Porsche, Acura remain atop IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar manufacturer standings

Porsche and Acura held tight to the No. 1 spots in the GTLM and GTD manufacturer standings following the Lime Rock race weekend.

In GTLM, Porsche owns a 24-point advantage over Ford, which moved past Chevrolet for second in the season standings on the strength of the No. 67 Ford GT’s win on Saturday.

Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber finished in the GTLM class with their No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR. Their brand colleagues Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy finished fourth place in the No. 911 car.

“Ford gambled with three pit stops and won this time,” Bamber said. “I can only congratulate them. We’re satisfied with second place, because this position earns us critical points towards the championship. The race was fantastic, on the whole.

“There were fierce fights from start to finish, with several changes at the front and spectators were treated to a great show.”

In the battle for second place in the GTLM manufacturer standings is hotly contested, with Ford, Chevrolet and BMW separated by a mere four points.

In GTD, Acura nudged its lead to seven points thanks to the second-place finish by the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing entry of drivers Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman on Saturday. 

“The biggest thing for me was thinking about the championship,” Hindman said. “Obviously, it’s a little bit disappointing that we didn’t come home with a win, but (Farnbacher) did an unbelievable job all day. Same thing with the Meyer Shank Racing crew — I think we had a fantastic car for the entire race. 

“Big thanks to the MSR guys, Acura and HPD, for all their efforts. We’ve got four more opportunities to try to bring home some more wins, and we’re certainly going to go for it.”

The top five manufacturers are close, with Acura (184 points), Lexus (177), Lamborghini (176), Porsche (168) and BMW (165) all within 19 points of each other for the GTD points lead.

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