Return to Home Page

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

IMSA WeatherTech's Mobil 1 SportsCar GP preview

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads north of the border this weekend, 7/4 - 7/7, for the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented By Acura at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park a fast 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course. The two-hour and 40-minute Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Acura will feature 36 cars spread across all four classes. The Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class features 11 entries, with two LMP2 machines, eight GT Le Mans (GTLM) class entries and 15 cars slated to compete in the GT Daytona (GTD) class.

In DPi for the first time in WeatherTech Championship history Mazda enters a race weekend as a winner after taking the top two spots at the Sahlen's Six Hours of Watkins Glen. Last weekend's race winners Harry Ticknell and Jonathan Bomarito share the No.55 Mazda RT24-P while Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez will be in the No.77 Mazda RT24-P.

Acura Team Penske will field Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron in the No.6 Acura DPi and Helio Castroneves along with Ricky Taylor in the No.7. Montoya and Cameron were riding a two race win streak prior to being bested by the Mazda's at "The Glen".

Fresh off their fourth-place finish at Watkins Glen the No.10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R duo of Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande make their annual trek north of the border. Last year’s much-needed runner-up finish at CTMP featured a race-high 71 laps led by Taylor and van der Zande and was the team’s fourth podium finish in five visits there. A 2015 victory from the pole by Taylor and his older brother Ricky Taylor was sandwiched by third-place finishes by the Taylor brothers in 2014 and 2016. Another victory in the 2017 event appeared to be imminent as the Taylor brothers led another race-high 73 laps before an incident in the closing laps relegated them to a seventh-place finish

“We always love going back to Canada." said Jordan Taylor "Konica Minolta has a huge group of people there who come out and support us for the event, which gives us a huge boost. We’ve had a win and a few other podiums there, so hopefully we can get back to the top step this year. Mosport is probably the most intense track we go to all year. It’s super high-commitment, high-speed and very narrow, so when we go there with multiclass racing like we have here in IMSA, it makes for a very stressful event. But that’s what makes it exciting. We’ve been going to Mosport as a family for probably 20 or 25 years. I don’t actually remember the first time I went there, but I’ve seen pictures. As a driver, I’ve been going there since 2009. It’s always a fun place to go back to and I think no track suits our Cadillac better.”

Mustang Sampling Racing will be looking to get back on the podium. Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa will share the No.5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. They are coming off a sixth-place finish at "The Glen" and are looking to regain the magic that saw them win on the streets of Long Beach in April. Mustang Sampling Racing’s best finish at CTMP was in 2016, when Barbosa and Fittipaldi finished second after starting fourth.

“I think it’s going to be very interesting this year with the new Michelin tire, and we’ll be going even faster through those corners,” Albuquerque said. “Last year, we were lacking a little in top speed. This year, we have a little more balance. It’s a hard track to pass, and with the traffic, it’s kind of wild. Hopefully, we can do a little bit better than last year, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Whelen Engineering Racing looks to build on its solid record at CTMP. Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani will co-drive the red and white No.31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R in the two-hour, 40-minute race. The team has finished on the podium in all four of its visits to the Canadian road course winning in both 2016 and 2017 while finishing second in 2015. Last year, Nasr co-drove with Eric Curran to a third-place finish after starting 12th, Nasr’s only race at the circuit. The team is coming off a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Nasr lost several laps in the opening moments of the race when he punctured a tire and was stranded in a gravel trap, with the team battling the rest of the way to salvage a decent finish.

“Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is one of the old-school tracks on our calendar,” Nasr said. “It has very fast, flowing corners that I really enjoy, especially in our DPis that really carry a lot of speed through the corners. Mosport is quite technical, as well. We have downhill braking for a double-right hander with very slow speed, where it’s important to get a nice exit for the last sector. I’m looking forward to it. I feel we have a good package all around for that track.”

Juncos Racing's No. 50 with Will Owen and Victor Franzoni, JDC-Miller Motorsports' Simon Trummer, Stephen Simpson, Misha Goikhberg and Tristan Vautier fill out the Cadillac DPi field with the No.84 and No.85.

Last year’s race at CTMP was a landmark race for CORE autosport. After starting from the back, the team came through to win its first race overall in the Prototype class. This year CORE autosport is looking for more of the same. There are major differences between 2018 and this year’s race; most notably a different car and different tires. What remains the same is Jon Bennett and Colin Braun’s love of the ultra-fast CTMP circuit and CORE’s mission of flawless execution.

“Colin and I both look forward to CTMP every year." said Bennett "The circuit is a very high-speed and flowing track, which I enjoy to compete on, but also I think it plays to the strengths of our car. We’ve got the mechanical from Watkins Glen figured out and hopefully we’ll pick up a strong finish in Canada."

The Performance Tech Motorsports No.38 ORECA of Cameron Cassels and Kyle Masson along with the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports' No.52 ORECA of Matthew McMurry and Dalton Kellett make up the LMP2 field.

In GTLM after four straight wins, the Porsche GT Team travels to Canada as the leader of the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ Championships. In the driver’s seat of the factory cars, the winners of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Six Hours of The Glen races, Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, will share the No.911 Porsche 911 RSR. The pair currently ranks first in the Drivers’ Championship. Their works driver colleagues in the No.912 sister car, Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor, are just one point behind the leaders after their victories at Long Beach and Mid-Ohio. Pilet and Tandy won the race in a Porsche 911 RSR in 2015.

“In the 2015 season, Nick and I won the race in Canada; last year we narrowly missed out on another victory." said Pilet "One thing is certain: Porsche always performs strongly on this very special racetrack. Most of the drivers love the circuit because it feels like a roller-coaster, incredible fast and demanding. Since overtaking is very difficult here, it’s particularly important to qualify well. We want to start from the front of the grid and stay at the front.”

Corvette Racing as it heads north of the border following an up-and-down weekend at Watkins Glen. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, teammates in the No.3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, have solid momentum heading to CTMP. The 2014 GTLM race-winners are a run of four consecutive podium finishes in their search for a third consecutive GTLM Drivers’ championship. A runner-up finish last weekend at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen vaulted them to a tie for second in points, although they are more than eager for their first victory since 2017.

On the flip side, Oliver Gavin will drive the No.4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with CTMP first time racer Marcel Fässler. One of the team’s endurance drivers, Fässler fills in for Tommy Milner, who suffered an injured hand in an opening-lap crash at The Glen. The incident also forced the team to rebuild the No.4 Corvette for the second time in three weeks. Following Fässler’s heavy crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Corvette Racing was forced to switch to a different C7.R chassis for Watkins Glen. Milner had qualified third before being hit from an overtaking car on the third turn of the race. It caused substantial damage but the Corvette Racing team completed all repairs Monday ahead of the trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Gavin last won at CTMP in 2013 with Milner and is a four-time winner at the track.

"I wish my first race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was under different circumstances." said Fässler "We all feel bad for Tommy but I think everyone at Corvette Racing knows we still have a job to do. This track is one I have always wanted to race on. It has a great reputation around the world going back to the Formula One days. I have heard from the other drivers how fast and exciting a lap around CTMP is in the Corvette. I’m looking forward to experiencing that and helping all of Corvette Racing toward what we hope is another GTLM championship."

BMW Team RLL fields two BMW M8 GTEs for Jesse Krohn, Tom Blomqvist and Connor De Philippi, Edwards. Ford Chip Gassing Racing will have a pair of Ford GTs for Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook.

In GTD Lexus and AIM VASSER SULLIVAN (AVS) head north of the border to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park which is approximately an hour away from the team’s race shop in nearby Toronto. Jack Hawksworth and Richard Heistand have teamed up to score victories in the first two GTD sprint races behind the wheel of the No.14 Lexus RC F GT3 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in May and at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park in June. The No.12 Lexus has also had success in both sprint events finishing fifth and third, respectively, with co-drivers Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo. The Lexus RC F GT3 returns to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the third time in IMSA competition. The Canadian road course is the location of the first North American pole position for the RC F GT3, which was set by Sage Karam with a track-record time in 2017. Last season, the Lexus RC F GT3 earned a podium result with a second-place finish by former drivers Dominik Baumann and Kyle Marcelli.

The Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini squad will turn its attention to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend. Bryan Sellers and Ryan Hardwick are third in the points after the opening two rounds at Mid-Ohio and Detroit. The team finished third here in 2016 and just fell short of the podium last year. The 1st Phorm / Total Lubricants-backed team is hoping to bounce back after a disappointing weekend at Watkins Glen. Sellers, Hardwick and Corey Lewis failed to make the finish after suffering a driveline issue.

“We’re just coming off Watkins Glen where we’ve left the guys with a lot of work to do in addition to the regular race prep." said Sellers “Luckily for us we have the best guys in the business and so they were able to get started straight away before the race at Watkins Glen ended. Last week we had a very strong race car and if the car is good at Watkins Glen, it’s generally good at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. So I’m excited to get there, it’s a cool track and always a great event with the fans and I think that we’re progressing in the right direction, we just need a little bit of luck and so hopefully this will be the race where it turns around.”

Two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs will compete. The customer team Pfaff Motorsports No.9 tackles its home round with the Canadian drivers Scott Hargrove and Zacharie Robichon. The two racers have split the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama championship three of the last four years with Porsche Selected Driver Hargrove taking the title in 2015 and 2017 while Robichon won the series – which exclusively uses the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in 2018.

“The race will be very special for us, as it’s the only home event of the year for Pfaff Motorsports." said Robichon "The racetrack is only about an hour’s drive from our team headquarters. We expect huge support from the fans. Scott and I are very familiar with our Canadian racetrack, so we should have a good chance in front of home crowds.”

Porsche works driver Patrick Long will share the cockpit of the No.73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with 2018/2019 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGTE-Am class champion Patrick Lindsey in Bowmanville. Long is a two-time winner of the race with Porsche having taken the top step of the podium in 2005 and 2010.

“The only foray to neighboring Canada is always a great pleasure for us every year." said Long "The track, which still goes by the historic name of Mosport among the fans, is one of the quickest and most traditional in the whole world. The teams and drivers come under huge stress, you need a car with a lot of downforce and you have to have complete trust in it. We’ll try to qualify as far up the grid as possible, because there are very few places to overtake here.”

Coming off of a big victory at "The Glen" last weekend, Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) heads straight into the CTMP race weekend. Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman will link up in the No.86 SiriusXM Canada Acura NSX GT3 once again as they have now built a 16-point lead in the GTD championship standings heading into the race weekend (116-103). It’s been three years since Farnbacher has raced at CTMP but he has shown strength at the circuit, starting on the outside pole in his most recent outing in 2016. Hindman will be running off of the momentum of his first IMSA WeatherTech win at Watkins Glen as he will make his inaugural IMSA WeatherTech start at CTMP.

“This past Sunday was fun to let go with the team to celebrate our win at the Watkins Glen, but there isn’t really much time at all to let it sink in as we’re thrown right back into the fire this week at CTMP." said Hindman "This was a challenging event for MSR last year, but there’s a ton of new confidence in the NSX GT3 Evo package at high speed, high commitment circuits such as CTMP. The Meyer Shank Racing guys have done a phenomenal job extracting the most performance possible out of this package, and I think we’re all focused on throwing another victory up on the board for 2019.”

Katherine Legge and Bia Figueiredo will team up in the No. 57 Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank RacingCaterpillar Acura NSX GT3 for the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix presented by Acura at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) this Sunday. Legge and Figueiredo are coming off a strong fourth-place finish at the Shalen’s Six Hours of The Glen after starting from the front row. This will be their first race as a duo as they look to continue the momentum Heinricher Racing has built coming into the Acura-titled event. Legge earned a 2017 podium with Meyer Shank Racing at CTMP with the Acura NSX as well as a top five finish in the most recent edition of the event.

“After showing we were fast at Watkins Glen, I’m really looking forward to CTMP,” said Legge. “It’s a really great track that should suit our Acura NSX GT3 well. I’m also looking forward to partnering with Bia for the race. She did such a great job in Watkins Glen and hopefully we can get that elusive podium in Canada.”

WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil and Toni Vilander are ready run at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend. The team is coming off of a podium finish just five days ago at Watkins Glen. In addition, the Le Mans momentum of third is fueling MacNeil and Vilander as the IMSA season begins its second half. The downforce of the Ferrari 488 and the driver's familiarity with the circuit will be the key to a successful run on Sunday.

Michelin heads to CTMP set to supply DPi/LMP2 competitors with 10 sets of IMSA Hard tires for the weekend. GTLM competitors have 10 sets of their proprietary GTLM range and GTD competitors have 7 sets of the MICHELIN Pilot Sport GT S9M commercial tires. A total of 10 tractor trailers with roughly 5,000 tires will be on site at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The Balance of Performance gods were kind to most teams this week. The Corvettes gained 10 kg., the GTD Acura gained 20 kg. and the Lexus GTD gets 4 more liters of fuel.

For those watching on some sort of device the broadcast schedule is as follows:

Sat. July 6

WeatherTech Championship Qualifying - 11:25 AM to 12:40 PM EDT - IMSA.TV

Michelin Pilot Challenge Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 - 1:45 PM to 3:55 PM EDT - IMSA.TV

Prototype Challenge - Round 4 - 4:20 PM to 7:30 PM EDT IMSA.TV

Sun. July 7

Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented By Acura - 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM EDT - NBC

Entry list - Weekend Schedule

*Photographs by Blake Blakely

7/05/19

More from Sports Car Illustrated