By: Ostella Racing
July 6 2017 

Bowmanville, Ontario - David Ostella is hopping into a Prototype Class car as he returns to the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship at the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Ostella will be driving the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports LMP2 entry at his 3.957-km (2.459-mi.) home track in front of friends and family. The Maple, Ontario native said he is excited and thankful for the opportunity.

"Being back in a Prototype is something I've been wanting to do - especially with Bobby [Oergel of PR1] - after my first race in a Prototype Challenge car with him at Sebring," Ostella said. "This is a LMP2 car, so I'm going to need some test laps since I have never driven one before. I'm excited to be back with IMSA and on the endurance side of racing as I've always felt it suited my driving style."

Ostella last paired with Oergel's PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in 2013 at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It was the former open-wheel racer Ostella's first experience at pit stops, driver changes and multiclass racing. After over seven hours in the car during the race, Ostella was immediately hooked on sports car racing as he helped lead his team to a victory in the famed 12-hour race.

He went on to pilot a Porsche GT3 Cup car for the 2013 season in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada with SpeedMerchants Motorsports, taking home two wins and nine podium finishes to clinch the Platinum Cup championship.

The Canadian driver then hopped back into a Prototype Challenge car for Performance Tech Motorsports for the 2014 season, finding the podium twice that year.

Ostella's most recent experience has been in the World Challenge SprintX GT championship, where he finished second in Sportsman Driver points for the 2016 season.

Ostella returns to his home track with PR1 for this weekend's event after having just been at CTMP in May with World Challenge.

"Another great thing about this weekend is that Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is my home track, so I have plenty of experience on it," Ostella said. "This will allow me to focus mainly on learning the limits of what this LMP2 can do. Plus, all of the support from my friends and family will help too as they're coming to cheer me on!"

You can catch the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix action live on FS1 from noon to 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 9.

Schedule (All times ET):

Practice: 11:20 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. and 3:55 - 4:55 p.m. Friday, July 7, 9:20-10:20 a.m. Saturday, July 8
Qualifying: 1:20 - 1:35 p.m. Saturday, July 8
Warm Up: 8:50 - 9:10 a.m., Sunday, July 9
Race: 12:05 - 2:45 p.m., Sunday, July 9

Race Coverage:

Live Streaming: Follow the live race stream at IMSA.tv
Twitter: Live text commentary from all sessions at @IMSALive

For more information on all IMSA competition - or to access IMSA Radio, which will have live streaming of all practice sessions, qualifying and the race - visit IMSA.com.

For the latest updates follow on Ostella Corsa on Facebook and Twitter at @DavidOstella.