Andrews Back on Top of IMSA iRacing Pro Series Opener at Sebring, Eng Wins GTE Class

April 9th, 2021 by

Scott Andrews’ run of domination in virtual events for real-world sports car aces continued on Thursday night, as the 24 Hours of Daytona LMP3 class winner led every lap of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series presented by Simcraft season opener from Sebring International Raceway. It was the second straight win of 2021 for Andrews, who also topped the running order in the IMSA Preseason Invitational from Daytona International Speedway at the start of the year.

Andrews outqualified Richard Heistand by nearly half a second in the Dallara P217 LMP2, and led all 34 laps on the way to a 10.867-second victory over Daniel Morad. Heistand would round out the overall podium, with Mirko Bortolotti and Shinya Michimi completing the top five. Eight of the 14 LMP2 starters would finish on the lead lap.

In the GTE class, BMW M8 drivers dominated the final running order, even as heartbreak left Robby Foley one lap short on fuel with a comfortable lead in the late stages. Instead, Philipp Eng would inherit the top spot, leading second place Bruno Spengler, fourth place John Edwards, and fifth place Connor De Phillippi in the hotly contested division. Only Corvette Racing factory driver Nick Tandy could break up the domination with the final class podium spot.

As with many of iRacing’s invitational events, the 34-car field featured some talented crossover drivers on the entry list to join the series regulars. Former Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan finished seventh in GTE, the final driver on the class lead lap, while NASCAR veteran and Kligerman Sport team owner Parker Kligerman came home eighth in class.

Full results from Thursday’s IMSA iRacing Pro Series presented by Simcraft race at Sebring International Raceway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Car

Class

Laps

Interval

Led

Best
1 1 74 Scott D Andrews Dallara P217 LMP2 34 34 1:46.510
2 3 70 Daniel Morad Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -10.867 0 1:47.037
3 2 39 Richard Heistand Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -12.204 0 1:47.058
4 5 888 Mirko Bortolotti Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -13.588 0 1:47.123
5 4 48 Shinya Michimi Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -29.038 0 1:47.083
6 6 33 Harry Gottsacker Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -58.515 0 1:47.967
7 7 83 James Vance Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -1:20.686 0 1:48.028
8 9 9 Michael Johnson Dallara P217 LMP2 34 -1:33.927 0 1:48.868
9 12 40 James pesek Dallara P217 LMP2 33 -1 L 0 1:48.974
10 10 12 Guy Cosmo Dallara P217 LMP2 33 -1 L 0 1:48.708
11 14 1 Lance Willsey Dallara P217 LMP2 33 -1 L 0 1:51.623
12 17 89 Philipp Eng BMW M8 GTE GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:56.408
13 15 7 Bruno Spengler BMW M8 GTE GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:56.212
14 18 4 Nick  Tandy Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:56.578
15 20 24 John M Edwards BMW M8 GTE GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:56.762
16 21 25 Connor De Phillippi BMW M8 GTE GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:56.709
17 22 53 Riley Dickinson Porsche 911 RSR GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:57.214
18 23 11 Tony Kanaan BMW M8 GTE GTE 32 -2 L 0 1:57.129
19 26 77 Parker Kligerman Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:57.586
20 16 96 Robby Foley BMW M8 GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:56.317
21 25 119 Gregory Liefooghe BMW M8 GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:57.265
22 19 68 Julian Santero BMW M8 GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:56.686
23 29 17 Michael Ogren BMW M8 GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:58.038
24 24 15 Augusto Farfus BMW M8 GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:57.127
25 13 86 Matthew Mcmurry Dallara P217 LMP2 31 -3 L 0 1:50.082
26 27 98 Michael Lewis Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:57.956
27 28 198 Mason Filippi Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:58.180
28 31 61 Alec Udell BMW M8 GTE GTE 31 -3 L 0 1:57.878
29 30 91 Dylan Murry Porsche 911 RSR GTE 30 -4 L 0 1:58.678
30 34 3 Randy Sellari Ferrari 488 GTE GTE 25 -9 L 0 2:01.608
31 11 19 Parker Chase Dallara P217 LMP2 24 -10 L 0 1:49.162
32 33 911 John Tecce Porsche 911 RSR GTE 9 -25 L 0 2:00.176
33 32 16 Ryan Hardwick Porsche 911 RSR GTE 7 -27 L 0 2:00.299
34 8 333 Nicholas Boulle Dallara P217 LMP2 6 -28 L 0 1:48.992

 

The IMSA iRacing Pro Series presented by Simcraft continues on Thursday, April 22 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and will stream across iRacing social media channels at 6:30PM ET. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Image via Evan Posocco

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