IMSA VP Challenge: Samantha Tan battles challenging conditions, claims bronze class victory at Mid-Ohio
- LIAM REDFORD
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Samantha Tan continued her positive start to the season in the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge by claiming another bronze class victory at Mid-Ohio, driving maturely in wet conditions and bouncing back from a technical issue in race 1 following her best qualifying effort to date.
Samantha Tan continued her positive start to the season in the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge by claiming another bronze class victory at Mid-Ohio. The Canadian racer achieved her best qualifying position to date with a third-place effort, before a technical issue led to a late-race retirement in race one. In wet conditions in race two, Tan drove maturely to claim the bronze class victory while finishing fourth overall in the GTDX class.
Following the first two rounds of the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge, Tan has established herself as a consistent frontrunner. Competing in the GTDX class for GT3 specification machinery, Samantha has finished all four races inside the top-5 overall while securing a best result of fourth coming in race two at Circuit of the Americas. The ST Racing driver also claimed both bronze class victories in Texas and was now targeting a spot on the overall GTDX podium.
With Mid-Ohio having not featured on the calendar for either GT World Challenge America or GT4 America in recent years, Tan had to rely on her experience of the circuit from her past Pirelli World Challenge appearance almost 10 years ago. Therefore, reacclimatising to the challenging circuit was her main priority in the two practice sessions which were held on Friday.
In the first session of the day on Friday morning, Tan completed 18 laps and was the quickest driver in the GTDX class through the short sector one. Her fastest time of a 1:23.218 was fourth fastest overall, while the ST Racing driver was quickest in the bronze class. In session two, Tan improved by one and a half seconds as the Canadian racer set a quickest lap of a 1:21.711 which again placed her in fourth position within GTDX.
Qualifying at Mid-Ohio took place on Saturday morning and was a short fifteen-minute session which the GTDX cars shared with the LMP3 machines. Tan build up her speed throughout qualifying before setting a number of fast and consistent times to end the session. Her quickest lap of a 1:20.845 marked another significant improvement from the second free practice session and placed her in third position within class and quickest of those in the bronze class.
The opening race of the weekend took place later that day with Tan lining up from third position in GTDX. As the race got underway, Adam Adelson got the jump on the run down into turn four and claimed the final step on the podium with Tan settling into fourth. Nonetheless, Tan held the bronze class lead and immediately broke clear of Vincent Barletta. By the end of lap two, her gap to Barletta had grown to over two seconds and this was aided by Tan setting the fastest sector one time in the GTDX class on lap three.
Following two separate incidents in the GSX class, debris was scattered on the circuit and this resulted in a full course yellow period on lap six. When the race resumed, Tan began battling an intermittent technical issue with the brakes and this allowed Barletta to move ahead at the restart. After dropping five seconds back from the Turner Motorsport driver, the gap stabilised and Tan set a personal best time on lap 14.
Two laps later, David Hampton spun and with his GSX class machine beached in the gravel, the race entered a second full course yellow period. The race restarted with fifteen-minutes remaining and Tan continued to battle technical issues as she lost touch with Barletta on the restart. As the race entered the closing stages, her pace once again improved and by lap 24, she was within two seconds of Barletta ahead.
Following a personal best time on lap 27, she had cut the gap to just three-quarters of a second as Tan mounted a late challenge. With just two laps remaining, Tan had an off-track moment at turn four as a legacy of the technical issue with her brakes and as a result, w, she pulled her BMW M4 GT3 into the pit lane. This was an unfortunate end to a race in which Tan showed excellent speed, however she was still credited with points for finishing fifth in the GTDX class.
For the second race of the weekend on Sunday morning, the conditions had changed dramatically at Mid-Ohio with heavy rain and a wet track. As a result, the drivers fitted the grooved tyres and an additional lap was completed behind the safety car before the green flag was displayed. Tan made a clean start in spite of the limited visibility and retained fourth position in GTDX, while also holding onto the lead in the bronze class.
The extremely treacherous conditions were particularly difficult for the powerful GTDX machines as therefore the leading GSX runners were able to pass Tan, while also closing in on the GTDX leaders. As the temperatures and pressures climbed, the GTDX cars were able to match the GT4 specification machines and this created an additional challenge for all the drivers. Tan used her experience to pull out a margin over bronze class rival Barletta behind and by lap six, the gap had increased to almost five seconds.
At the head of the GTDX field, Jake Walker had a number of off-track moments with Adam Adelson claiming the lead in his Wright Motorsport prepared Porsche 911 GT3. Tan however, remained on the circuit and steadily improved her times as she acclimatised to the wet conditions. As the race entered the second half, Barletta began closing in before the race entered a full course yellow period after P3 class driver Brian Thienes hit the barriers.
The restart came with seven minutes remaining and Tan did a good job to build a small margin to Barletta behind while avoiding the spinning RAFA Racing P3 machine of Corey Lewis. Tan was now faster than the GSX cars ahead and as the race entered the final lap, she had put two of these machines between herself and Barletta.
A strong end to the race saw Tan match her best overall result of the season as she finished fourth in the GTDX class, while holding off Barletta for the bronze class win. Despite the difficult conditions, Tan drove maturely and banked valuable experience in the multi-class series.
Racing at Mid-Ohio for the first time in almost a decade, Tan showed competitive speed in both wet and dry conditions. Her third-place qualifying effort was a particular highlight and she was unfortunate not to stand on the overall GTDX class podium.
The ST Racing driver will be aiming to add to her bronze class victory tally when the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge returns at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario on the weekend of July 12th/13th.
