South African Stephen Simpson continued his strong season in the US WeatherTech IMSA Prototype championship with a fighting sixth in the Chevrolet Sportscar Classic at Detroit’s Belle Isle street circuit aboard the JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca-Gibson on Saturday.
Simpson and Russo-Canadian teammate Misha Goikhberg enjoyed a strong race, qualifying third and running second early on before Simpson ran fifth, but a brave overtaking move did not pay off and the duo slipped to sixth at the end. “I’m proud of the JDC Miller Motorsports Team,” Stephen admitted. “We came into the race weekend having learned more about our car from the previous race at COTA.
“Belle Isle was one of our shorter races of the year, lasting just an hour and 40 minutes and it really was flat out for that whole time. “My team mate, Misha made a great start and his performance was strong, but all in all a sixth place finish was not what we’re after, but we know we are up against very strong competition and we continue to relish the challenge.
“We head to the next race at the classic Watkins Glen Grand Prix circuit in a few weeks and we look forward to continuing to improve as we edge closer to that elusive race win…”
Simpson and Goikhberg continue to sit fourth in the IMSA WeatherTech championship and best of the non-Cadillacs behind those seemingly indomitable machines headed by former SA Driver’s Champion Wayne Taylor’s sons, Ricky and Jordan who remain undefeated in five races this year.