This year marked the 50th year of IMSA racing at the IMSA Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Porsche and PCA had a Porscheplatz supported by CVR, attended on Saturday with 125 cars and with some of the best race day weather we have had in a few years. But if you noticed, only 1 week later our temperatures rose over the 90-degree mark again. That was a close one and if you did not attend the race, you missed some close racing.

May 29th, 1972 was the IMSA Camel 200, then IMSAGT, for 131 laps and a Porsche 911S won by drivers Bob Bailey and Jim Locke. On September 15th, 1973, the IMSA GT race was for 65 laps and won by a Porsche 911 Carrera driven by Peter Gregg. Porsche had won the Lime Rock race for many more years until May 30th, 1977. The IMSA Coca Cola 350 of 66 laps was won by Al Holbert in a Dekon Monza/Chevrolet, but a Porsche Carrera RSR came in second by a driver we all know, Hurley Haywood. For many years, Porsche won with drivers John Paul Jr., John Fitzpatrick and Al Holbert. The Porsche 935, the 962 and the Porsche Spyder have won at Lime Rock over the course of 50 years and this year starts a new beginning for Porsche racing. Since 1999, Porsche has accumulated 20 class wins.

Friday was for practice and qualifying, where we saw the Pfaff GTDPRO Porsche driver, Matt Campbell put the car on the pole with a record time of 51.079, breaking the old record of 52.364 for the GTDPRO class. The team picks who was to qualify and Matt really wanted to do it here, which he did with an exclamation point. As you can see in my picture, he did it in a cloud of dust, but it all worked out.

Saturday brought another nice day, with temperatures in the low 80s and a slight breeze for a pleasant day for racing and watching. There was Porscheplatz with a morning IMSA practice session and then the Porsche Car Corral track laps. At 10:30 am, the Pfaff Porsche drivers arrived at the Porscheplatz for a talk to our group.

Many of us watched the support races from the Porscheplatz before the main IMSA race.

The IMSA race is one of two GTD-only races held. The other race is at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) and will be held August 25-28, 2022. Matt Campbell has said that they like these races as it is a little easier for traffic with only two classes on the track at one time.

The race started at 3:10 pm and was a 2-hour, 40-minute race. With Pfaff qualifying 1st, it made for a clear track ahead, for a while. Pfaff lead the first 42 laps out of a total of 174. How would you feel if you had to do 174 laps around Lime Rock at full speed? OK, there were two drivers so let’s say 87 laps each. Think about that and a warm day as well. Then there was the close racing that we saw during the race.

Pfaff not only lead the first 42 laps, but the last 75 laps, for a total of 117 laps lead out of 174, to win the IMSA Northeast Grand Prix. This is their 3rd GTD PRO win of the year with 3 races left.

I had a good time at Lime Rock Park and Porscheplatz, talking to many participants, members and volunteers that make this event work so well. Hope to see you at a CVR event soon!