Nasr made light work of treacherous wet conditions in qualifying to claim his first pole of the season, and immediately stamped his authority on the two-hour-and-40-minute race.
A strategic ploy by the Meyer Shank Racing Acura team saw Olivier Pla and Dane Cameron out in front for much of the second half of the race, but their hopes were pinned on the arrival of more inclement weather, which had been forecast to arrive during the final stages.
When that failed to materialise, Cameron required an extra pitstop for a splash of fuel with around seven minutes remaining.
The American was able to resume in fourth, ahead of the Wayne Taylor Racing’s similar Acura ARX-05, driven by Rick Taylor and Felipe Albuquerque, but slowed on the final lap to allow the Portuguese past and gain an extra 20 points to assist in their championship quest.
The late switch means that Taylor and Albuquerque now lead the Nasr and Derani pair by just 41 points, with three races remaining.
Nasr and Derani, who won at Watkins Glen last month, took the chequered flag a little more 1.5 seconds clear of the Mazda squad of Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell, who now slip to third in the standings, just two behind Nasr and Derani.
Kevin Magnussen and Renger van der Zande finished third in Chip Ganassi’s Cadillac.
In the LMP2 class, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel took the spoils for Era Motorsport, while Jon Bennett and Colin Braun emerged comfortably ahead of the LMP3 field for Bennett’s Core Autosport operation.
#79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR – 19, GTLM: Cooper MacNeil, Matt Campbell
Photo by: Bill Gulker
In the GTLM class, Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell teamed with Cooper MacNeil to score a well-judged victory for the Proton Competition team, its second win of the season.
Campbell made his final pitstop with just over an hour remaining and was able to eke out the fuel to finish well clear of the two favoured Chevrolet Corvettes of Jordan Taylor/Antonio Garcia and Nick Tandy/Tommy Milner.
For the second time in three years, the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R swept up in the GTD class, with Zach Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor leading home the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen.
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