Fourth Place For Roman De Angelis in GTD at Mid-Ohio

PFAFF MOTORSPORTS SETTLES FOR SIXTH AFTER STARTING AT THE BACK OF THE GRID AS DANIEL MORAD FINISHES IN 10TH WITH ALEGRA AND JEFF KINGSLEY ENDED UP IN FIFTH PLACE WITH COMPASS RACING

First Sprint race of the season for the DPi, LMP2 and GTD class took place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Top Canadian representative, Daniel Morad had set a time good enough for third place(1:20.687) in qualifying as Zach Robichon’s fastest lap(1:20.952) with Pfaff Motorsports’ Porsche was good for sixth place. Next was Roman De Angelis who qualified the Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin in seventh place(1:21.139) and 2020 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge champion Jeff Kingley qualified eight for Compas Racing.

After qualifying, The #9 Pfaff Motorsports team failed inspection with a ride height that failed minimum height. Therefore, they started from the back of the GTD field in 13th place.

As the green flag dropped, the #14 of Vasser Sullivan kept the lead as Daniel Morad fought hard to keep his place at the entrance of the esses. Roman De Angelis was in a hard fight with Madison Snow in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini for several laps as they were often nose to tail on the long straight. The Lamborghini driver defending from a hard charging De Angelis.

Jeff Kingsley was also performing very well at the wheel of Compass Racing Acura #76 and was seen in the mix of the GTD battles. All the while Robichon was making up grounds gaining three place on the first lap and running behind Kingsley for several laps before passing him on lap 11.

Meanwhile, at the front, the leader #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 ran into what seemed to be suspension issues and had to be brought back to the garage for a closer look. This gave the lead to the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW with Bill Auberlen at the wheel and crossed the finish line with a margin of 2.7s over second place #12 Vasser Sullivan. The #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini came in third place only half a second behind the Lexus.

Another great performance from The Heart of Racing who came in fourth place with co-driver Ross Gunn. De Angelis has shown he has gained experience and confidence in his driving settling well with the Aston Martin. The team itself also has shown a high level of competitiveness.

Jeff Kingsley has also shown promises with his performance over the weekend and is someone to watch for this year as Compass Racing will participate in the Stint Cup of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Acura NSX GT3 driver finished fifth with teammate Mario Farnbacher.

Laurens Vanthoor had taken the relay from Robichon and was in the mix of a battle at one point with Patrick Long in the Wright Motorsports Porsche amongst others. Seeing the shuffle happening in front of him, Vanthoor dove on the inside as Long came across at the same time. This caused the #16 Wright Motorsports driver to go off the track but Vanthoor managed to keep going to bring the car to a sixth place finish.

#28 Alegra Motorsports was running well all race long running between second and fourth place until a full course yellow where they came into the pits and rejoined the track in 11th place. As the race restarted with they managed to gain one spot to cross the line in 10th place.

Next race on the calendar is to be Bel-Ile for the Detroit Grand Prix on June 11-12.

Image courtesy IMSA / Jake Galstad