The Andretti WTR team celebrated their victory at the IMSA Detroit Sports Car Classic, triumphing over the pole-sitting Porsche and Cadillac. The race took place in downtown Detroit, near the Renaissance Centre, which serves as the headquarters for General Motors, the parent company of Cadillac. Starting from fourth position, Felipe Albuquerque in the #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 quickly moved up to second place as the race began. Meanwhile, Ricky Taylor and the #7 Porsche slipped down to fourth. Albuquerque also overtook Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, securing the third position. Nick Tandy, the polesitter in the #6 Porsche, maintained his lead.
Shortly after the race started, there was a full course yellow flag due to Harry Tincknell’s #65 Ford Mustang GT3 coming to a halt on the track. Tincknell needed assistance and a tow rope to be removed from the racing surface. Once the race resumed, Tandy continued to lead and extended his advantage to nearly 5 seconds.
However, disaster struck when Tandy collided with Daniel Serra in the #35 Conquest Ferrari 296 GT3 while attempting to lap him. The collision sent Serra into the barriers, but he was able to continue racing. Tandy received a drivethrough penalty for the avoidable contact, pushing him down to sixth place and promoting Albuquerque to the lead.
Both Albuquerque and Bourdais, who had been trailing closely behind Albuquerque, made pit stops. Albuquerque hoped to gain an advantage over the yellow Cadillac by pitting first, while Bourdais aimed to take the lead through an overcut strategy. Unfortunately for Cadillac, their strategy did not pay off, and Albuquerque gained time on Bourdais when they returned to the track.
In the meantime, Cameron, who had been in third place for Porsche, took the lead using the overcut strategy that Cadillac had failed to execute successfully. The only other car that did not make a pit stop was the delayed Tandy in the sister Porsche, resulting in a 1-2 position for the German manufacturer.
The race encountered another full course yellow when Connor de Phillippi’s #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 hit the wall, breaking the suspension and forcing the car out of the race. A frustrated de Phillippi got out of the car as the marshals cleared the track.
During this time, Tandy still needed to make a pit stop, and the full course yellow came at the perfect moment. He pitted while the race was under yellow and maintained his lead over his teammate Nasr, solidifying Porsche’s 1-2 position.
With 47 minutes remaining, the race resumed but quickly went back under yellow. Jack Aitken in the #31 Action Express Cadillac attempted an ambitious move by diving down the inside of Richard Westbrook in the #5 JDC Miller Motorsports car. However, the move failed, causing Westbrook to spin and block the track. Eventually, Westbrook managed to turn the car around and unblock the track, but the race remained under yellow. Aitken later received a drivethrough penalty for this incident.
When the race went green again, Ricky Taylor relentlessly pursued the leading Jaminet. Taylor, who had not won an IMSA race for 668 days, was visibly faster. He seized an opportunity at turn 3, the hairpin, and made a daring move to take the lead, which he maintained until the end.
There were two more short full course yellows, one for debris and another due to a collision between Aitken and Gianmaria Bruni in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963. Bruni’s car sustained significant damage and had to retire.
Despite Jaminet’s efforts, he was unable to overtake Taylor, who crossed the finish line with a 1.132-second lead over the Frenchman in the Porsche. Renger van der Zande in the #01 Cadillac secured third place, while Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche finished fifth. Louis Deletraz in the sister #40 WTRAndretti Acura completed the top 5 with a solid performance.