s put it that way. It feels more like a big match or Super Bowl… big teams fighting against each other, so it is important for sure.”
Rebound Potential
The Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac reunion in 2025 harbored hopes of a natural return to their race- and championship-winning form in the mid-2010s. But curiously, heading back to Detroit, WTR seeks its first win since reuniting with Cadillac in GTP.
“I think we should not undervalue a team completely switching to a new manufacturer when all the other teams are with the same manufacturer from year one,” explained Filipe Albuquerque, who pilots WTR’s No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R with Ricky Taylor. “But for us, it’s learning to deal with Cadillac people, learning about the car and the drivers adapting to the systems. I think more races is better. And I think this year we are more prepared and everything is just flowing more.”
The pace is there. Taylor led last year before Renger van der Zande’s bold, winning move. And last time out in Monterey, Louis Deletraz put the sister No. 40 Cadillac on pole but without strategy falling their way, the result didn’t match the pace.
The fact that WTR has been a strong force on the downtown Detroit circuit in both previous years gives the team good reason to believe they’ll be in the hunt with Cadillac this weekend.
“There is great confidence coming into Detroit knowing our Cadillac V-Series.R was fast last year,” says Deletraz, who co-drives the No. 40 WTR entry with Jordan Taylor. “Since the start of the year our pace has been strong, but success hasn’t come in the races. It’s time to turn that around.”
The Cadillacs are split in the championship standings. Jack Aitken sits second in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen entry while the pair of WTR cars sit further back. Albuquerque says they can now go into every event focused on winning the race rather than managing their championship aspirations.
“The 10 car had never been in such a situation like this before in my career,” he surmised. “We are dead last because of different circumstances, and that’s painful. But again, we have nothing to fight for. It’s just single wins, to be honest, and to respect our teammates of the 31 that is fighting for the championship. And we can go for the glory.”
MSR’s Big “Mo”
The two longest IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races at Daytona and Sebring kick off the season at 24 and 12 hours, respectively. Come mid-May, the rest of the global sports car calendar gets endurance racing heavy with the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring earlier this month and the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month, sandwiched by the joint shortest race on the IMSA calendar – the 100-minute Detroit race.
More than have a dozen WeatherTech Championship regulars competed at the Nürburgring. From Detroit, 15 of 22 GTP full-season drivers and three additional GTD PRO drivers will head off to Le Mans to fly the IMSA flag there as part of a significant IMSA contingent that also includes teams and drivers from Le Mans Prototype 2 and Grand Touring Daytona.
Many of those drivers and teams will run the WeatherTech Raceway rollercoaster, the ‘Ring’s “Green Hell,” the streets of Motown and the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe, in a span of seven weeks.
Van der Zande, who shares the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 with Nick Yelloly, hailed the variety of events he’s getting to drive in at the moment.
“Yeah, I think (the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring) was an amazing event,” says van der Zande, who raced an HWA Evo.R along with Wright Motorsports’ team owner/driver Adam Adelson against a field of more than 120 GT cars, including a Mercedes-AMG GT3 piloted by four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen. “That was very, very special to see him and what he was doing. I’ve seen him do things that I’ve never seen a race car driver do before on that track.
“But, yeah, I can’t wait to go competing again because that’s what I live for. That’s why I’m in IMSA, because it’s so much competition, and so much fun to go race each other. The Nürburgring was, I would say, a challenge to get to the finish, but an especially enjoyable weekend.
“I think Detroit is fun; it’s all downtown now. It’s around the (Renaissance Center). It’s pretty epic and special, too. When I was racing for Cadillac, I was able to win there (at old Belle Isle circuit) for Cadillac, and when I raced with Acura, I was able to beat Cadillac, which was fun in a way because of that. And we’re gonna try to do the same thing now.”
Van der Zande has won six of IMSA’s last 10 street races. He and Nick Yelloly have won two straight street races with Acura at Detroit last year and Long Beach this year.
And the MSR team is riding some good “mo” as last week, nearly 300 miles south of Detroit in Indianapolis, Felix Rosenqvist denied David Malukas in the closest finish in the 110-year history of the Indianapolis 500. MSR looks to repeat that success with its own “Detroit double” in play this weekend with its two GTP cars racing on Saturday and two IndyCars on Sunday; might either or both entries keep the team’s winning momentum and vibes alive?
