International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017.[1] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2018 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase was the ninth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and was the sixth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup.[2] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 4.048 mi (6.515 km) Road America on August 5, 2018.[2]
During this race weekend, IMSA holds their "State of the Series" annual press conference, in which they confirm and announce their future plans for the series they sanction.
IMSA also announced the WeatherTech Sprint Cup for GTD beginning in 2019. Additionally, any bronze/silver rated driver had to qualify and start races.[5]
On July 26, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of performance for the event.[6] In P, the Cadillac DPi-V.R gained a 0.9 mm larger air restrictor while the Mazda RT24-P and Nissan Onroak DPi got an increase of turbo boost. Additionally, the Mazda also received a 10 kilogram weight reduction.
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.[12]
Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 11:15 am CT on Friday and ended with Oliver Jarvis topping the timing sheets for Mazda Team Joest, with a lap time of 1:52.627.[13]
The second practice session took place at 4:10 pm CT on Friday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the timing sheets for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:52.402.[15]
The third and final practice session took place at 8:55 am CT on Saturday and ended with Simon Trummer topping the timing sheets for JDC-Miller MotorSports, with a lap time of 1:51.644.[17]
Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups.[12] All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.[19]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
1 The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the P field as per Article 43.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver).[19]
2 The No. 15 3GT Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver).[19]
3 The No. 51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[19]
Warm Up
A 20-minute morning warm-up session was held on the morning of August 5,[22] and several entries did not get a time in due to Jack Hawksworth crashing at turn 8 after brake failure which brought a red flag that ended the session.[23] The #22 Nissan Onroak DPi of Pipo Derani lapped fastest at 1:53.080 ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura. The fastest GTLM lap was a 2:04.597, set by Antonio García in the #3 Corvette, and Jörg Bergmeister's #73 Porsche paced GTD. 3GT Racing withdrew its #15 entry from the event after sustaining too much damage in warm up.[24]
Race
Post-race
As a result of winning the race, Bennett and Braun moved from fourth to third in the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Goikhberg and Simpson advanced from seventh to fifth.[25] As a result of winning the race, Briscoe and Westbrook took the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Hand and Müller dropped from first to third while Gavin and Milner jumped from fifth to fourth.[25] The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 250 points, 18 points ahead of Legge.[25] Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships. The #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry took the lead of the GTLM Teams' Championship with three rounds remaining.[25]
