GT3 / 20 August 2018

NSX GT3 pace proven in IMSA and GT Masters

Katherine Legge closed in on the lead of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship as she and Mario Farnbacher took the NSX GT3’s sixth podium finish of the season at Virginia International Raceway.

The British driver was involved in a heart-stopping three-way fight for victory that went down to the final lap of the two-hour, forty-minute event and finished third for Meyer Shank Racing after switching positions with just two corners to go.

The result; which came from eighth on the starting grid, means she retained second place in the Drivers’ Championship, but reduced her gap to the top spot from 19 points to 13 with three races to go.

MSR’s #86 NSX GT3 is second in the Teams’ Championship while Acura holds second in the Manufacturers’ points table.

Having started seventh, the sister car of Justin Marks and Lawson Aschenbach lost a lap within five minutes of the start due to an unscheduled pitstop, but clever strategy got them back onto the lead lap and a quick two-tyre change allowed them to take over first place into the final hour.

Sadly, after being barged out of the lead by a rival driver with 30 minutes remaining, the pace of the car – on worn rubber – was affected and slipped to ninth. They are seventh in the GTD points table.

The pace of the NSX GT3 was further proved by Honda Racing Team Schubert Motorsport as ADAC GT Masters visited the legendary Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands.

Christopher Dreyspring impressed greatly to set the fifth-best time in Friday practice, qualified the car 17th for the opening race and rose to 12th by the end of his stint.

Co-driver Giorgio Maggi took over and finished 16th, meaning the pair were the second all-junior crew across the finish line.

Maggi qualified 32nd the following morning, but started well to make up three places during his stint. Dreyspring showed excellent racecraft to make several passing moves and climb to 22nd overall – and fourth of the juniors – by the finish.

The pair are the third-best-placed all-junior crew in the championship for young drivers.

All three cars were competing as part of the NSX GT3 Customer Racing Programme; a global collaborative project with JAS Motorsport responsible for assembly of all cars.

Honda Performance Development (HPD) and M-TEC handle sales and technical support in North America and Japan respectively, with JAS responsible for these areas across the rest of the world.

Stefano Fini, JAS Motorsport NSX GT3 Project Leader, said: “The battle for the IMSA GTD title is one of the closest in any GT3 competition on the planet, so naturally we’re very proud to see the NSX GT3, a car we have been closely involved with since its creation, in the fight, and back on the podium after a couple of tough races. The race pace of the car in ADAC GT Masters was also excellent and we saw the Schubert team able to make up significant ground in both races when they had clear track, and to continue developing two very promising junior drivers.”