Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix July 5-8, 2018

This July Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) welcomed back the WeatherTech SportsCar Series for the Mobile 1 SportsCar Grand Prix. The weather was perfect for race weekend and the track experienced a 20% increase in ticket sales for the event. Race fans really love this event as do the drivers, as all the comments indicated that it was a fast, difficult course that demanded total commitment. A very challenging course.

Race weekend was actually kicked off on the Wednesday evening in downtown Toronto with a few of the different series cars on display, a driver autograph session and pit-stop demos from the #4 Corvette C7.R Team at Yonge & Dundas Square.

Racefest pit stop challenge

Race day was set up with the #54 Core autosport Oreca LMP2 driven by Colin Braun getting the pole position for the Prototype class. In the GT Le Mans class Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR got the pole. Jack Hawksworth took the pole position in the #15 Lexus RC F GT3 in the GT Daytona class.

The #54 car started the race in the last position as they chose to have Jonathan Bennett start the race instead of Colin Braun thus taking the penalty of having to start at the back of the field and relinquishing the pole position to the #6 Acura Team Penske driven by Dane Cameron.

Colin Braun/Jonathan Bennett #54 Core autosports ORECA LMP2 (race winner)

The race was quick and intense with a number of yellow flags due mainly to spinouts in

corner 5 and in the last 1/2 hr of the race a tire came off the #6 Acura driven by Juan Pablo Montoya.

The #54 Core autosports ORECA LMP2 piloted by Jonathan Bennett and Colin Braun drove amazingly well to come from last place to win the race in dramatic fashion followed by the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Jordan Taylor and Renger Van Der Zande finishing a close second. Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran took 3rd and the last podium spot driving the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi.

Pole sitter and race winner Colin Braun #54 Core autosport ORECA LMP2 (Prototype P)

Kyle Marcelli/Dominik Baumann #14 3GT Racing Lexus, Ben Keating/Joroen Bleekemolen #33 Mercedes-AMG GT3

Colin Braun #54 Core autosport ORECA LMP2 (prototype P)

In the GTLM class, Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe drove their #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT for the victory by perfectly timing a pit-stop when Montoya lost his tire and pulled into the pits just before a full course yellow and making it out right behind the safety car and into first place. In second was the #3 Corvette Racing C7.R piloted by Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. The #4 Corvette Racing C7.R driven by Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin took the 3rd position.

Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia #3 Corvette Racing C7.R (GTLM Class) (Finished 2nd)

In the GTD class, the #33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 won the race driven superbly by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen. They were followed by the quick #14 Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Canadian Kyle Marcelli and Dominik Baumann. Third place was won by the #44 Audi R8 LMS GT3 driven by Andy Lally and John Potter. GTD class leaders Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow finished 4th in their #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Alvaro Parente and Katherine Legge in the #86 Acura NSX GT3 finished 5th leaving Katherine Legge in second place in the series standings only 3 points behind the leaders.

Nick Tandy/Patrick Pilet #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR

Justin Marks/Lawson Aschenbach #93 Acura NSX-GT3 (GTD Class)

Katherine Legge/Alvaro Parente#86 Acura NSX GT3 (GT Daytona Class)

Ben Keating/Joroen Bleekemolen #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 – GTD race winner

Tequila Patron ESM:

Sahlen’s six hours of the Glen was terribly hard on the ESM team having had 3 engine failures at the race. This only allowed the team to bring one car, the #22 Nissan DPi to the Mobile 1 SportsCar Grand Prix. They had Pipo Derani and Ryan Dalziel driving the car. Ryan qualified in 8th position with a time of 1:07.524. The start of the race went well and Ryan moved up 3 positions to 5th and held that position for almost 1/2 of the race. With 1hr and 48 mins remaining and Pipo Derani driving, the car started to have some engine problems, Pipo pulled into the pits twice and the crew tried to fix the problem. Pipo did the best he could, but ultimately the #22 succumbed to mechanical issues.

Ryan Dalziel #22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi

Pipo Derani #22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi

It was a disappointing result for the #22 team, as they have always raced well at the CTMP track. Last year Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel in the #2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi finished on the podium in 3rd position, and have won the race prior to that as well.

#22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi

This week in stunning news, Tequila Patron announced that they will leave the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the end of this season, ending both being a series and team sponsor.

The ESM team is “working on scenarios” to stay in IMSA after the exit of Tequila Patron.

Let’s hope that they find a solution as ESM is a superb team with great drivers and we fondly look forward to seeing them compete in 2019.

Old Faces, Exciting racing:

In addition to all the intense racing, this weekend we also saw many racers that over the years have raced in many other series. Several former IndyCar/Champ car/Formula1 etc. racers were present and having a blast. The likes of Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Christian Fittipaldi, Sebastian Saavedra, Katherine Legge and Ryan Briscoe to name just a few. Surprisingly, despite all the combined international racing experience, this was the first outing on the CTMP track for Castroneves and Montoya! After his first practice run on Friday, Castroneves was quoted as saying that this track was not Mosport (it’s former name), but “WOWsport”! The fans would also agree.

Katherine Legge #86, Acura NSX GT3 (GT Daytona Class)

Juan Pablo Montoya

Helio Castroneves

Helio Castroneves #7 Acura DPi

These fine gentlemen and ladies provided some thrilling racing….from the hard hitting crash by Castroneves during practice on Friday, to all the spins and thrills by others. Corner 5 proved to be the undoing of many of the racers, the Safety Team and the Marshals were kept busy all weekend.