Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann finished a season’s best fourth in class in the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship race on the Belle Isle circuit in Detroit.
Curtis started twelfth and moved up to ninth on his stint, pitting after the only yellow flag of the race came out at about the 25-minute mark. Quick work by the crew enabled Klingmann to rejoin in seventh. From there, as attrition in the GTD ranks set in, he moved up to fifth, and then to fourth, where he finished just behind the third place Lamborghini of Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers. The GTD win went to Andy Lally and Katherine Legge in an Acura NSX GT3; it was the first GTD win for the new Acura.
Curtis said, ’I am really happy with this fourth place result here at Detroit. We worked yesterday to dial in a setup that suited both Jens and I. We had a very solid, well balanced BMW for the race. I was able to make up a few positions early on which enabled me to bring the car to Jens in a solid position.”
The overall win went to Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi prototype. They had started from the back after a crash in qualifying. The GTLM class did not run in Detroit.
The series’ next race is the Sahlen Six Hours of Watkins Glen on July 2.—Brian S. Morgan
