Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3 were classified tenth in the GTD class in the one-hour-forty-minute WeatherTech series race in Detroit.
Foley had qualified the car on the GTD pole, but an infraction for a camber adjustment that was outside IMSA specs for the race demoted the car to the back of the twelve-car pack for the start. Foley moved up to seventh before handing off to Auberlen. A quick pit stop left Auberlen sixth when he returned to the track; the veteran racer found his way into fifth as the race continued.
Then Auberlen came together with the Acura NSX GT3 driven by Katherine Legge as he made a challenge for fourth. The contact spun the Acura and moved Auberlen up to fourth; no penalty was assessed for the incident.
Then, with a secure hold on fourth, an unspecified mechanical failure led Auberlen to park the car on course with just two minutes left in the race. It was classified tenth in class at the finish. The GTD win went to Jack Hawksworth and Richard Heistand in a Lexus RC F GT3.
Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya in a Penske Acura ARX-05 took the overall and DPi class wins.
The race was plagued with caution periods, with the first yellow flag coming out on the first lap. Overall there were five full-course yellow flag periods; 20 of the race’s 58 laps were run under yellow.
Just the GTD cars and the prototypes ran in Detroit; the GTLM cars will rejoin at the next WeatherTech series race at Watkins Glen on June 30.—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy Turner Motorsport.]
