Bowmanville, Ontario - Chris Green saw his comfortable lead evaporate due to a late-race caution period, but he pulled away in a one-lap shootout to win Round 1 of the 2015 Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin on Saturday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Green, from Montreal, drove the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to victory by .660 of a second over Marco Cirone, from Toronto, in the No. 88 Mark Motors Racing Porsche. Daniel Morad, from Thornhill, Ontario, finished third in his first sports car start in the No. 22 Alegra Motorsports entry, 1.148 seconds behind Green.

"The car was fantastic, and I had nothing to complain about," Green said. "I cruised home, and it was a very good car prepared by my Pfaff Motorsports team."

Tim Sanderson, from Pickering, Ontario, finished fourth in the No. 07 Northwest Atlantic Motorsports Porsche. Rookie Harry Steenbakkers, 17, from Ottawa, rounded out the top five in the No. 78 Mark Motors Racing Porsche.

Orey Fidani, from Woodbridge, Ontario, was credited with the victory in Gold Cup in the No. 13 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. The top two finishers in the class, Jerimy Daniel and Martin Harvey, each were penalized one lap after the race due to infractions found in post-race technical inspection.

Green's winning margin was deceptive. He led Cirone by 5.676 seconds with seven minutes remaining in the 45-minute race when Carlos de Quesada spun in Turn 9 and crept forward before stopping at the exit of Turn 10, triggering the only full-course caution of the race.

The field bunched for a one-lap shootout, with the green flag coming just 41 seconds before the time limit for the race. Green accelerated hard to the start, dove into Turn 1 in the lead and never was threatened by Cirone or Morad during the final trip around the fast, flowing, 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit.

"I just focused on keeping the car on track knowing that I had to get the best out of the Michelin tires that we had," Green said. "So I drove it home."

Green finished runner-up in the Platinum Cup championship in 2013 and 2014, so the victory provided a perfect jolt of momentum as he pursues his first title in the series.

Cirone maintained a lead over Morad ranging from seven-tenths of a second to 1.7 seconds during the race as they managed their fuel loads and tires and navigated traffic. Morad was unable to close on Cirone during the final lap after the restart, but he still earned a podium finish as he reignites his racing career in sports cars after racing in Europe in A1GP and GP3 from 2008-10.

"I have been out of the car for about four years now, and I am just happy that I made it to the end of the race," Morad said. "Awesome experience. I needed to get to the end and understand more about the car and the Michelin tires.

"The Michelins are an amazing tire, and they will last all the way through the race, and that's something I need to learn throughout the season. My expectation is to race with these guys (Chris Green and Marco Cirone) and learn from them and see how it goes throughout the races, and eventually start pushing a little bit more for race wins."

Platinum Masters

Two-time reigning Platinum Masters champion Cirone opened the defense of his title with another victory in the class.

He qualified second overall and held that position for the entire race, keeping Morad at bay for the entire race.

"Daniel (Morad) was behind me, and he just wouldn't make a mistake," Cirone said. "Every time I looked in my mirror he was there. So there came a point in time where I just moved the mirror away because I didn't want to be distracted. I just tried to drive a mistake-free race."

Sanderson passed Etienne Borgeat for fourth place overall with 26 minutes remaining and pulled away to keep that spot and preserve second in Platinum Masters in his No. 07 Northwest Atlantic Motorsports entry. It was the first Platinum Cup start for Sanderson, who climbed to the class after winning the Gold Cup championship last season.

Keith Bass, from Tampa, Florida, finished third in his first Platinum Cup start in the No. 28 SB Racing Porsche. Bass jumped to Platinum Cup after finishing second in the Silver Cup championship in 2014.

Gold Cup

Fidani was credited with the Gold Cup victory in his first start in the series. Fellow series debutant Michael De Quesada, from Odessa, Florida, finished second in the No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche.

De Quesada, 15, managed the impressive result despite turning no laps in practice or qualifying Friday. His Porsche needed repairs from damage in a crash during testing Thursday at CTMP. De Quesada is the son of Platinum Masters mainstay and 2013 Gold Cup champion Carlos de Quesada.

Daniel, from Candiac, Quebec, was credited with third place in the No. 75 TRC Porsche.

Up Next

Round 2, a 45-minute race, is scheduled to start at 10:55 a.m. (ET) Sunday. For live updates on all the action, follow @IMSALive on Twitter. For live timing, visit scoring.imsa.com.

For more information about Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin, visit www.imsa.com, follow hashtag #GT3CAN @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.

ROUND 1 POST-RACE QUOTES:

CHRIS GREEN (No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports, winner): "It was a comfortable lead. The car was fantastic, and I had nothing to complain about. I cruised home, and it was a very good car prepared by my Pfaff Motorsports team. The restart kind of gave us a surprise considering the pace car went by on the second-to-last lap and the man on the start-finish line gave us one lap to go under yellow. So when the pace car turned off its lights, it was a bit of a wake-up call as I wasn't keeping my tires up to temperature as I should have. But I just focused on keeping the car on track knowing that I had to get the best out of the Michelin tires that we had. So I drove it home."

MARCO CIRONE (No. 88 Mark Motors Racing, second, first Platinum Masters): "I think I had a really good race. Unfortunately I just couldn't keep up the pace of Chris Green. He was running just a few tenths faster, and he is an incredible driver and it's going to be so hard to compete with him this year, but I am going to give it my best shot. Daniel (Morad) was behind me, and he just wouldn't make a mistake. Every time I looked in my mirror he was there. So there came a point in time where I just moved the mirror away because I didn't want to be distracted. I just tried to drive a mistake-free race. I just want to thank my team. They gave me an amazing car, and I want to thank Mark Motors for giving me the opportunity to be here along with everyone at Porsche, Michelin and IMSA."

DANIEL MORAD (No. 22 Alegra Motorsports, third): "This whole deal came together at the last minute. Literally the first phone call with myself and Alegra was about two weeks ago. So I am really, really fortunate. I have been out of the car for about four years now, and I am just happy that I made it to the end of the race, to be honest with you. Awesome experience. It's my first sports car race. I needed to get to the end and understand more about the car and the Michelin tires. The Michelins are an amazing tire, and they will last all the way through the race, and that's something I need to learn throughout the season. My expectation is to race with these guys and learn from them and see how it goes throughout the races, and eventually start pushing a little bit more for race wins. This is my fourth day ever in a sports car, so some of these guys over here have a little more experience than me. But I am going to learn as much as I can from them. Chris (Green) and Marco (Cirone) are amazing drivers, and it's such a cat-and-mouse game. I can't be more happy right now with Porsche Center Oakville and the guys from Alegra Motorsports."

TIM SANDERSON (No. 07 Northwest Atlantic Motorsports, second Platinum Masters): "Had a really good start, and I was able to get around Carlos (de Quesada) right after corner 1, going into corner 2, and he was on my butt the whole way. Not sure what happened with Etienne (Borgeat). It looked like he had some problems because we all ended up chasing him down a bit. After that, we kept the pace and hit our points and finished well. We are happy with our finish today."

KEITH BASS (No. 28 SB Racing, third Platinum Masters): "It's fantastic to run in Platinum. You can tell the car has advanced quite a bit, and it's a lot of fun to drive. It was a blast today. The track is fast and a little slippery today, so I spun down in the hairpin, but collected it back together, and we did OK."

OREY FIDANI (No. 13 Pfaff Motorsports, winner Gold Cup): "The car felt good for the first 10 laps and then after that it got a little squirrely in the rear with understeer, but we pulled it together for the end of the race. Hopefully we can get it on the pad tonight and get it squared away for tomorrow. I know a little bit more about what to expect, and I feel a lot more comfortable now than what I did going into the race, so we are just going to push harder and try to be faster tomorrow."

Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin

The Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin enters its fifth season in 2015 ready to produce more intense, exciting competition for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world's most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned championship is one of 20 global Porsche single-make Cup Racing series and is the perfect platform for aspiring drivers to ascend to the highest levels of GT competition, such as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Racing is divided into two classes - Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014 and 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the seventh, and current, generation of the street car; and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in the Platinum class. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.

ABOUT IMSA

The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 with a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, as well as four single-make series: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama; Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin; Ferrari Challenge North America; and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. IMSA - a company within the NASCAR Holdings group - is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected TUDOR Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.