The weather might have been changing by the hour at Road America for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Weekend in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin but the determination of Idemitsu-sponsored No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi RT24-P tandem Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell remained steadfast.
From practice session to race day, the team was admirably consistent. No. 55 Mazda was quickest under the rain on Friday’s practice session, qualified for Q3 on Saturday, and on the two-hour and 40-minute sprint race day on Sunday, they remained in the top four, even running third in the waning laps.
With only over three minutes remaining, it started to rain on the 4.048-mile high-speed track. Despite the hurdle, Tincknell muscled through to the second position and cruised to the podium within roughly a second and a half behind the race winner.
It was a tight Weathertech Championship Battle at one of America’s most beloved road courses, with the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports pairing just having two points further back. Jarvis said that they are very pleased with P2 at Road America. He commended his partner and said their team was flawless throughout.
“I think we maximized everything today. We are going into the remaining three races in a great position. P2, podium—we’re leaving Road America very happy,” he said.
Harry shared that they experienced a struggle at first, but Olly did a fantastic job to set him up, and they maintained position and fought with the lead cars.
“There was a critical moment with the No. 10 car—who was fairly aggressive on the defense. We had a little bit of contact. Thankfully, I was able to overtake and we pushed on to P2. In the end, this P2 earns us great points in the championship, it gets us back on the road with the podium,” Harry narrated.
Despite the challenges posted by Mother Nature for the competitors, and the campers onsite, it was an amazing weekend when the best of the best cars were showcased—rain or shine.
The winning tandem’s next stop is the IMSA Sports Car Championship at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in September.
