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- Category: Road Racing
By: Mike Sullivan/RaceCanada.ca
July 13, 2024
July 13, 2024
On the drop of the green, Jack Hawksworth took the pole sitting Toyota to lead immediately, but it didn’t take long afterwards for contact on the opening lap to send the #57 Winward Mercedes driven by Bryce Ward (Daniel Morad) into the wall in turn 2. A coolant leak would put the car out on the spot.
Under the ensuing yellow, the #98 Hyundai of Mason Filippi (Mark Wilkins) was in the pits to repair a puncture, taking two tires and back out without losing a lap.
In TCR Harry Gotsacker (Robert Wickens) took the lead from the Audi of Chris Miller’s Audi, with Sam Baker in 3rd.
Lap 9 was a tough one for the BHA Audi’s as Miller took the lead from Gotsacker and Filippi in the sister car went a lap down.
On lap 14 the #6 Honda of Jon Brel came in, looking to be without drive. Standard fueling is happening, along with some work in the cockpit and they were back out, albeit 2 laps down.
At the 40 minute mark, with minimum drive times met, the pit stops began, the top three in both classes, Hawksworth, de Quesada and McAleer in GS and Miller, Gotsacker and Baker in TCR all stayed out.
At the 55 minute mark, the GS leaders come down pit lane, Jaden Conwright taking over the Toyota from Jack Hawsworth with Jesse Lazare getting into the McLaren in place of de Quesada, with Conwrigth coming back out in 10th, Lazare in 11th.
Quickly following the GS pit stops were the TCR pitstops got under way, with Sam Baker the first of the leaders to come in, and handing the 3rd placed Audi over to his father, Dean Baker who came back out in 7th place.
On lap 42, an hour in, the #33 Hyundai came in, with Gotsacker handing over to Robert Wickens. A great job in the pits got Wickens out in the lead of the TCR class.
The next lap saw the sister BHA Hyundai come into the pits, with Filippi handing over to Mark Wilkins.
On lap 44, at 1 hour and 5 minutes, the Twooth Porsche pulled off on the back straight with no drive, bringing out the full course yellow.
A couple of GS cars chose to pit under the yellow, with the Motorsports In Action McLaren getting past the Conwright Toyota, while Trent Hindman kept the Porsche 718 on track to take the lead of the race. The top 8 runners all stayed out, leaving Lazare in 9th and Conwritght in 10th. This would be the turning point in the race as neither the McLaren nor the Toyota would be able to get back to the front.
The Twooth Porsche that brought out the yellow got a fresh set of tires and a full tank of gas, got back out, 5 laps down.
On lap 50, the Audi got back around Robert Wickens, coming out of 3 and into 4 to take the lead with just over 40 minutes to go. Karl Wittmer and Dean Baker remain 3rd and 4th.
With just 27 minutes to go, TCR leader Mikely Taylor pulled the Audi off in turn 5, handing the lead to Robert Wickens, followed by Karl Wittmer and Dean Baker.
The final half hour didn’t change much, the length of the yellows helped ensure that the GS cars that didn’t stop for a splash would be able to run to the end, and that Motorsports In Action McLaren and Hattori Motorsports Toyota would be mired in the mid-pack, hoping the leader would need a spalsh before the end. Lazare would end up the top Canadian in 9th, followed by the JMF Mercedes of Jesse Webb in 10th, Justin di Benedetto and Travis Hill, after running out of fuel came home in 22nd in GS.
At the checkered flag, Trent Hindman gave him and Steven McAleer the win, never having to pit, while Robert Wickens maintained the lead he took after the Audi pulled off to grab his first win of the season. Karl Wittmer followed Wickens home, keeping him honest to the checkered flag, into second place, while Dean Baker brought the Baker Racing Audi home in 5th, with Mark Wilkins fighting from a lap down to 6th, with the Brel/Montour Honda coming home 7th. It was a great day for Candian drivers, standing on the top two steps of the podium, and taking 3 of the top 5 places.
The Michelin Pilot Cup is back in action next at Road America, Aug 1-4.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: Mike Sullivan/RaceCanada.ca
July 13, 2024
July 13, 2024
Michelin Pilot Challenge
Saturday opened with qualifying for the Michelin Pilot Challenge, with the BHA Hyundai's of first Mason Filippi (Mark Wilkins) then Harry Gotsacker (Robert Wickens) taking a place at the top of the timing charts, with Gotsacker taking the top spot with just under 5 minutes to go, and holding on to capture the pole.
Mason Filippi (Robert Wilkins) eventually slipped to 3rd, following the Audi of Chris Miller in 2nd.
Sam Baker slotted the Baker Racing Audi that he’ll share with his dad into 4th place, while Dai Yoshihara put the first of the Montreal Motorsport Group Honda’s into 5th while the sister car of Jon Brel (LP Montour) ended the qualifying session in 10th.
With IMSA splitting the qualifying session by class, the GS cars took to the track after the TCR’s and Michael de Quesada (Jesse Lazare) was the top Canadian car qualifying second. Michai Stephens (Jesse Webb) guided the JMF Mercedes to 9th, while Bryce Ward (Daniel Morad) was a bit disappointing down in 13th in the Winward Mercedes, with Justin di Benedetto & Travis Hill starting shotgun on the field in 23 spot in class. (See separate article HERE for the race report)
IMSA VP Challenge Race 1
Jagger Jones immediately jumped around pole sitter Steven Aghakhani at the drop of the flag, while Woolridge slotted into third on a very clean start. Jones checked out on the field from there opening a 10 second lead over pole sitter Aghakhani 15 minutes into the race, and never looked back. Woolridge was able to maintain a 5 second gap to Aghakhani, but was unable to put any pressure on throughout the race.
Early on the race settled in, with the top 5 in the P3 class all opening up comfortable gaps on the trailing drivers, as was the case in GSX, only Jack Polito keeping Lazare honest with a gap hovering around 1.5 seconds.
20 minutes into the race, unlike the P3 race, Polito began to put pressure on GSX leader Lazare, closing the gap to under second, while maintaining a lead of 4+ seconds over third place Luca Mars.
Lap 16 and the McLaren of Lazare slowed and came to a stop, leading to the first yellow of the race, and handing the GSX lead to Jack Polito.
It also eliminated all the gaps in the P3 class, which had led to some pretty routine lapping, without any of the lead drivers under pressure. Unfortunately, going back to green didn’t change much, as Jones eased away from Aghakanhi.
With 10 minutes to go Eddie Killen got into the inside wall in turn 10 bringing out the second yellow of the race. There was a quick response by the AMR Safety Team (as always) but there seemed to be some concern for the driver as he wasn’t out of the car as quickly as we would have liked to have seen. We’ll try to update this as soon as we know anything.
And with the response teams at corner 10, the final 10 minutes was run under yellow giving Jack Polito his first IMSA win in the GSX class, and Jonathan Woolridge another podium in the P3 class. In post race tech inspection, the #87 of Jagger Jones was found to be outside of spec on it’s camber measurement, so he was disqualified, elevating Aghakhani to the win and Woolridge to second.
Mazda MX 5 Cup
Qualifying got under way on time after the lengthy issues that ended the VP Challenge race early, with superstar-in-the-making Connor Zilisch qualifying second behind Aaron Jeansonne. The lone Canadian in the field, Jonathan Neudorf qualified 10th.
Just a quick reminder, Connor Zilisch is 17 years old. Already in 2024 he’s signed on with Trackhouse Racing as a development driver, won twice in IMSA LMP2, at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and again at the 12 hours of Sebring, won an MX5 Cup race at Mid-Ohio in June and twice in the ARCA Menards series, at Dover and Iowa. Maybe superstar-in-the-making is a bit passe, he may already be there.
Race
As usual, the MX5 Cup race was one of the most exciting of the weekend, with the lead changing almost every lap. In the end, rookie Westin Workman came out on top, followed by Jared Thomas and Connor Zilisch. Canada’s Jonathan Neudorf came home in 9th. Race 2 goes after the WeatherTech race on Sunday, the green flag scheduled to fly at 2:30pm.
WeatherTech Sports Car Series
Next up after the MX5 Cup qualifying was final practice for the headliners, the WeatherTech Sports Car series.
In this weekend's top class, LMP2, the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca took advantage of Cadillac GTP star Renger Van Der Zande work putting the team second in final qualifying, a tick over a tenth of the quickest lap of the session, laid down by Felipe Fraga in the #74 Oreca.
It was another tough session for the Canadian GTD Pro teams, with the 3 Candian cars taking up the last 3 spots in the session, with the #65 Multimatic Mustang in 7th, the #9 Pfaff McLaren in 8th and the #64 Mustang in 9th, the three cars all in the 1.5 seconds off the pace range.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: IndyCar
July 12, 2024
July 12, 2024
Newton, Iowa – Twenty-seven NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers had a lot to learn Friday at Iowa Speedway, and they had a short time to do it.
Friday’s 90-minute practice was the lone such session of the weekend as the series prepares for a pair of points-paying races: the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET and the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade on Sunday at noon ET.
Both races will air live on NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network and on TSN+ in Canada.
The drivers spent Friday learning how to navigate the track’s freshly paved corners that have made lap times significantly quicker. Additionally, there are nuances to using INDYCAR’s new hybrid technology for the first time on an oval track. The energy recovery system made its series debut last week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a road course race won by Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
Finally, there is an adaption to Firestone’s right-side tire compound that is different than what the field tested at the .894-mile short oval last month. And if that wasn’t enough, INDYCAR mandated a 10 percent reduction in downforce that has teams trying new chassis setups.
It added up to an adventurous practice, with no less than six drivers having tense moments, most in the latter part of the session.
The car of Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson took right-side damage after he lost control of the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda in Turn 3. The impact was first with the right rear, then with the right front. The winner of the 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge was not injured, but the accident happened on just his fourth lap of practice, which meant he won’t get another lap until Saturday’s qualifying session.
“Really strange,” Ericsson said of losing control. “I was so comfortable … a massive setback.”
Katherine Legge also had to scramble at that end of the track. Her No. 51 e.l.f. Cosmetics Honda of Dale Coyne Racing was passing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda driven by Christian Lundgaard in Turn 4 when the car began to slide. The driver who last raced at this track in 2012 was able to keep the car off the wall, preventing damage.
Santino Ferrucci saw his No. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet push nearly to the wall in Turn 4. Moments later, Agustin Canapino lost control of his No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet in Turn 2 while following Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. Neither car touched the wall.
Returning to pit road, Canapino took light contact from Scott Dixon and his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon said he mistook Canapino for the team’s sister car, driven by Romain Grosjean, and didn’t realize Canapino was pitting. Again, neither car took significant damage.
Finally, as the session was ending, Scott McLaughlin spun his No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet off Turn 4 as Legge did. He, too, got away without damaging the car.
“That proves to kids growing up, like don’t give up if you’re spinning,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said he lost control as a result of trying the outside lane, a part of the track where the older surface doesn’t have as much grip. That’s also where excess tire rubber builds up, he said, something all drivers will have to watch for in the races to come.
McLaughlin finished with the session’s fastest lap at 185.891 mph. He will be one of the drivers trying to break Helio Castroneves’ track-record speed of 186.809 mph set in 2014 when NTT P1 Award qualifying is held Saturday at 3:45 p.m. ET (Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Each car-and-driver combination will get two timed laps, the first lap determining the starting position for Race 1 and the second establishing grid position for Race 2.
Other drivers to watch are series leader Alex Palou, who had the second-fastest lap in Friday’s practice in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and O’Ward, who drives the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. They turned laps of 185.536 and 184.154 mph, respectively.
David Malukas (No. 66 AutoNation/Arctic Wolf Honda of Meyer Shank Racing) and Alexander Rossi (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) rounded out Friday’s top five at 184.112 and 183.784 mph.
Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet) won both of these races last year. His quickest lap Friday ranked 15th.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: Mike Sullivan/RaceCanada.ca
July 12, 2024
July 12, 2024
Near perfect conditions met the crowd at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Friday morning as the annual IMSA Chevrolet Grand Prix got underway with the VP SportCar Challenge.
VP Challenge
In a strong showing for Canadians, Jonathan Woolridge finished the session in third spot, behind Jagger Jones and series points leader Steven Aghakhani.
Meanwhile in the GSX class, the series name for GT4 cars, Jesse Lazre in the MIA McLLaren, who entered the weekend in second place in the points, lead the way, followed by long-time FEL and Ontario Formula 1600 contender Jack Polito in his beautiful Ford Mustang gave Canadian drivers a 1-2 sweep in the class.
Practice 2 for the VP Challenge came immediately after lunch, giving the teams another session and a couple of hours to sort things out before qualifying later in the afternoon and was almost a carbon copy of the morning session.
In the P3 class, Woolridge was again the third quickest, while Lazare once again led Politio to Canadian 1-2 sweep in the GSX (GT4) class.
The VP Challenge gets the racing underway tomorrow with Race 1 getting underway at 8:50am, available to Canadians live on IMSA.tv.
MX5 Cup
In Mazda MX5 Cup, often the most exciting racing of any weekend they are on track, Grande Prairie, Alberta’s Jonathan Neudorf is the lone Canadian in the series, coming into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park knocking on the door of the top 10, sitting 12th in points. In opening practice for the weekend, Neudorf went one better, finishing the session in 11th.
Second practice for the MX5 Cup saw Neudorf end up 14th, while 17 year old phenom Connor Zilisch, who can already counts wins in LMP2, Mazda MX Cup and ARCA Menards competition in 2024, ended up 4th quickest.
Qualifying goes at 9:55am while race 1 caps off the day tomorrow at 5:00pm, available live on IMSA.tv
Pilot Challenge
Michelin Pilot Challenge took to the track after the MX5’s, and this series is loaded with Canadians, with 5 drivers in 4 cars in the GS class, including the all-Canadian entry of the #22 Porsche 718 of Twooth Autosport and drivers Travis Hill (who led this race for a number of laps last year) and Justin di Benedetto.
The TCR class features a pair of all-Canadian entries with the Montreal Motorsport Group Honda of LP Montour and Jon Brel and the Baker Racing Audi of father and son duo Dean and Sam Baker. Defending TCR champ Robert Wickens is in the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai, along with BHA team mate Mark Wilkins in the #98 sister Hyundai. It wouldn’t be a Canadian sports car race without at least 1 Wittmer present, this weekend it’s Karl in the #93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic.
In opening practice in the GS class, the #69 McLaren of Jesse Lazare set the fastest time. Next quickest Canadian was Daniel Morad in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes in 4th, 4 tenths back of the pole time. The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes of Michai Stephens and BC’s Jesse Webb finished up 8th, just over 5 tenths back, while the #22 Twooth Porsche of Justin Di Benedetto and Travis Hill rounds out the Canadians in GS clocking the 19th quickest time in GS and 25th quickest overall, with Di Benedetto at the wheel.
In TCR Dean Baker made it a sweep for Canadian drivers setting the quickest time, with Mark Wilkins team mate Mason Filippi taking his BHA Hyundai to third, 3 tenths off the quick time of Baker. LP Montour put the was close behind in 4th in the Montreal Motorsports Group Honda and Karl WIttmer a tenth behind his team mate in 5th. Robert Wickens teammate Harry Gottsacker was a further tenth behind in 6th, putting all 5 Canadian drivers and their teammates in the top 6.
In the final GS practice of the day, the Jesse Lazare Motorsports In Action McLaren with Michael de Quesada at the wheel slipped to 4th quickest, The Jesse Webb Mercedes managed 8th again, while the Morad Mercedes slipped back to 11th place and Twooth Audi of di Benedetto and Hill clocked in again at 19th.
TCR saw Karl Wittmer put the Montreal Motorsport Group Honda up to 2nd, Harry Gotsacker moved the #33 Hyundai, shared with Robert Wickens, up to 3rd, LP Montour in the second Montreal Motorsport Group Honda was 4th, Mason Filipi, teamed with Mark Wilkins, ended the session in 7th, while Sam Baker took over the #52 Audi finishing 9th.
Qualifying for the Michelin Pilot Challenge opens the day tomorrow and gets underway at 8:00am, with the race going green at 1:25pm and available for Canadian viewers live on IMSA.tv
WeatherTech Practice
Practice for the feature WeatherTech race saw mixed results for the Candians. In the top class for the weekend, P2, Canadian content was slim, with only John Farano and his Tower Motorsports team, but they put in a solid session and found themselves 2nd fastest, a mere .003 behind only the AO Racing team’s similar Oreca machine.
GTD Pro was not as encouraging for the Canadians. With no drivers in this class, all the Canadian content comes from a couple of teams, a pair of Multimatic Mustangs and the plaid Pfaff Mclaren. Unfortunately they finished 7th, 8th and 9th in the 9 car GTD field, although less than 1 second covered the entire field.
In GTD, top Canadian was Kyle Marcelli in the Lamborghini Huracan in 3rd, followed by Roman DeAngelis in 5th (both Marcelli and DeAngelis being former Brian Graham Racing drivers in the Ontario Toyo Tires F1600 Championship in years gone by). Orey Fidani’s teammate Matt Bell put the AWA Corvette in 6th, while sometimes Canadian (and another former BGR driver) Misha Goikhberg putting the team’s Lamborghini 7th. Mikael Grenier’s teammate Mike Skeen put the Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes in 11th in the 13th car field.
WeatherTech practice 2 gets underway at 10:35am while qualifying goes tomorrow starting at 4:00pm.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service
July 11, 2024
July 11, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida – The “I” standing for “International” in IMSA is highlighted this weekend when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship visits Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
IMSA-sanctioned sports car racing is a hugely international affair, with 18 participating auto manufacturers representing six nations. But the Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend at the historic venue colloquially known as “Mosport” is IMSA’s only event staged outside of the United States.
Located about 60 miles east of Toronto’s city center, CTMP is a fast and flowing 2.459-mile road course that has been a favorite of drivers and racing fans since 1961. It’s unique on this year’s WeatherTech Championship slate because the field will be comprised of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes, with Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) taking a summer holiday.
The three days are loaded with action, featuring a card that also includes the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin. Here’s what to watch for:
LMP2 Is Number 1
It may not be obvious at first glance, but every GTP car in the WeatherTech Championship is based on an LMP2 chassis from approved suppliers. Porsche uses Multimatic, Cadillac and BMW are with Dallara, Lamborghini with Ligier and Acura with ORECA, whose LMP2 07 chassis has become the choice of almost every LMP2 class competitor.
Because LMP2 cars are smaller and lighter than the complex hybrid-powered GTP class entries, the performance gap between GTP and LMP2 is surprisingly small – about three seconds a lap at most tracks. LMP2 cars also achieve their performance differently, with less straight-line velocity countered by higher cornering speeds.
The GTP pole time in 2023 at CTMP was 1 minute, 5.653 seconds. The LMP2 lap record is 1:06.315 – less than a second’s difference. It’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because weight and power regulations for LMP2 cars have been modified in recent years to maintain a performance separation between GTP and LMP2. But make no mistake, an LMP2 prototype is an extremely capable racing car.
Just ask Colin Braun, the driver who set that LMP2 track record in 2018. Not only that, Braun and Jon Bennett drove to the overall win for CORE autosport that weekend in a 12-car Prototype class field that included four LMP2s and eight Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars.
Six of Braun’s 24 IMSA race wins have come at CTMP, including last year, when he and Tom Blomqvist took the overall victory in a GTP-class Acura ARX-06 for Meyer Shank Racing. This year, Braun will be back to compete for the overall win, teamed with George Kurtz in the LMP2 class No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07.
“I think it’s neat what IMSA has done to give this class a spotlight race where they can compete for the overall win,” said Braun. “That makes it fun for us as teams and good for our sponsors and partners, and just brings some awareness to how great the racing is in the LMP2 class.
“I think oftentimes there are some storylines that go untold or unseen because there’s so much good racing in IMSA right now. You can’t cover everything, so it will be great to showcase what the competition is all about because it’s a heck of a class.”
Wickens Homecoming
Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker are the defending champions in the Touring Car (TCR) class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge. But theirs was a winless title campaign, and it’s been a full two years since Canadian favorite Wickens (No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR) last tasted victory. It came during the Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend in 2022, at a venue the Ontario native considers a home track despite having rarely raced there throughout the course of his varied and successful career.
“I raced there in Formula BMW in 2006, and then I did a (Formula) Atlantic race as a one-off in 2009,” Wickens said. “Apart from that, I was racing overseas in Europe and the stars never aligned where I could race in a series that came to CTMP (until the 2022 win). Although I feel I know the track like the back of my hand from watching it all the years, I actually don’t have much on-track experience.”
Wickens and Gottsacker finished second at CTMP in 2023. They rank third in this year’s TCR class standings, 310 points behind Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor, who have driven the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR to wins in four of five races.
Championship Chases
LMP2 features the closest championship battle in the WeatherTech Championship, with Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga (No. 74 Riley ORECA) leading Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel (No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA) by just six points, though Stuart Wiltshire is subbing for Merriman this weekend.
It’s a three-team battle in GTD PRO, with Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich (No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R), Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3), and Ross Gunn (No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) in a 60-point cluster. Philip Ellis and Russell Ward (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT3) have an impressive lead in GTD, with four wins in five races to build a 305-point cushion over Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3).
Canadians In BOLD