The easiest way to appreciate something as unique as IMSA’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park comes from speaking with those who are relatively new to the experience.

Full-time GT specialists are accustomed to the crazy celebration of GT racing where IMSA’s factory-rich GT Le Mans class, mixed with Pro-Am GT Daytona teams, collide in a tornado at the Connecticut bullring. But take a few steps away from the sports car lifers, and the brilliance of this weekend’s GT-fest is exposed.

“Lime Rock is only like five corners and 1.5 miles, so will be kind of crazy to figure out how to work with the GTLM cars on such a short lap,” IndyCar-turned-GTD regular Tristan Vautier told RACER. “If you think of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 car we use, it has ABS, big power, and a lot of electronics that make it very fast, so with GTLM and us, there really isn’t that much difference on a track like this.

“We’re close on the straights, they’re faster in minimum speed in the corners, but they don’t really brake later than us because they have no ABS. I don’t see how we’re going to have any separation.”

The 2013 Verizon IndyCar Series rookie of the year is in the midst of his first season-long IMSA campaign with the SunEnergy1 Racing team, and continues to maintain a presence in the open-wheel series. Coming off a starring performance in last month’s Firestone 600 IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway where he qualified fifth and led 15 laps, Vautier can speak to racing at frenetic speeds and taking major risks in pursuit of victory.

Although it might sound like a night-and-day difference, Vautier says trading 215mph on the Texas oval for Lime Rock and its endless traffic jam won’t be a step down in intensity.

“That’s the thing that will be kind of mental to deal with,” he said. “The GTLM cars are faster than us in the corners, but really, only in those places, so they will divebomb you the whole time into the corners. And when they do that, you try not to get pushed off the track and lose time, and you don’t want to get in their way, but you can’t give up track position and ruin your race. So you go into all these corners thinking like it’s a fistfight. You want to always be the guy that never loses, but it is hard when you always are under attack.”

3GT Lexus Racing driver Jack Hawksworth, who made the GTD transition after completing the 2016 IndyCar season with A.J. Foyt Racing, has found similar experiences as a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship regular.

“I absolutely love it,” he said. “There’s never a lap where you aren’t dicing or having a good scrap with someone. It’s been learning a new style of driving, dealing with the extra weight of a GT car, new tires with the Continentals, but getting the most out of the car and the intensity of the GT racing makes a weekend like what we’re about to have at Lime Rock so much fun.”

Stripping the faster Prototype and PC classes from the mix will not necessarily make life easier for Hawksworth in his Lexus RC F GT3, or the other GTD runners.

“The prototypes get by us pretty easily a lot of the time because they have more power and they’re a lot lighter, so this event will concentrate things a lot on GTLMs and GTDs being on top of each other, really,” he said. “There’s no escaping each other. The GTLMs are 100 percent harder to race against than the prototypes. Nothing about having GTLM cars against GTD cars is going to be easy.”

Even 2012 Indy 500 polesitter and former Team Penske IndyCar star Ryan Briscoe, who made his full-time shift to GT racing two years ago, continues to revel in the madness about to unfold at Lime Rock.

“We love coming to races where we’re the top dogs, so this race is perfect for us,” the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GTLM driver said. “And we’re in a market where there’s massive appreciation for what we’re doing in these GT cars. There will be a huge turnout from people wanting to see these iconic brands having no mercy.”

In addition to racing his Ford GT at Lime Rock, Briscoe has also been fortunate to rocket around the circuit in a Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 car during the American Le Mans Series days. Between the two, it sounds like the GT melee will be more demanding.

“It’s nice not having to check your mirrors all the time for prototypes, but each lap here is super busy,” he added. “One of the key elements is getting through traffic, and it’s easy to lose patience at a small track like this with so many cars. It’s physically demanding with the heat, and it’s never a place you can rest with 50-second lap times. It’s hardcore, but that’s why we love this event.”

One more GT-only event is on the calendar, scheduled for Virginia International Raceway in late August.

“The thing I like most is we get to do this at Lime Rock and then we do it again at VIR,” Briscoe said. “I think it’s becoming a real treat, almost like a tradition, to give the GT cars their own shows. It’s easily become some of the best racing we’ll do all year.”