2017 Northeast Grand Prix



The 2017 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 22, 2017. The race was the eighth round of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background
IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the Northeast Grand Prix was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the twenty-sixth annual running of the race. The 2017 Northeast Grand Prix was the eighth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, and was the fifth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the seven-turn 1.530 mi Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut on July 22, 2017. For the first time since the 2009 running of the event, the PC class would not be competing.

After the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix one week earlier, Antonio García and Jan Magnussen led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 182 points, ahead of Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims with 179 points, and Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with 172 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 203 points, ahead of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 195 points. Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries
A total of 25 cars took part in the event split across two classes. 8 cars were entered in GTLM and 17 in GTD. In GTD, Alex Job Racing returned after skipping the previous round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Patrick Long joined Daniel Morad in the Alegra Motorsports entry. TRG made their first appearance since the Circuit of the Americas round. Jesse Krohn joined Jens Klingmann in the Turner Motorsport entry.

Practice
There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The two one-hour sessions were on Friday afternoon.

Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 12:05 pm ET on Friday and ended with Dirk Müller topping the charts for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, with a lap time of 51.077. Jörg Bergmeister was fastest in GTD.

Practice 2
The second and final practice session took place at 2:25 pm ET on Friday and ended with Gianmaria Bruni topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 50.601. Madison Snow set the fastest time in GTD.

Qualifying
Friday afternoon's 40-minute two-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put GTLMs ahead of GTD cars.

Qualifying was broken into two sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Madison Snow qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 48 car for Paul Miller Racing.

The final session of qualifying was for the GTLM class. Gianmaria Bruni qualified on pole driving the No. 912 car for Porsche GT Team, besting Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry.

Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.


 * The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Articles 43.5 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver) and (Change of starting tires).
 * The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Articles 43.5 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver) and (Change of starting tires).
 * The No. 50 Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).
 * The No. 23 Alex Job Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Post-race
The result kept García and Magnussen atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 211 points, 7 points ahead of sixth-place finishers Auberlen and Sims. The result kept Balzan and Nielsen atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Sellers and Snow advanced from sixth to fourth. Chevrolet and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with four rounds left in the season.

Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Standings after the race

 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.