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International Motor Sports Association    Lamborghini Super Trofeo series

International Motor Sports Association 

super trofeo series

 

  www.imsa.com 

photos courtesy Imsa

About the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)

International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, as well as four one-make series: Ferrari Challenge North America, Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – 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 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Inter Europol’s Dillmann, Clarke Deliver Pole, Win Double at CTMP

Frenchman Scores Redemptive LMP2 Win 


 

July 12, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – For Tom Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke and Inter Europol Competition, a win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix helped add a positive memory to its CTMP memory bank after a tough 2025 ending. 


 

This race is both the only Canadian round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and also the only one that highlights the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) full-season competitors in a headlining role. 


 

In 2024, Dillmann teamed with Nick Boulle to take the overall and LMP2 class win at the daunting road course located just northeast of the Greater Toronto Area in a car entered by Inter Europol with PR1/Mathiasen. It set the pair on the path to win that year’s IMSA LMP2 championship. 


 

But last year, Dillmann was leading late in the race when a mechanical issue caused a high-speed accident that left the Frenchman with two fractured vertebrae – from which he quickly recovered. 


 

This year’s running of the 2-hour, 40-minute IMSA sprint race that again featured LMP2 as the headline class provided the Inter Europol team with a much happier memory.


 

Clarke set a new LMP2 lap record, eclipsing a mark that stood for seven years, en route to the Motul Pole Award. 


 

Then once Dillmann took over the No. 43 ORECA LMP2 07, he completed a mix of great passes and smart strategy to cross the line 9.796 seconds ahead of Alex Quinn in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA he shared with George Kurtz. 


 

Dillmann missed just one WeatherTech Championship race after the back-breaking trip to CTMP in 2025, the following round at Road America. Since then, he’s racked up three second-place IMSA finishes (at the ’25 TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Motul Petit Le Mans and the 2026 Rolex 24 At Daytona International Speedway), as well as the LMP2 class win at June's 24 Hours of Le Mans. 


 

All those wins came for the multi-faceted Inter Europol organization, which has now achieved 2026 race wins in IMSA, Asian Le Mans, European Le Mans, and FIA World Endurance Championship competition. 


 

But Sunday’s triumph was particularly special.


 

“Going into the weekend, it didn’t change anything for me; I always want to win,” Dillmann said. “But now after the fact, I can see it’s a cool story.


 

“When you win Le Mans, the season is already a success,” he added after his third career WeatherTech Championship race win. “But I really wanted a great (result) for Jeremy and for the team here in the U.S. We had a good Daytona, but since then, things didn’t go our way.


 

“There was quite a bit of pressure to get a good result today, and I’m really happy we managed to get a win and are back in the championship fight.”


 

Quinn and Kurtz took over the lead of the LMP2 standings after four of seven races, but Clarke and Dillmann moved from fourth to second, 70 points back. All four rounds of the championship have featured a different winner.


 

Clarke ran the first stint at CTMP, leading the opening 34 laps and able to control the race from the front. The Inter Europol car clearly had the pace, but the potential always exists in WeatherTech Championship races for a surprise result, especially if there is a late-race caution.


 

This year’s Chevrolet Grand Prix ran fairly clean for most of the race, with only a pair of brief safety car periods in the first hour.  


 

The timing of the cautions didn’t work in Inter Europol’s favor, but Dillmann took over shortly thereafter and was able to pass Quinn on track cleanly for the lead. The No. 43 car was cleanly out front for the final hour, turning in a superior final pit stop to lead 93 of the 127 laps completed.


 

“We executed everything perfectly,” said Clarke, who now owns two IMSA race wins in 10 starts. “Qualifying on pole yesterday built a lot of confidence, and I had a great start and a great first stint to maintain my fuel target and the traffic behind. 


 

“A couple teams went off strategy, and we wanted to make sure we kept on top of that,” he continued. “But Tom had everything under control and was able to do his thing.”


 

“The team is always very strong here,” Dillmann added. “Today they did a perfect job. I knew passing Alex would be a tough task, but I managed to do it, and we had the pace to bring it home.”


 

Quinn and Kurtz admitted they were second best on a day when Inter Europol had the legs on the field.


 

“Jeremy and Tom did a great job, so congrats to them,” Kurtz said. “When you look at this race, it’s high commitment and a lot of things can go wrong. To come out with second place and the points lead, we did exactly what we needed to do. The car was awesome and we couldn’t be happier coming out of here with the points lead.”


 

PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron finished third in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 and also lie third in the championship, 81 points behind Quinn and Kurtz.


 

All four classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be back in action July 30 – August 2 for the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The six-hour race also will be the fourth of the season's five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races.

 

Vasser Sullivan Lexus Ticks the Canadian Box with CTMP GTD PRO Win

Winward Mercedes-AMG Back on Top in GTD


 

July 12, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results

 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – A short fill on a pit stop proved the ultimate key to success for Vasser Sullivan Racing’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3, which won its second consecutive Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) race in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.


 

The team made its first stop 42 minutes into the two-hour, 40-minute Chevrolet Grand Prix race, flipping from Jack Hawksworth to Ben Barnicoat, but didn’t need a full energy top off. Its pit lane time of just 46.179 seconds proved beneficial from a track position standpoint.


 

After finding his way to second place, Barnicoat made a move on Nikita Johnson’s RLL Team McLaren No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO for the lead. From there, the No. 14 Lexus then stayed out front for 78 of the final 118 laps en route to win by 1.993 seconds.


 

“It was a really impressive day from the team,” Hawksworth said. “The guys were awesome. The strategy was amazing. Good start to the race, good first pit cycle.


 

“Ben did an amazing pass there on the McLaren to get the lead, and then really just mega job from all these guys at Vasser Sullivan.


 

“That was a real well-executed race. Perfect strategy and yeah, flawless, really. Awesome. Finally starting to come together. Two in a row, so feels pretty good, and yeah, look forward to the last half of this year.”


 

It’s the 20th win for the venerable Lexus RC F GT3, 18 of which have come by Vasser Sullivan. It is also the ninth different IMSA track where the team has won.


 

Hawksworth and Barnicoat joked after the race that their luck at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park had not been good when starting at the front of the field. It was perhaps a good stroke of luck they started sixth in GTD PRO today before ascending to the lead.


 

They also paid tribute to their strategist, pit crew and engineer Geoff Fickling, who has worked with Hawksworth for the majority of his 15-year racing career in North America dating to his first open-wheel test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the fall of 2011.


 

Strategy also helped propel AO Racing back to the podium for the first time since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May, with Nick Tandy and Harry King finishing second aboard the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).


 

Motul Pole Award winner Neil Verhagen started and finished the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO he shared with Connor De Phillippi, although the car was slightly delayed mid-race following a “hip check” from an LMP2 car exiting Turn 1. Nonetheless, the all-American duo finished third for their third podium and fifth top-five finish in six races.


 

That unofficially puts them 108 clear of the second-placed in points No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R., which finished fourth in the hands of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner. Just 60 points cover second through sixth.


 

Included in that group? The No. 14 Lexus duo, now fourth and just 150 points back of the lead.


 

“After some tough races, we’re just going for wins,” Hawksworth said. “If we keep doing that, the points will take care of themselves.”


 

GTD: Ellis’ Rapid Restart Returns Winward Mercedes-AMG to Winner’s Circle

Philip Ellis has never been shy about making a good passing move or two, and an authoritative restart in his No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Sunday at CTMP was his latest chapter.


 

After starting fourth and running fifth in the opening stint of the race, slick pit work moved the car Russell Ward started up to second. Running second behind Trent Hindman, Ellis got to the lead not long after the second and final restart that occurred with an hour and 47 minutes remaining.


 

Ellis compared the pass to one delivered at Road America last year.


 

“It's just one of those optimistic restarts,” Ellis explained. “It was a little bit of Road America last year where everybody is so tossed up and fighting each other and not really watching the mirrors and just opens the room for me to go through. That's what I did.


 

“I found that it worked out and that everybody paid enough attention to not, you know, bang wheels with each other. So it was just an opportunity. It was a move that worked out.”


 

Ellis brought the No. 57 car to the flag to win by 1.886 seconds over Aaron Telitz, who shared the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 with Benjamin Pedersen. Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished third in the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.


 

As championship leader and polesitter Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello had a penalty assessed to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo on his first pit stop, Roman De Angelis spent the rest of his stint recovering in a form of damage limitation. He recovered the car back to sixth at the finish.


 

That leaves Barrichello now 92 clear of the Telitz/Pedersen pairing with Foley and Gallagher third, 120 back. A rough run of races knocked Ellis and Ward down, but today’s win ensures they’re not out; they’re now fourth and 207 in arrears.


 

There are four GT races remaining in 2026, the next of which is the six-hour Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, July 30-Aug. 2.

 

Unofficial Results, Points & Post-Race Nuggets | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Grand Prix

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Sunday, July 12, 2026

Unofficial Race Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.


 

Unofficial points are available at pitnotes.org/points.

LMP2

No. 43 Inter Europol Competition

  • Second IMSA class win
  • Last win was in March 2025 at Sebring in LMP2
  • First IMSA class win at CTMP in second race
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was 10th (1 times) last in 2025 in LMP2 with car No. 43
  • First IMSA class win in 2026
  • Fourth different LMP2 winner in the past four races (dating back to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in 2025)
  • First win from pole


 

Tom Dillmann

  • 37y 3m 6d from Mulhouse, France
  • Third IMSA class win in 17th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Sebring in LMP2, 7 starts between
  • Second win at CTMP in third start
  • Last win at CTMP was in 2024 in LMP2, 1 track starts between
  • First win in 2026 season in fourth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was second (1 times) last at Daytona in LMP2


 

Jeremy Clarke

  • 40y 0m 7d from Manhattan Beach, CA
  • Second IMSA class win in 10th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Sebring in LMP2, 8 starts between
  • First win at CTMP in second start
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was 10th in 2025 in LMP2
  • First win in 2026 season in fourth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was second (1 times) last at Daytona in LMP2


 

GTD PRO

No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing

  • 18th IMSA class win
  • Second consecutive win following win at Watkins Glen GTDPRO with car No. 14
  • Seventh IMSA class win in GTD PRO
  • First IMSA class win at CTMP
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was third (2 times) last in 2025 in GTD with car No. 12
  • Third IMSA class win in 2026 (Long Beach, Watkins Glen)
  • Second IMSA class win in 2026 for car No. 14 (Watkins Glen)
  • Fourth back-to-back win, first exclusively in GTD PRO (previous back-to-back wins were in GTD or was a GTD win and a GTD PRO win)
  • 20th win for the Lexus RC F GT3
  • 18 of the 20 wins have been by Vasser Sullivan
  • Vasser Sullivan’s seventh different season with multiple wins


 

Jack Hawksworth

  • 35y 4m 14d from Bradford, England, United Kingdom
  • 14th IMSA class win in 112th start
  • Second consecutive win following win at Watkins Glen
  • First win at CTMP in seventh start
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was third in 2025 in GTD
  • Second win in 2026 season in seventh start


 

Ben Barnicoat

  • 29y 6m 22d from Chesterfield, England, United Kingdom
  • Ninth IMSA class win in 47th start
  • Second consecutive win following win at Watkins Glen
  • First win at CTMP in fifth start
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was fourth in 2023 in GTD PRO
  • Second win in 2026 season in sixth start

 

GTD

No. 57 Winward Racing

  • 13th IMSA class win
  • Last win was in January 2026 at Daytona in GTD with car No. 57
  • First IMSA class win at CTMP
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was second (3 times) last in 2025 in GTD with car No. 57
  • Second IMSA class win in 2026
  • Win comes after an average finish of 11.75 over the past four races, their worst 4-race average since 2023


 

Russell Ward

  • 36y 10m 20d from Seabrook, TX
  • 13th IMSA class win in 51st start
  • Last win was at 2026 Daytona in GTD, 4 starts between
  • First win at CTMP in fifth start
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was second in 2025 in GTD
  • Second win in 2026 season in sixth start


 

Philip Ellis

  • 33y 9m 3d from Germany; British nationality
  • 13th IMSA class win in 50th start
  • Last win was at 2026 Daytona in GTD, 4 starts between
  • First win at CTMP in fifth start
  • Previous best finish at CTMP was second in 2025 in GTD
  • Second win in 2026 season in sixth start

 

 

 

Inter Europol Leads the Way in IMSA’s CTMP LMP2 Headliner

Vasser Sullivan Lexus Wins GTD PRO; Winward Mercedes-AMG Takes GTD


 

July 12, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke started first and finished first in their No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07, to capture the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) headlining Chevrolet Grand Prix for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for their first IMSA win of 2026. But how they got there was not as straightforward as that simple statistic.


 

Late-race splashes for fuel nearly upended the running order in the class, as second-to-last stops north of 50 minutes remaining forced teams to either run hard and potentially need the splash or hope for a yellow flag and eliminate the need to pit once more.


 

With green running for more of the second half of the two-hour, 40-minute race, it did come down to pit stops toward the end. As the LMP2 teams nailed their final execution on pit lane, it ensured the drivers’ efforts on track in traffic and racing each other were not wasted.


 

In fact, the No. 43 crew’s stop of 34.269 seconds on pit lane for its final splash was quicker than the rival No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry of 35.470. That allowed Dillmann to stretch his gap over Alex Quinn, who finished second by 9.796 seconds in the No. 04 car he shared with George Kurtz. Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett completed the LMP2 podium in their No. 99 AO Racing ORECA.


 

Strategic execution on pit lane made a key difference in the two GT classes, as well. Slick work from the Vasser Sullivan Racing crew helped deliver Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat their second straight win (Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen) in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), sharing their No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3. 


 

The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO completed the GTD PRO podium.


 

Winward Racing returned to the top of the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) ranks after a difficult stretch of races for their second win of the year (Rolex 24 At Daytona). The win came from a combination of good pit stops and Philip Ellis moving past his GTD rivals after a restart to ensure he and Russell Ward won in their No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. They’re the first GTD entry to two wins in 2026. 


 

Championship contenders Vasser Sullivan Racing with its No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 and Turner Motorsport with its No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO completed the GTD podium.


 

In the Chevrolet Grand Prix, the best-placed of five Corvettes entered in two GT classes was the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R in fourth in GTD PRO. 


 

Across the Canadian drivers and teams in action, none of the five Bronze-rated Canadians made the LMP2 podium. Pfaff Motorsports and 13 Autosport also encountered challenging afternoons in the two GT classes. 

 

Brichacek Bounces Back in VP Racing Challenge Race 2 at CTMP

Ellahi Holds Off Crone in GSX as Workman Win Streak Ends


 

July 12, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Race 2 Results


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Wyatt Brichacek bounced back in a big way in the second of two 45-minute sprint races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the 2026 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season.


 

From pole position, Brichacek – driving the No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 – led the field of Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) cars from the green. Unlike in Saturday’s first race of the weekend, he kept his position in column alignment past the starting line and proceeded to build a more than five-second lead until a full-course caution occurred mid-race for an incident by the No. 77 car exiting Turn 1.


 

Once the race restarted, Brichacek was able to build a gap again to Oscar Tunjo, in his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09. He won by 5.993 seconds.


 

The win is Brichacek’s third in an IMSA LMP3 sprint race in 2026 (swept Circuit of The Americas two-race sprint in February in Toney’s No. 30 car), and fourth overall (won the two-hour IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge at COTA in May in the No. 95 car).


 

“The TDD Ligier is amazing and it's always on point,” Brichacek said. “It's a bit unfortunate yesterday with what happened. We had the pace yesterday, but I'm glad we could show again that this is where we belong on top and it all worked out.”


 

Brichacek has had a busy season racing both domestically and internationally in various sports car series. While not a direct championship challenger to Tunjo as he hasn’t raced all rounds, he’s certainly made his presence felt when he has been in the IMSA paddock.


 

Tunjo was second, extending his championship lead. Bijoy Garg, the 2023 VP Racing Challenge LMP3 champion, finished third in the No. 30 Toney Ligier JS P325.

 

Travis Hill of Ottawa, Ontario won the LMP3 Bronze Cup in his No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325 for the second consecutive day, finishing fifth overall. It capped off a special weekend on home soil where he won both LMP3 Bronze races, closed that class championship gap to 10 points behind Brian Thienes, and raced with his brother Trevor in Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race in their No. 22 Shopify Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.


 

“We’ve got a good championship chase going with Brian, and I’m really happy we’re able to do so,” Hill said. “In Pilot, we wanted to finish off the run with the Porsche here for me to hand it off to my brother. We were in a good spot but got a puncture late. But I’m so happy with this weekend and our shortest travel; I’m ecstatic finishing it off!”


 

GSX: Ellahi Holds Off Crone as Workman’s Win Streak Ends

Westin Workman’s pursuit of a perfect season in Grand Sport X (GSX) came undone early with an apparent loss of drive in his No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, as he slowed on the front straight just three laps into the race.


 

With both his own seven-race win streak and Toyota’s 20-race streak in class dating to the 2024 GSX season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta both over, it opened the door for a great battle between three of his season-long challengers from three other brands.


 

Ismaeel Ellahi, a sim racer who’s building his road racing experience, executed a race-long defense in his No. 25 CSM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO against Courtney Crone in her No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO.


 

Despite Crone’s best efforts and consistently being within one to three tenths of a second, the 2023 IMSA 3D Scholarship recipient was unable to make a passing attempt.


 

Ellahi held on by 0.289 of a second for his first win, with Crone second for her third podium of the season. Justin Di Benedetto of Vaughan, Ontario finished third in his No. 4 Di Benedetto Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS for his fifth podium in six races this year.


 

Ellahi was overjoyed at the outcome. He noted his own progress working on a simulator, thanked his coach Morgan Burkhard, and hailed CSM’s rapid prep work of its new Aston Martin, which arrived only just before this race.


 

“I think the greatest part about this whole thing is that we got this Aston Martin in our shop two weeks ago,” Ellahi said. “That was after the crew did two weeks of overtime. Then they came back and worked on our car. We guessed on a setup here. We really had no idea what we were doing, and we just winged it every single time. I'm super happy and I'm super thankful to them for opportunities that they've given me.”


 

All three Canadians in this race made the podium, as beyond Hill and Di Benedetto, Montreal’s Jon Brel secured his first GSX Bronze Cup win of the season in his No. 81 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.


 

LMP3 competitors race their next event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the fourth and final IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge two-hour race, Aug. 14-16. The GSX field is back in action a week later, August 21-23, at VIRginia International Raceway, for its next race. 

 

 

 

Clarke Claims Second Consecutive Motul Pole Award in Eventful Chevrolet Grand Prix Qualifying Session

Inter Europol Driver Sets IMSA LMP2 Track Record at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park


 

July 11, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Provisional Starting Grid


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Jeremy Clarke was already fastest when he started one last qualifying lap for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park late Saturday afternoon.


 

He could have backed off and hoped his 1 minute, 8.019-second tour around the 10-turn, 2.459-mile road course in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 would hold up for the overall and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class Motul Pole Award for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.


 

Turns out that 1:08.0 would have been fast enough for Clarke’s second consecutive LMP2 class pole. But he went even faster on his final lap, improving to 1:07.904 (130.366 miles per hour) to establish a new LMP2 track record that beat the benchmark established by Matt McMurry during the 2019 WeatherTech Championship race at CTMP.


 

Clarke has now qualified on pole four times in IMSA competition, including three times this year. He hopes to claim his second career victory Sunday in the 2-hour, 40-minute race (first was Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, on debut, in March 2025). Inter Europol claimed the LMP2 laurels at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in 2024 with Clarke’s teammate Tom Dillmann and Nick Boulle. 


 

On Saturday, the top four LMP2 drivers qualified within 0.593 seconds. 


 

“It was really close,” Clarke said. “I thought I put down a really good lap on the first set of tires, but when I came in to get that second set, they told me I was in P(osition) 2. I was a bit surprised, but I knew the next time I went out it was full push from the start. I had to lay the lap down, and luckily, I was able to.


 

“The field is super tough right now,” he continued. “I’ve been very fortunate this year, but as you’ve seen, a lot of the qualifying has been very close the whole time. The competition is really intense this year, so you have to be able to focus and get that one lap in.”


 

Clarke briefly dropped to third place with the top three clustered within just over a tenth of a second. Then Clarke turned in his 1:08.019 lap with two minutes remaining to jump to the top spot. The sub-1:08 final effort was just icing on the cake. 


 

“I don’t know if there was a whole lot left,” Clarke admitted with a smile. “There were a couple corners where I knew I had to go, and when I thought I could go, I went full throttle – no matter what. I had to trust the car. 


 

Clarke took pride from taking pole position at the only track where LMP2 serves as the top or headline class for a WeatherTech Championship race.


 

“We were fairly spread out, but I could still see the gap to the car ahead and the car behind,” he added. “It was staying pretty even, so I knew the times were tight. Even when I saw the 1:08.0, I knew it was good, but the team said nothing other than ‘You’ve got one more push lap.’ I wasn’t sure whether I had it or not, so I pushed to make sure.”


 

“It’s a great start for the race tomorrow, and hopefully we can continue that momentum,” he said. “Being the ‘top dog’ is kind of cool. We’re always second fiddle a little bit to the GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) cars, and now that we’re leading the way, it would be fun to really cross that finish line first instead of after a GTP car.”


 

Misha Goikhberg (No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen) wound up second at 1:08.077 (130.034 mph). He’ll share his car with GTP guest star Ricky Taylor this weekend.


 

The No. 22 United Autosports USA and No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR cars will roll off from third and fourth. 


 

The No. 99, which originally qualified third, will be moved to the rear of the LMP2 grid as post-qualifying technical inspection revealed that the car did not meet the minimum height requirement for components located ahead of the front axle.


 

Green flag for the Chevrolet Grand Prix is set for Sunday at 2:10 p.m. ET, with streamed live coverage available via Peacock in the U.S. along with IMSA.TV or the official IMSA YouTube channel internationally.

 

 

Verhagen, Barrichello Grab IMSA GT Class Poles at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

PMR Driver Doubles Up while Barrichello Adds Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin’s Third Pole of the Day


 

July 11, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Starting Grid


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – What looked to be one of the closest Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) qualifying battles in recent IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship memory got turned on its head in the final two minutes of the 15-minute qualifying session at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix.


 

Less than four tenths of a second initially covered nine of the 10 GTD PRO cars, and then Neil Verhagen uncorked a flyer in the waning moments to double up poles at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn circuit.


 

The young American won his first WeatherTech Championship pole here last year in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and doubled his pole total with a lap that, when initially set, was 0.447 of a second quicker than second place at 1 minute, 14.382 seconds (119.012 mph).


 

“Both poles have now come from Mosport (CTMP’s former name) which is kind of funny now,” Verhagen said. “I guess this is kind of my track. The commitment level here is so high. On my first run I'd actually gone off in Turn 3, and it was sketchy. I was bouncing all over the dirt on the outside, just pushing a little bit too much, but was able to get it reined in.


 

“The Paul Miller Racing boys delivered me an amazing race car today, and I just can't thank those guys enough. I tried a second time. I tried to see if I could improve it again, but there was no chance. That was everything we had.”


 

Ultimately the pole margin was less as several other cars got close, but not close enough, to topple the No. 1 BMW. Max Esterson made it a U.S. 1-2 in GTD PRO qualifying as the RLL Team McLaren No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO equaled its season-best start of second on the grid (also achieved at the Rolex 24 At Daytona), just 0.185 of a second in arrears.


 

The No. 1 car entered the weekend first in GTD PRO points, 60 ahead of the Nos. 3 and 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.


 

Coincidentally, the Nos. 3 and 4 Corvettes will start third and fourth for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix after qualifying in matching positions to their car numbers. The No. 3 Corvette in the hands of Alexander Sims was just 0.002 of a second behind the McLaren.


 

In its first GTD PRO qualifying attempt, Car Blanche slotted its No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo into fifth with Scott Andrews at the wheel.


 

GTD: Heart of Racing Team Completes a Saturday Pole Triple

With three different drivers, in three different specifications of Aston Martin Vantage cars, in three different series, on two different continents, Heart of Racing Team was first on the qualifying timesheets.


 

Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello completed Heart of Racing Team’s pole-winning triple play on Saturday in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD). It’s his second Motul Pole Award of the season (Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring) and the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo’s third (Zacharie Robichon, Rolex 24 At Daytona) this season. Additionally, the No. 27 car started first at Watkins Glen based on championship points as the GTD qualifying session did not meet the guaranteed minimum green flag time.


 

Barrichello, the GTD championship leader, set his best lap of 1 minute, 15.130 seconds (117.827 mph) on his third of five total laps. Even more impressive was that he did it so quickly, as a five-minute hold at the start of the session was assessed for the team not performing a pre-qualifying torque sensor offset test.


 

“It was a bit scary, to be honest, that the tire wouldn't get ready,” Barrichello laughed. “As soon as I hit the pit limiter button, I just pushed as fast as I could and I don't know, it seemed to be pretty good. And the car was very good. The track is very enjoyable as well, a high commitment track which I really like.”


 

Barrichello followed Hannah Greenemeier, who won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) pole to start Saturday’s activity, and Kobe Pauwels, who won the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 class pole at Sao Paulo, Brazil.


 

It’s a multi-continent weekend for the Heart of Racing Team outfit, where coincidentally, Pauwels is filling in for Brazilian driver Barrichello in the similar Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo at the FIA WEC Sao Paulo race. Greenemeier won her pole in the team’s GT4-specification Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo.


 

Meanwhile at CTMP, Roman De Angelis – who’s Barrichello’s roommate – is filling in for Tom Gamble in the No. 27 car as Gamble is racing an Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in Sao Paulo.


 

“I'm happy to do it in Canada,” Barrichello added. “It is my first time at the track and it's Roman's home track as well, so super proud to do it. We’ve been talking about it the whole year because we knew we're gonna share the car and we're roommates. So, you know, we just are enjoying ourselves out there and he's helped me a lot. So, happy days. I haven't won a race, so I can't wait to win one. I'll be trying my best tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure Roman will as well, so we'll see.”


 

Mason Filippi followed his win in Saturday’s aforementioned Michelin Pilot Challenge race in a Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR with an immediate runner-up spot on the grid in his No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. He’ll start and Robert Wickens, back for his first WeatherTech Championship since winning the pole and finishing sixth with Filippi at Long Beach, should finish.


 

“Our Corvette was really hooked up in that first sector,” Filippi said. “It's my first time ever qualifying in GT3, and it was a lot of fun... probably the most fun I've had in a racecar ever. DXDT Racing gave me a great car, and I really appreciate them giving me such a good Corvette today. We're looking forward to the race tomorrow.”


 

The first Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, Lamborghini and BMW apiece made it six different brands from the top six positions heading into Sunday’s race in GTD.


 

Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix goes green at 2:10 p.m. ET, with flag-to-flag streaming live on Peacock in the U.S. and the IMSA Official YouTube channel starting at 2 p.m. ET. 

 

Porto, Choksey and RAFA Toyota Take Michelin Pilot Challenge CTMP GS Win

Morris, Filippi Take TCR Honors for Hyundai


 

July 11, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Provisional Results


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge races often provide chaotic yet fun twists and turns, which puts a premium on pit stop strategy and timing.


 

RAFA Racing played it to perfection Saturday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park ad Kiko Porto and Varun Choksey scored the overall and Grand Sport (GS) class victory in the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120.


 

They drove the No. 12 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to a 9.811-second margin of victory over Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer in the No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO, with Nate Cicero and Robert Noaker claiming third place another four seconds back in the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4.


 

The key to RAFA’s victory was the decision to make another pit stop when the third full course caution of the two-hour race occurred just two green flag laps after they had pitted during the second. As other competitors made their second stops, Porto assumed the lead with around 40 minutes remaining and built a big enough cushion to make a third and final stop for fuel with 17 minutes to go.


 

Porto emerged with a four-second advantage and stretched it out to the checkered flag as McAleer and Cicero backed off in the closing laps to ensure their two-stop strategy would carry them to the finish.


 

It was a day of firsts, as Porto, Choksey, and RAFA Racing scored their initial triumphs in Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class competition. Toyota earned its second GS class win, both coming at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Parker Thompson and Billy Johnson in 2023). Toyota is the fifth of seven participating manufacturers to claim a GS class victory in 2026.


 

“This is definitely a relief,” Porto remarked. “I wasn’t expecting this win. But we got it. We knew we’d been close the whole season, just haven’t been able to capitalize.

 

“The car and team did amazing, and it was tough,” he continued. “At one point the team told me to save fuel and I did my absolute best, but it’s such a high-speed circuit. But I built the gap enough. Next is Road America in two weeks; we can keep getting points for this championship.”

 

Choksey admitted that watching the second half of the race from pit lane was a nerve-wracking affair, but he had confidence in Porto.

 

“I almost expect the brilliance from Kiko at this point; it’s full credit to him,” he said. “I didn’t know how our strategy call would play out. The first few laps I wasn’t sure, then I wondered if we were in the lead, and then we were in the great position.”


 

Cicero and Noaker have unofficially taken over the championship lead in the GS class by 30 points over Moisey Uretsky and Michael Cooper, who finished sixth Saturday in the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Krainz and McAleer are another 10 points back.


 

Incoming points leaders Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars (No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO) had a rough day in Canada, pitting for mechanical repairs after the first lap and ultimately finishing 11 laps down in 23rd place to drop them to fourth, 140 points from the top spot.


 

TCR: Another Hyundai/BHA Masterclass

Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi extended their championship lead in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge’s Touring Car (TCR) class with a tactical victory in the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 at the track of the same name.


 

One lengthy and one brief full-course caution opened the possibility for TCR competitors to complete the two-hour race with a single pit stop, but the last 64 minutes were run under green flag conditions, creating drama whether a late splash-and-go would be required.


 

Morris was running third 41 minutes into the race when he pulled the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR in for what would turn out to be its only pit stop. In fact, almost the entire TCR field pitted simultaneously, but fast pit work by the BHA team and a perfectly executed driver change allowed Filippi to exit the pits with a lead he would not relinquish.


 

But Karl Wittmer didn’t make it easy. He and the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR he shared with fellow Canadian LP Montour were rarely far from Filippi’s rear bumper, before finally dropping 2.194 seconds back at the checkered flag. Local driver Dean Baker of Bowmanville and ex-Indy car star Bruno Junqueira, a late addition to the lineup this weekend, took third place in the No. 56 Baker Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR.


 

The tense battle gave Morris butterflies as he watched from the pit lane.


 

“Very nervous watching,” he admitted. “We tried to run our own race, but track position is so important. The No. 93 (Wittmer) was coming fast after they got by Harry (Gottsacker, who finished fourth in the No. 18 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR he shared with Lance Bergstein) and we watched closely. But Mason did a great job hitting the number.”

 

Filippi, who shared the No. 98 car with 2025 Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR champion Gottsacker in all but one race before moving to the No. 33 this year, revealed he and the team worked on their fuel-saving techniques during practice in case those skills would come handy in the race.

 

BHA is the dominant team in the TCR class, with 32 wins and six championships since 2019. Filippi has been part of 11 of those wins.

 

“I didn’t know if we could do it; it was long,” Filippi said. “We did some practice in FP2, so we hit those numbers. Once we knew we could get it, we tried to save the track position.”

 

Filippi and Morris have opened up a gap nearing 200 points on Denis Dupont and Preston Brown, who finished eighth at CTMP in the No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Unofficially, third through sixth in the standings – which includes the Nos. 18, 98, 5 and 93 cars – are separated by just 20 points.

 

The next round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is the Road America 120, part of the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix weekend, July 30 – Aug. 2 at Road America in scenic Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

 

 

 

Tunjo Takes the Top Spot in VP Racing Challenge CTMP Opener

Workman Captures Seventh Straight GSX Win


 

July 11, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Race 1 Results


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There’s an old saying, “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” 


 

But Saturday morning in Canada, the start of the first of two 45-minute sprint races for the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park ultimately determined the finish for the overall and Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) win.


 

Wyatt Brichacek started from pole and led flag-to-flag but was assessed a 10-second time penalty for a false start, changing columns before crossing the start/finish line. Any full-course caution could dent or fully eliminate any margin Brichacek would build and move him down the finishing order.


 

The decisive moment for Brichacek came with 10 minutes remaining when the No. 87 P3 car went off course in Turn 3. The resulting cleanup brought the race under the full-course caution to the checkered flag and eliminated Brichacek’s well-built lead north of 13 seconds to offset the time penalty. The penalty ultimately dropped Brichacek to third.


 

Brichacek’s disappointment benefited Oscar Tunjo, the Colombian who won his fifth sprint and sixth total race of the P3 season, aboard the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09. 


 

“It was a difficult start and I was really focused; I think Wyatt had a good start,” Tunjo said. “I’m happy to get another victory in the sprint cup, for sure. 


 

“You always want to win it on the track, racing. I think today we were not the quickest. (Brichacek’s team) did a good job, they were fast. I struggled a bit also in traffic. But I’m happy to get the points, happy to get the win, and we keep wishing for the rest of the races.”


 

The bright side for Tunjo was that he overcame his own disappointment at CTMP last year, when he lost a tire and wheel mid-race when on a charge from last to the lead.


 

“The main thing for us was to score good points and do a good job,” Tunjo noted. “It was a big thing last year when I lost the tire after starting last, but happy to get the win here at such a great place, a great track. Hopefully tomorrow we can do a good job and keep pushing ‘til the end of the season.”


 

Tunjo’s Gebhardt teammate, Danny Soufi in the No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine D09 was second ahead of Brichacek in third at the checkered flag in his No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325.


 

On home turf, Travis Hill – one of two “THs” along with brother Trevor that make up TWOth Autosport – won the LMP3 Bronze Cup in his No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325 in fourth overall.


 

GSX: Seven-Up for Workman

Westin Workman drives the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. If he wins Sunday, he’ll match his car number for consecutive victories to open the 2026 Grand Sport X (GSX) season.


 

Another trouble-free drive from pole netted Workman his seventh win in as many races. He’s a past winner at CTMP, in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin two years ago, so now adds a VP Racing Challenge win to his track resume.


 

"The race went really well in my opinion,” he said. “The balance pretty much stayed the same in the car through the whole race, and I was really happy with the car. RAFA Racing always does a great job of giving me a good car for the short runs and the long runs, and I’m super happy with the effort from everyone today.


 

“It was a good race. It wasn’t easier or harder than any of the others. I give 100 percent every time I’m out there on the track and today was like any other race. It went well.


 

“The GT4 car is very different. I actually got my second MX-5 Cup win here, so I really enjoy this track. But the GT4 car definitely changes this track. Turn 1 and Turn 2 are over 100 miles per hour, so it’s fast.”


 

Michelin Pilot Challenge regular Caio Chaves, in his VP Racing Challenge debut, finished second in the No. 98 PANAM Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 with Ismaeel Ellahi, in his No. 25 CSM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO, third. Ellahi’s CSM team had run a Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS earlier this season but switched to the Aston Martin for CTMP.


 

Dan Ammann was the top Bronze Cup finisher in his No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group, LLC Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS for his first Bronze win this season.


 

The second VP Racing Challenge race is Sunday at 11:10 a.m. ET and local time, streaming on Peacock and the IMSA Official YouTube channel. 

 

 

Greenemeier Makes it Back-to-Back Poles for Heart of Racing in Michelin Pilot Challenge

Montour Sets TCR Record Lap ahead of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120


 

July 11, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Qualifying Results


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Two Hannah Gs. Two races. Two countries. And two consecutive Motul Pole Awards.


 

Hannah Greenemeier secured her first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge pole in both Grand Sport (GS) and overall on Saturday morning aboard the No. 26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO in what became a one-lap dash for the pole following a red flag in the middle of the 15-minute session.


 

With only one flyer to run, Greenemeier set a best lap of 1 minute, 22.461 seconds (107.352 mph). She’ll share the car with Hannah Grisham, who won the pole for the series’ most recent round at Watkins Glen International. The pairing finished a season-best sixth at Watkins Glen.

 

Today’s Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120, Round 6 of the 2026 Michelin Pilot Challenge season, airs live, flag-to-flag, beginning at 1:20 p.m. ET on Peacock in the U.S. and globally on IMSA YouTube, ad-free courtesy of Michelin.


 

With brisk, cool, sunny conditions to start the day, lap records appeared poised to fall in both GS and Touring Car (TCR). But an incident in GS qualifying limited runners to mostly one flying lap.


 

Greenemeier is the fifth Motul Pole Award winner from six GS races this year. But because of the limited green flag time, it fell short of the previous mark set by Jack Hawksworth, 1:22.084 in July 2024.


 

“I guess I was a little bummed because I kind of let off the lap before the red flag, and thought that might have been my only chance,” Greenemeier explained. “But after the red, I just kind of went out there and tried to find a lot of space and see if it was kind of just go as fast as you can. We were able to do that.


 

“So, yeah, just super excited for the team. I couldn’t do it without them. I'm sure that my mom and dad are at home right now. My mom's probably crying. They might not hear this, but yeah, thank you to them for all their support.”


 

The No. 46 TeamTGM Ford Mustang GT4 of Paul Holton qualified second in the car he shares with Matt Plumb, who seeks to become the series’ all-time win leader with 25 wins.


 

GS championship leaders Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars will roll off from 11th in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO.


 

TCR: Montour to Lead Honda 1-2 to Green

In TCR, LP Montour won his second straight pole, and the third straight and fourth in the last five races for a Honda Civic FL5 TCR.


 

“It was pretty intense, but this a well-deserved pole position,” Montour said. “The field has been very tight this weekend. We’ll shift into race mode and make sure we have a good car to complete the race now.”


 

Montour, who along with Karl Wittmer won here last year in the No. 93 MMG Honda, set a blistering lap of 1 minute, 22.663 seconds (107.089 mph) on his sixth lap for a new TCR lap record and second-fastest on the day overall. It was almost three tenths quicker than Bryson Morris’ previous mark of 1:22.918, set last year in TCR.


 

It was a Honda 1-2 with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course polesitter Rocco Pasquarella just 0.072 of a second behind in his No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda. Pasquarella and Tim Lewis Jr. broke through for an elusive first win of the year last race out at Watkins Glen.


 

Morris, who qualified third, and Mason Filippi lead the TCR championship in their No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR.

 

 

Qualifying Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Grand Prix

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Saturday, July 11, 2026

Qualifying Results


 

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Grand Prix

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Saturday, July 11, 2026

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

 

 

Moonlighting Ricky Taylor Leads Chevrolet Grand Prix Practice

Garcia, Ellis Top IMSA’s Two GT Classes at CTMP 


 

July 10, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Practice 1 Results


 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – More than three years have passed since Ricky Taylor last drove a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class car in any series, but the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship star showed Friday that he hasn’t forgotten how to pedal one.


 

Taylor, making a guest appearance for Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen in the No. 52 ORECA LMP2 07 co-driven by Misha Goikhberg, paced the opening practice session for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He lapped the famously fast 2.459-mile road course northeast of the Greater Toronto Area in 1 minute, 8.080 seconds (130.029 miles per hour), besting the 1:08.178 (129.842 mph) effort posted by Sebastian Alvarez in the No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07 prepared by Tower Motorsports. 


 

“Like anything, it takes a little while for that muscle memory to come back and I’ve never driven an LMP2 car here,” Taylor said. “We just tested here, so it’s fresh for us and surely people are going to be improving, so I’m not overly confident, but I think if we have a smooth race without issues, I think we have a chance. 


 

“The team isn’t getting ahead of ourselves, but I’ve been so impressed by Misha – he’s been flying,” he added. “The pressure is on me to hold up my end of the bargain.”


 

Taylor has raced in the top prototype class of the WeatherTech Championship since the unification of American sports car racing in 2014 (and for several years prior to that in GRAND-AM). But he has made seven LMP2 class starts in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in that timespan, where LMP2 cars operate under different aerodynamic restrictions and using a different brand of tire than the Michelins that are standard in IMSA.


 

The WeatherTech Championship’s LMP2 lineup is slightly different than usual this weekend due to a schedule conflict with the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Interlagos, Brazil. With Goikhberg’s full-season teammate Harry Tincknell and third driver Parker Thompson both racing in Brazil, Taylor is available to race at CTMP because the Chevrolet Grand Prix is headlined by LMP2, accompanied by IMSA’s production-based Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GTD PRO classes. 


 

The Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, where Taylor typically shares the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R with Filipe Albuquerque, returns to action July 30-August 2 at the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix.


 

Both Taylor and Alvarez lapped CTMP faster on Friday than the lap record established by Matt McMurry in 2019, when IMSA created greater separation between LMP2 and the WeatherTech Championship’s top prototype class.


 

“The car feels so nice, like the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars we raced here up through 2022,” Taylor said. “It’s even better in some places – this track really lets these cars perform at their best, with all the high-speed corners. It’s really cool.”


 

Philip Ellis set the pace for the GT classes with an early lap timed at 1:15.860 (116.693 mph) in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GTD class. That was 0.323 second quicker than Albert Costa’s 1:16.183 (116.198 mph) effort in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO.


 

No fewer than five GTD PRO entries posted lap times in between the GTD class leaders, led by Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R at 1:15.877 (116.667 mph). Ben Barnicoat, coming off a class win in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, was next up at 1:15.906 (116.622 mph).


 

Friday’s 90-minute practice session was twice interrupted by minor incidents that caused red flags. Both occurred at Turn 5 and involved GTD class runners; Lorenzo Patrese slid the No. 34 Conquest Ferrari into the tire wall just prior to the halfway point, while Callum Ilott caused the session to end about 10 minutes early when he plowed the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) into the banded tires much harder, causing more significant damage. Both entries will lose their fastest qualifying lap.


 

“I would say that was probably just getting too much confidence too quickly,” Patrese said. “A small mistake with a bit of a bigger outcome. With the compression you have on the bumps there, it can go wrong quite easily, but luckily the damage was small, and I was able to get a few more laps in the session to get some confidence back.”


 

WeatherTech Championship competitors will have 90 more minutes of practice Saturday morning prior to qualifying by class in the afternoon. The Chevrolet Grand Prix feature event takes place from 2:10-4:50 p.m. Sunday, July 12, with streaming available on Peacock domestically and via the official IMSA YouTube channel and IMSA.TV outside the United States.

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Grand Prix

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Friday, July 10, 2026

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

 
 

IMSA Statement on Passing of Former GRAND-AM President Tom Bledsoe

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 14, 2026) - "On behalf of our IMSA and NASCAR teammates, we extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of former GRAND-AM President and longtime NASCAR executive Tom Bledsoe, who passed away over the weekend. Tom played an instrumental role in the growth of endurance sports car racing throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, helping lay the foundation for the continued success IMSA enjoys today following the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series in 2012.


 

"He was a respected leader and valued teammate within the GRAND-AM organization, including among several individuals who remain part of the IMSA family today. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tom's family and friends during this difficult time. He will be greatly missed."

 

-Ed Bennett, CEO, IMSA

-John Doonan, President, IMSA

 

 

Three Takeaways: Chevrolet Grand Prix

Can’t Keep a Good Team Down; Streaks End; Points Shaken Up


 

July 13, 2026

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the third year running, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship dialed-up a unique menu of prototype and GT (Grand Touring) categories for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The lone event north of the border featured Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GTD competitors cavorting around the 10-turn, 2.459-mile road course widely regarded as one of the world’s most challenging “old school” racetracks. 

 

The nine LMP2s, 10 GTD PRO and 13 GTD competitors put on a show worthy of the venerable CTMP, with Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke taking the overall win in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07. The first-place finishers in LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD earning their wins with 9.796s, 1.993s and 1.886s margins of victory, respectively. And to prove the race’s cleanliness, all 32 starters took the checkered flag. 

 

Can’t Keep a Good Team Down

 

The results of the Chevrolet Grand Prix once again proved that you can’t keep good race teams down for long. That was evident among all three class winners.

 

For Inter Europol, it was its first IMSA win since the 2025 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and it came 365 days after a late-race incident where Dillmann sustained back injuries.

 

Similarly for Winward Racing in GTD, there was a renaissance at CTMP for its No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a demoralizing series of setbacks since winning the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. 

 

Vasser Sullivan Racing at least broke its run of tough luck at Watkins Glen International with a win there, but that came after only a single top-six finish in the first four GTD PRO races of the year. Now, the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 has gone back-to-back in GTD PRO. 

 

All winning drivers hailed their teams, who made the difference in getting them back to the top. 

 

All Streaks Must Come to an End

 

No matter the sport, all streaks must come to an end. 

 

Joe DiMaggio “only” hit safely in 56 (not 57, 58 or 59) straight Major League Baseball games. Wayne Gretzky's run of recording at least one point in consecutive National Hockey League games stopped at 51. The Boston Celtics won eight (not nine or 10) consecutive National Basketball Association titles. And Johnny Unitas threw touchdown passes in “just” 47 straight games before firing a blank.

IMSA boasted both five different teams and manufacturers visiting victory lane in both its GTD PRO and GTD classes through five rounds, but that was bound to end at some point. 

 

With Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus (GTD PRO) and Winward’s Mercedes-AMG (GTD) scoring their second season wins Sunday, they were both the first to two in each class. BMW, Porsche, Ford and Chevrolet are the other GTD PRO winners with Ferrari, Lexus, Lamborghini and Porsche also having won in GTD.

 

But the roll call of winning teams and manufacturers figures to add more in the coming races. 

 

It will be interesting to see whether the CTMP winners channel the late Bob Uecker, who once famously said in Major League Cleveland’s team had a chance to “extend its win streak to… two,” or whether newcomers will emerge atop the standings in subsequent races.

 

Points Shakeups

On the surface, little about the LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD points races changed at CTMP. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA continues to lead the LMP2 standings, while the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO remains atop the GTD PRO heap and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin continues to have the inside track on the GTD crown.  

 

Look a little closer though, and you’ll see all three championship races took some intriguing turns. 

 

CrowdStrike enhanced their LMP2 points lead, building it from 55 entering CTMP to 70 leaving it. Inter Europol is now second, with defending champions AO third just 81 back and very much in the fight. Dillmann said Sunday Inter Europol has already had a good year, but they’re hungry for more.

 

“There was quite a bit of pressure to get a good result today, and I’m really happy we managed to get a win and are back in the championship fight,” Dillmann noted.

 

Similarly, Paul Miller Racing increased its GTD PRO lead from 60 to 108 points. No small feat. But Sunday’s results brought not one, not two, not three but four former champions into the mix within 160 points. That would be AO Racing’s No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and both the No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Racing with Pratt MiIler Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs not to mention the venerable (and recently unbeatable) Vasser Sullivan Lexus. 

 

“Super stoked and we’re excited for the rest of the year,” said Vasser Sullivan’s Hawksworth. “This was a track I’ve never won at, and Lexus has never won here, so we just ticked that one off. We just conquered Canada and now we’ll go on to the rest of the tracks. We’ve got (VIRginia International Raceway) which I’ve never won at so maybe target that one. We’ll go and have some fun and win some more races.”

 

Barrichello’s co-driver, Roman De Angelis, recovered points for the Heart of Racing Aston Martin with a storming drive to salvage sixth place. That said, Barrichello’s lead shrunk from 157 to 92 over the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 and 120 over the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Winward’s Ellis and Ward entered the race 300 points behind Barrichello and left it just 207 back. With four events remaining, anything is possible in their pursuit of a three-peat.

 

“I think we’ve never been out of (the championship),” a victorious Ellis said. “We have a great crew and a great car; we just need some good luck to come our way. 

 

“For us we’re still going for that third championship in a row and this proves we’re still in it. We just need to have some good clean races coming up and we’re really looking forward to it. These guys work so hard. It’s a never give up attitude.” 

IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Returns to Full Endurance Race Format

Seven-Event Schedule Planned for 2027 with Events Ranging From 1.5 to 3 Hours

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) officials today announced the long-running IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will return to an all-endurance racing format for the multi-class series in 2027.


 

The Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class will continue to race for overall victories. All competitors will be required to use third-generation homologated LMP3 cars powered by Toyota V35A 3.5-liter engines as part of IMSA's continued commitment to the class through an exclusive long-term partnership with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).


 

The LMP3 machines will be joined once again by the Grand Sport X (GSX) class for SRO GT4-homologated cars. A third class made up entirely of BMW M2 Racing cars is also planned.


 

Two drivers per car are required and each car must have a minimum of one driver with an FIA Driver Categorization of either Bronze or Silver. Platinum-rated drivers are prohibited from competition, with Gold-rated drivers restricted to pairings with Bronze co-drivers only. Silver/Gold combinations are prohibited.


 

“Endurance racing is woven into the DNA of sports car competition,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “By returning VP Racing Challenge to an all-endurance format, we’re creating an even stronger platform for driver development while showcasing competitive, multi-class racing featuring LMP3, GT4 and BMW M2 Racing machinery. We’re confident this next chapter will provide tremendous value for our competitors and help strengthen the future of the series."


 

2027 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Schedule Unveiled


 

The 2027 season will feature seven IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races ranging in length from 90 minutes to three hours, with a majority running as part of event weekends organized by the United States Auto Club (USAC).


 

The season will open at Sebring International Raceway on the weekend of Feb. 26-28 for a two-hour race as part of a USAC weekend, followed by a second two-hour event to be announced.


 

The VP Racing Challenge makes its first of two appearances on IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge-headlined weekends on June 11-13 with a two-hour race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Watkins Glen International will host the season's first three-hour race on the USAC weekend of July 2-4, followed by a two-hour race at Road America alongside USAC on a date to be confirmed.


 

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will host the second and final three-hour race of the season as part of the USAC-organized weekend on Sept. 10-12. The season will close at Lime Rock Park with a 90-minute race on Sept. 23-25 once again alongside Michelin Pilot Challenge. 


 

Each event weekend will include two, 50-minute practice sessions along with one 15-minute qualifying session for LMP3 and another 15-minute session combining GSX and BMW M2. Competitors will be subject to a minimum pit stop time with three crew members allowed to work on the car during pit stops.


 

Driver and team championships will be recognized in each of the three classes, with a manufacturer championship awarded in the GSX class. The GSX driver champion will earn $50,000 in IMSA scholarship credit. 


 

Bronze-rated drivers will compete for dedicated Bronze Cup podiums in each race as well as a season-long Airbnb Bronze Cup in all three classes. The LMP3 Airbnb Bronze Cup driver champion will earn an invitation to participate in the following year's Rolex 24 At Daytona. A single Bronze-rated driver is required for Bronze Cup points eligibility.


 

All races will be streamed live on the IMSA YouTube channel. With more than 1.8 million subscribers, the channel is the most subscribed of any motorsports sanctioning body in North America.

 

What to Watch for: Chevrolet Grand Prix

LMP2 Spotlight; Corvette Trying to Rebound; Wickens’ Return


 

July 9, 2026

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads north for its annual visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) and the Chevrolet Grand Prix. One of North America’s most iconic, natural terrain road courses has a roll call of winners including some of the greatest drivers, teams and marques of the past 65 years. 


 

With its dramatic elevation changes and succession of high speed, high commitment turns, with the tricky double apex Moss Corner hairpin for good measure, CTMP showcases the talents of the WeatherTech Championship’s competitors and the performance of its exotic prototypes and GTs.


 

LMP2’s Spotlight and Title Battle

With Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) on holiday, the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category is in the spotlight this weekend. That the combination of the ORECA LMP2 07’s nimble handling, oodles of downforce and potent Gibson V8 is perfectly suited to the roller coaster ride of swoops and curves of CTMP is a given. What’s far less certain is which teams and drivers will be able to maximize their ORECA’s performance and take the overall win on Sunday. 


 

Certainly, AO Racing’s No. 99 ORECA is a potent contender with PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron aboard “Spike” the dragon, having won last year at CTMP and last race at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. But they’ll have to contend with the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA of George Kurtz and Alex Quinn, who have hardly missed a beat this year with class wins at both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Sebring winners United Autosports USA have two contenders with their No. 2 and No. 22 cars.


 

Inter Europol Competition led all LMP2 runners at Le Mans but seek their first IMSA win of 2026, despite two poles from Jeremy Clarke in the team’s No. 43 ORECA. Despite an injury sustained here last year, 2024 CTMP winner and LMP2 champion Tom Dillmann isn’t fueled with extra motivation. 


 

“I go to any race and I want to win it,” he said. “It’s not because we had the issue last year that it changes. It’s the same points every race.


 

“The track is really great in an LMP2 car,” he added. “It’s super high speed, high commitment. It really suits the car well. It was a nice discovery in 2024 and we managed to win the race. Last year we had a really good race as well, taking the lead (and) leading until a few minutes to go until we had a failure. So, yeah, I expect we’ll be fighting for the win again this year.”


 

The No. 04 car leads the Nos. 22 and 99 cars by 55 points, with the No. 43 car fourth, 107 back. Notably, both CTMP winners in the LMP2 headliner have gone on to win the title the last two years.


 

Corvette Seeks GTD PRO Points Lead Again

Many an eye will also train on the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) competition given a fierce title race that sees the top three teams and their drivers separated by less than 100 points. Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen and the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO sit atop the standings with 1,575 points thanks in large part to a win at Daytona and a second place at Watkins Glen. Hard on their heels is Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ double threat of the No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs with 1,515 and 1,494 points, respectively. 


 

Last year’s GTD PRO champs, Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims, won the first IMSA race for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R at CTMP in 2024 – the most recent of the team’s 13 wins at the Chevrolet Grand Prix. The Detroit winners this year hope to start fast on Friday to leapfrog back to the top. 


 

“This isn’t a home race for us, but it feels like it should be,” Garcia said. “It’s a track that everyone on the team enjoys. We as drivers do, too. It’s a short lap but mostly because the speed is very high. All that means that track position here is very important, more than you’d think for a race that’s almost three hours. We’re hoping to be fast right away so we can work toward a Corvette that’s just as good over a stint as it is on a qualifying run. We have the experience here to do well, so let’s see if we can take advantage of that.”


 

After disappointing back-to-back results in Detroit and Watkins Glen for the sister No. 4 car, Tommy Milner is keen to see he and Nicky Catsburg recapture their early season points-leading form. They were second here last year courtesy of a strong strategic run. 


 

“From the 4 car side, we need to clean some things up a little bit,” he explained. “We’ve had two races in a row where we haven’t had the best results, which isn’t the way to win a championship. We need to buckle down, make sure that we are doing everything right on all our sides. If we do that, then good things will happen.”


 

Go Canada!

The CTMP crowd will surely also have eyes for IMSA’s Canadian contingent, namely Windsor’s Roman De Angelis (who switches classes for this event to drive the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO with GTD points leader Dudu Barrichello), Caledon’s Orey Fidani in 13 Autosport’s No. 13 Corvette and Guelph’s Robert Wickens in the No. 36 DXDT Corvette, both in the GTD category as well. That’s in addition to Pfaff Motorsports, engineering powerhouse Multimatic and five Bronze-rated Canadian drivers in LMP2.


 

A calamitous fire en route to the StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship destroyed DXDT Racing’s transporter and most of their ancillary equipment, not to mention the Corvette specifically tailored to Wickens’ Bosch hand control system. But the team returned at Watkins Glen with its IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup lineup and finished 11th.


 

A two-time winner at CTMP in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Wickens is hoping for more good things this weekend given that when he last drove for DXDT, he won the pole and finished sixth at Long Beach co-driving with Mason Filippi.


 

“Last year was DXDT’s first year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,” he explained. “At all these tracks, although we had engineering support from GM and Pratt Miller, we were learning everything new for ourselves. You always want to learn yourself instead of learning from others. 


 

“So already I feel like this year the team’s been much stronger every race we’ve come back to. And I think CTMP is going to be no different. For me as a driver, I was learning each track with my Bosch electronic braking system in the Corvette. And so now, with a year of experience at these tracks, my first practice feels like a continuation from how I finished the year before instead of kind of learning everything all through the first two practice sessions. 


 

“We’re feeling good,” he added. “It’s been a lot of work from the team to get ready. They ran the six-hour at The Glen with a new car, a different transporter, different pit equipment and everything else that goes into making this circus work. For me, having not driven since Long Beach, I’m itching to get back at it for my home race.”


 

Pfaff’s GTD PRO effort comes as the team continues to learn and grow with its new No. 9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3 still in its signature plaid livery.


 

The 13 Autosport team has starred on occasion this year but more often than not seen results elude them late in races. It’s an important weekend for Fidani and Matt Bell in the team’s pursuit of Fidani’s third straight Bob Akin Award, where he holds a 30-point lead over Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe.


 

If any of the five Bronze-rated Canadians win in LMP2, it’d mark their first at CTMP. Phil Fayer, John Farano, Tobi Lutke, Misha Goikhberg and Chris Cumming will all qualify and start their ORECAs in that pursuit.


 

Indeed, the most recent Canadian to win in the WeatherTech Championship at CTMP is De Angelis, who scored his second of two GTD wins here in 2024 and is back in a cameo appearance this weekend. 


 

If you can’t make it to CTMP, you can see the action on Peacock, IMSA.tv and YouTube throughout the weekend including Sunday’s race beginning at 2:05 p.m. ET.

 

Oracle Joins IMSA Labs as Founding Partner to Accelerate AI and Motorsport Innovation

Oracle Cloud Innovation Studio becomes the first initiative within IMSA Labs, giving startups access to live race operations, high-volume telemetry, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and one of the world’s most demanding testing environments

AUSTIN, Texas and DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 9, 2026) — Oracle and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) today announced Oracle as the Founding Partner of IMSA Labs, the formalized platform for continued innovation and collaboration between the motorsports sanctioning body and its automotive and technology partners. A cornerstone of the partnership is the launch of Oracle Cloud Innovation Studio, a new startup innovation program built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The program is designed to help startups move from concept to validated solution by combining Oracle’s cloud and AI technologies with IMSA’s live race operations, high-volume telemetry, and race-generated data.

 

“Motorsport has always been a laboratory for innovation, and IMSA has long been where manufacturers prove technologies that ultimately reach consumers,” said John Doonan, president, IMSA. “With IMSA Labs, we're extending that tradition beyond the race car to create an innovation ecosystem where startups, technology leaders, manufacturers, and research institutions can develop and validate next-generation solutions in one of the world's most demanding operational environments. We're proud to welcome Oracle as the Founding Partner of IMSA Labs and to launch Oracle Cloud Innovation Studio as the platform's first collaborative innovation program.”

 

As the inaugural program within IMSA Labs, Oracle Cloud Innovation Studio will operate from the IMSA paddock as a live demonstration and development environment. Participating startups will build and refine solutions on OCI using the latest AI, cloud, and data technologies, while validating performance against the speed, complexity, and operational demands of professional endurance racing.

 

“Innovation happens faster when startups can build against real-world complexity instead of simulated conditions,” said Karan Batta, senior vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “As the founding partner of IMSA Labs, Oracle is bringing together the power, performance, and scalability of OCI with IMSA’s unique operational environment, giving startups a path to develop, validate, and showcase next-generation solutions in a setting where every millisecond and every decision matters.”

 

IMSA brings together 18 global automotive manufacturers competing under shared rules while generating millions of telemetry events throughout each race weekend. This combination of live operations, engineering workflows, edge conditions, distributed systems, and real-time decision-making gives startups a proving ground that is difficult to replicate in a traditional lab, accelerator, or sandbox environment. Participating startups can use OCI to develop and validate solutions across multiple high-impact areas, including:



  • Adaptive data routing and prioritization: Optimizing telemetry movement from car to pit wall to team headquarters, especially in environments with RF, network, and satellite constraints. 
  • Cloud-native telemetry ingestion and replication: Processing structured vehicle and race operations data on OCI and making it available across distributed teams.
  • Real-time decision engines: Analyzing live data streams to support pit strategy, lap modeling, race simulations, and operational decisions. 
  • AI-assisted operational insights: Detecting patterns, surfacing anomalies, summarizing complex data, and recommending next-best actions across race operations. 
  • Fan-facing live telemetry experiences: Creating digital experiences that bring fans closer to the race through live data visualizations, predictive insights, driver and vehicle metrics, and interactive storytelling. 

 

The solutions developed through Oracle Cloud Innovation Studio will address operational challenges common across many industries, including processing high-volume streaming data, enabling real-time decision-making, operating reliably at the edge, and coordinating complex distributed systems. The same technology patterns validated in IMSA's live racing environment can be applied across industries where performance, resiliency, and speed are critical, such as manufacturing, transportation, logistics, energy, telecommunications, and smart venues.

 

About Oracle 

Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit oracle.com.

 

About IMSA

The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is North America’s premier sports car racing organization and sanctions the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, one of the world’s leading endurance racing series. With participation from 18 global automotive manufacturers, IMSA provides a world-class platform for competition, engineering innovation, and technology development while reaching fans through live events, digital media, and global broadcast distribution.

 

Trademarks 

Oracle, Java, MySQL, and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company—ushering in the new era of cloud computing. 

Pfaff Looks for Home Ground Gains

First Year with Lamborghini Temerario GT3 Trending Upwards after First Podium


 

July 8, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There’s only one race in Canada in the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which adds extra importance for the Canadian teams and drivers in action. Both Canadian-flagged GT teams feature distinct Canadian liveries, with Pfaff Motorsports’ iconic red and black plaid and 13 Autosport’s red and white maple leaf adorning their respective cars.


 

For Pfaff Motorsports in particular, this year’s Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is huge.


 

Pfaff is in the second year of its partnership with Lamborghini, and the Greater Toronto Area-based team has just five races under its belt with Lamborghini’s new-for-2026 GT-class contender, the Temerario GT3. In fact, Pfaff had the honor of giving the Temerario GT3 its worldwide competition debut earlier this year at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. 


 

Since then, it’s sometimes been a bumpy ride for the No. 9 Pfaff Lamborghini and drivers Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell. But it’s had some early highlights with a top-five run in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and second place in the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on the streets of downtown Detroit.

The team made progress in a Long Beach GTD one-off appearance, and the Detroit podium was a great morale boost as Pfaff continues to unlock the secrets of the Temerario GT3, which is the first racing car developed fully in-house by Lamborghini Squadra Corse.


 

“For me, personally, it was fantastic to be standing on my first IMSA podium, but I felt even more happy for the team rather than myself,” said Mitchell. “I was genuinely so happy for all the guys and girls behind the scenes to have put so much effort in, whether that’s from Lamborghini or Pfaff. We’ve seen how much work has gone into developing this fully in-house GT3 car in a short space of time and Pfaff is working so well with the Lamborghini factory to make things happen and to make steps forward. We really feel it and see how much work goes into that, so I was so happy for everyone to get a boost.”


 

Pfaff’s goal is to get back to the level of success it enjoyed with its association with Porsche, when it won four races and the 2021 IMSA GTD championship with drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Zacharie Robichon, followed up in ’22 by a five-win GTD PRO championship-winning campaign, this time with factory Porsche drivers Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet.


 

Pfaff’s last WeatherTech Championship race win came at Sebring in 2023 with a Porsche piloted by Vanthoor, Klaus Bachler, and Patrick Pilet. The team aligned itself with Lamborghini in 2025 after a single season fielding a McLaren, with Caldarelli finishing ninth in GTD PRO with a best finish of third at Detroit.

Cars fielded by Pfaff have finished in the top five at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park four of the last five years, with Jaminet and Campbell winning after capturing the Motul Pole Award in 2022.


 

Caldarelli, who joined the ranks of Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory drivers in 2017, believes development of the Temerario GT3 is going to plan.


 

“We’ve definitely done big progress, I think,” he said. “Detroit, even though it was a chaotic race, I do feel that we belonged there and we were fighting, realistically, for the podium. I think it was very encouraging. It was huge, to be honest. In terms of car behavior and feeling (compared to) Sebring, we definitely understood much, much more and we are definitely more prepared for different situations. I think it’s literally like a discovery thing, race by race, weekend by weekend.


 

“I think Canadian Tire Motorsport Park will be more similar to Watkins Glen, where we had big challenges,” he added. “It will be interesting to see where we are.”


 

Mitchell and Caldarelli lie seventh in the GTD PRO standings, still within 210 points of leaders Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen and the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO in a season of great class parity. Pfaff Motorsports General Manager Steve Bortolotti is pleased with what he has seen to date.


 

“We always knew this was going to be a challenging season, just with the limited in-season testing we’re able to do,” Bortolotti said. “I feel like we’ve done a really good job with learning every session and every time we’re on track, where we end up farther ahead than we would have been otherwise. The inconsistency that we’re seeing is kind of the reality of a new car and a new GT3 car especially. 


 

“We’ll learn what we can and make sure that we apply it as we go throughout the season,” he concluded. “Hopefully, we can nab a win here before the end of the season just as a boost in the step for everybody on this team.”

One thing Italian Caldarelli and Scotsman Mitchell are absolutely certain they will experience at CTMP is a warm welcome from the Canadian fans. 


 

The car is back in its trademark red and black plaid colors this weekend after rolling through some special alternate liveries to support its partners this year. 


 

“For me, last year was the first time at CTMP and you can definitely see so many people with the red and black plaid,” said Caldarelli. “It was a really cool experience. It’s going to be a really nice event for us, for the team and we will try to do the best we can.” 


 

“It’s the first time that I’m going to experience the team’s home race, so I’m really looking forward to it,” added Mitchell. “I’ve heard a lot about all the red and black plaid and the support the team has, and I think it’ll be fantastic atmosphere. And to top it off, it’s an awesome track to drive around!”


 

Streamed coverage of the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park starts at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday July 12, available through Peacock in the U.S. along with IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube Channel internationally.

 

 

 

VP Racing Challenge Comes to CTMP For Sprint Double

Tunjo Leads LMP3, Workman Seeks to Continue Win Streak in GSX


 

July 7, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge is firmly into the second half of the season with a pair of 45-minute sprint races scheduled from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada.


 

The 17 VP Racing Challenge competitors (seven Le Mans Prototype 3, 10 Grand Sport X) have two practice sessions and qualifying on Friday, July 10 with races on Saturday, July 11, at 8:50 a.m. ET and Sunday, July 12, at 11:10 a.m. ET. Races stream on Peacock and the IMSA Official YouTube channel. 


 

At the most recent LMP3 sprint weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Oscar Tunjo bolstered his full-season championship lead as his Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. team upgraded his No. 1 car from the Duqueine D08 to the Duqueine D09 chassis. Tunjo seeks a rebound at CTMP this weekend as last year, he lost a tire and wheel mid-race. 


 

Tunjo leads Gebhardt teammate Danny Soufi, running the No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine D09, by 390 points in the full-season LMP3 championship and 270 in the sprint rounds.


 

The other LMP3 battle to watch at CTMP is among Bronze Cup drivers. Brian Thienes (No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325) holds a 70-point lead over Travis Hill (No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325) in those standings.


 

Toney Driver Development won the most recent LMP3 race this year with Ari Balogh and Garett Grist winning the Airbnb Endurance Challenge round at VIRginia International Raceway. The Toney team has Wyatt Brichacek in its No. 95 Ligier JS P325 this weekend with a TBD listed against its No. 30 Ligier. 


 

The story in GSX has revolved solely around Westin Workman, who is a perfect six-for-six to start the season in his No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. That maximum score of 2,100 points so far sees him 420 clear of second-placed Courtney Crone, who’s had pace but lacked consistency thus far in her No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO.


 

The GSX Bronze Cup battle is deadlocked with Workman’s teammate Rafael Martinez (No. 68 RAFA Toyota) and Dan Ammann (No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group, LLC Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS) equal on 1,800 points apiece. Jon Brel sits third in his No. 81 Kingpin Toyota, 80 back.


 

Canadians getting to race at their home track this weekend include Hill in LMP3, Brel and Justin Di Benedetto (No. 4 Di Benedetto Racing Porsche). 


 

Fast Facts

IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

July 10-12, 2026


 

Race Days/Times: Saturday, July 11, 8:50 a.m. ET; Sunday, July 12, 11:10 a.m.

Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 8:45 a.m. Saturday and 11:05 a.m. Sunday (available outside the U.S. on IMSA.tv and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel)

Circuit Type: 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course

Classes Competing: Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3), Grand Sport X (GSX)

Race Lengths: 45 minutes


 

VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Track Records

  • P3: Steven Aghakhani, Ligier JS P320, 1:12.299 / 122.441 mph, July 2024 (Qualifying)
  • GSX: Gregory Liefooghe, Stephen Cameron Racing, 1:22.533 / 107.258 mph, July 2023 (Qualifying)


 

2025 VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race 1 Winners: 

  • P3: Valentino Catalano, No. 30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08 
  • GTDX: Jake Walker, No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3
  • GSX: Kiko Porto, No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2

 

WeatherTech Championship Points Leads Shift Heading to CTMP

LMP2, GTD PRO Have New Leaders Leaving Watkins Glen


 

July 7, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Official Points

Official IMEC Points

Trueman-Akin Award Points


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two of the four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes have new points leaders leaving the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, while the other two solidified and expanded their leads.


 

The two single drivers leading their classes – Jack Aitken (Grand Touring Prototype) and Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello (Grand Touring Daytona) – saw their leads grow by 59 (Aitken, from 144 to 203) and 17 (Barrichello, 140 to 157) after the race at Watkins Glen International.


 

Meanwhile in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) classes, new leaders emerged.


 

CrowdStrike Back to LMP2 Lead; AO Leaps from Sixth to Second


 

The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07 regained the top spot after entering Watkins Glen just three points behind the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA. With a second-place finish, George Kurtz, Alex Quinn and Toby Sowery now hold a 55-point margin over two cars.


 

Those two are the prior leaders, the No. 22 United ORECA of Daniel Goldburg, Paul Di Resta and Rasmus Lindh, and Watkins Glen winners AO Racing with PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Jonny Edgar in the No. 99 ORECA. United’s No. 22 car will go down to a single championship challenger as Ben Hanley will race alongside Goldburg at CTMP, filling in for Di Resta. 

Hyett, last year’s LMP2 champion with Cameron, was thrilled to rise from sixth, 92 points back leaving Sebring to now tied for second just 55 in arrears.


 

“I'm thrilled to hear that because we entered this weekend with P6 in the championship because silly stuff like you catch the wrong side of a safety car,” he said. “To be catapulted up and tied for second now is an absolute thrill.”


 

The 2024 champions, Inter Europol Competition, are in striking distance with Tom Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke and Bijoy Garg, fourth and 107 back in their No. 43 ORECA. Dillmann won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2024 with Nick Boulle but sustained injuries in a late-race incident there in 2025, so he’ll be looking for redemption this year.


 

Paul Miller Racing BMW Now Leads Both GTD PRO Full-Season and Michelin Endurance Cup

It’s become old hat to talk about Paul Miller Racing in relation to maximizing IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points, as back-to-back champions in GTD PRO in this format the last two years. But there’s a good chance they could win the full-season GTD PRO crown too based on its form.


 

The Rolex 24 At Daytona winners added a second place at Watkins Glen to jump ahead of both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs. Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen turned an 18-point deficit into a 60-point lead leaving Watkins Glen in their No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO while the Corvette duo finished fourth (No. 3) and eighth (No. 4). The No. 4 car was assessed a post-race time penalty equivalent to a drive-through for incident responsibility with the No. 65 car on the last lap.


 

“Notoriously over the past couple of years, Paul Miller Racing has always been very competitive in the Endurance Cup,” Verhagen noted heading into Watkins Glen. “It’s something that we always seem to have a good strategy to maximize the points. 


 

“This year for sure the goal, and especially with our championship standings at this point is to focus on the actual championship that we're still trying to still win. We know what to do and how to win an Endurance Cup championship. But we're trying to show that we're not just Endurance Cup champions, and that we have the material and the means to go and win an actual IMSA championship.”


 

For good measure, they’re also leading the Michelin Endurance Cup points through three of five rounds, up by seven over third driver Max Hesse and nine on the next entries, the No. 4 Corvette and No. 911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).


 

Manufacturer Standings Close Across Categories


 

Cadillac’s perfect haul of available points in the last two races has pushed it past Porsche to lead the GTP manufacturer championship by 80, 2,182 to 2,102 with three races to go.


 

The tight GTD PRO manufacturer battle sees the top three covered by less than 100 points; Chevrolet leads BMW by 72 points and Ford by 98. Porsche sits fourth, ahead of Lexus, Lamborghini and McLaren among the class’ seven full-time OEMs.


 

Aston Martin leapt ahead of Ferrari in GTD, up 37 points after entering the weekend down by just three. Mercedes-AMG, Porsche and Lexus are just over 100 points back. 


 

The LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD cars are back in action at the Chevrolet Grand Prix, July 10-12, from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. GTP resumes as part of the next IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup round, the six-hour Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix, July 30-August 2 from Road America. 

 

Championship Battles, Canadians in the Michelin Pilot Challenge Spotlight at CTMP

Less Than 100 Points Cover Top Four in GS; 11 Canadians Split 3 GS, 8 TCR


 

July 6, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A challenging end to an otherwise clean IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Watkins Glen International has set the stage for the second half of the 2026 season, where it’s anyone’s guess who will emerge at the head of the championship battles leaving Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. There are 42 cars, split 29 Grand Sport (GS) and 13 Touring Car (TCR) for Round 6 of the season (Saturday, 1:25 p.m. ET, Peacock and ad-free courtesy of Michelin on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel). 


 

The top four in GS are now covered by just 80 points, which includes entries from four different teams and manufacturers.


 

Turner Motorsport’s No. 95 BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Luca Mars and Dillon Machavern still leads by 60 points, with their 17th place finish at Watkins Glen not at all reflective of what looked to be their fifth top-five finish in as many races. Debris caused a puncture to the car in the final moments of the race. 


 

Just 20 points cover second through fourth. Two-time winners Ibiza Farm Motorsport sit second with Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky in their No. 44 McLaren Artura GT4, 10 ahead of third-placed Bryce Ward in his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 and 10 more ahead of fourth-placed Nate Cicero and Robert Noaker in their No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4. 


 

Lurking in fifth is Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer in their No. 27 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO. Despite an 11th-place result at Watkins Glen, they’re only 140 back, and heading to two venues where the No. 27 car podiumed in 2025 at CTMP and Road America, respectively.  


 

In TCR, three Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCRs maintain the top three positions in points, owing in large part to consistency.


 

Four podiums from Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi see their No. 33 Hyundai at the head of the field by 80 points over teammates Preston Brown and Denis Dupont – who hails from Montreal – in their No. 76 Hyundai, with Mark Wilkins and Madison Aust third in their No. 98 Hyundai 140 back. The team’s No. 18 Hyundai (Harry Gottsacker, Lance Bergstein) sits fifth in points.


 

Wilkins (Mulmur) is one of three active Canadian drivers to win a Michelin Pilot Challenge race at CTMP, along with last year’s winners Karl Wittmer (Saint-Lazare) and LP Montour (Blainville) in their No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR. Unfortunately for the all-Canadian Honda entry, early race mechanical woes at the LP Building Solutions 120 left Wittmer and Montour falling down the standings to sixth, 250 points in arrears after winning the previous round at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 


 

The 29 GS cars feature three Canadian drivers, including brothers Travis (Ottawa) and Trevor (Arnprior) Hill in the No. 22 Shopify Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS, Samantha Tan (Stouffville) in her No. 38 ST Racing by Random Vandals BMW M4 GT4 EVO.


 

The Canadians are more prevalent among the 13 TCR cars. Beyond the already mentioned Dupont, Wilkins, Wittmer and Montour, Baker Racing has a quartet of Canadians in the father-and-son duo of Dean and Sam Baker (Bowmanville), James Vance (Toronto) and Kenny Riedmann (Meaford) split between their Nos. 52 and 56 Audi RS3 LMS TCRs. 

Fast Facts

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

July 10-11, 2026


 

Race Day/Time: Saturday, July 11, 1:25 p.m. ET

Live Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 1:20 p.m. ET, Peacock in the U.S., globally on IMSA YouTube ad-free courtesy of Michelin

Circuit Type: 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course

Classes Competing: Grand Sport (GS), Touring Car (TCR)

Race Length: Two hours


 

Michelin Pilot Challenge Track Records

  • GS: Jack Hawksworth, Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO, 1:22.084 / 107.845 mph, July 2024 (Qualifying) 
  • TCR: Bryson Morris, Hyundai Elantra N TCR, 1:22.918 / 106.760 mph, July 2025 (Qualifying) 


 

2025 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winners

  • GS: Jeff Westphal/Sean McAlister, No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO
  • TCR: Karl Wittmer/LP Montour, No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR 


 

Storylines

  • Tight GS Battle: The Watkins Glen round brought the top four in GS covering four different teams and brands apiece within just 80 points covering the No. 95 Turner BMW, No. 44 Ibiza Farm McLaren, No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG and No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Ford. Similarly, just 50 points cover Mercedes-AMG, BMW and McLaren in the manufacturer battle.
  • Honda’s Win Streak in TCR: Honda has won the last two TCR rounds with MMG and KMW, respectively. Hyundai seeks its first win since Monterey, Cupra its first since Sebring and Audi its first since VIR last year – and if the latter happens, it’d be the 18th of 18 OEMs to win an IMSA-sanctioned race in 2026.
  • Canadian Homecoming: There are 11 Canadian drivers (3 in GS, 8 in TCR) looking to score a win in their home country this weekend. 


 

Who’s Hot?

  • Ibiza Farm McLaren: Two wins and four top-nine finishes in the last four races mean the No. 44 McLaren has been the GS top scorer across that time frame. 
  • No. 13 Ford, No. 27 BMW: Given the volume of GS cars, both the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Ford (five top-10s in five races) and No. 27 Auto Technic BMW (five top-11s in five races) have avoided the one “bad” race to stay in championship contention behind the top three cars. 
  • No. 33 Hyundai: Four podiums in five races for the TCR leaders, including second at Watkins Glen last race. 


 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Billy Johnson: Johnson has won in three different decades at CTMP, including his most recent Michelin Pilot Challenge GS win in 2023, co-driving the No. 50 Hattori Motorsports’ Toyota GR Supra GT4 with Parker Thompson. The driver of KOHR Motorsports’ No. 59 Ford Mustang GT4 remains tied with fellow Ford driver Matt Plumb (No. 46 TeamTGM) on 24 wins, most all-time in series history. 
  • Owen Trinkler: The Michelin Pilot Challenge veteran has a pair of CTMP wins in the STI (2003) and ST classes (2016), and has been a key in Dan Ammann’s recent rise in the GS Bronze Cup standings in their No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group LLC Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.


 

Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winners in 2026 Field (11)

  • Billy Johnson (3): ST – 2007; GS – 2016, 2023  
  • Mikey Taylor (2): TCR – 2019, 2023 
  • Owen Trinkler (2): STI – 2003; ST – 2016 
  • Harry Gottsacker (1): TCR – 2024 
  • Stevan McAleer (1): GS – 2024 
  • Sean McAlister (1): GS – 2025 
  • Chris Miller (1): TCR – 2023 
  • LP Montour (1): TCR – 2025 
  • Jeff Westphal (1): GS – 2025 
  • Mark Wilkins (1): TCR – 2022
  • Karl Wittmer (1): TCR – 2025 


 

Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Pole Winners in 2026 Field (8)

  • Harry Gottsacker (1): TCR – 2024
  • Nate Cicero (1): GS – 2025 
  • Billy Johnson (1): GS – 2015 
  • Chris Miller (1): TCR – 2023 
  • Bryson Morris (1): TCR – 2025 
  • Kenny Murillo (1): GS – 2022 
  • Mikey Taylor (1): TCR – 2019
  • Owen Trinkler (1): GS – 2019 


 

Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winning Teams in 2026 Field (6)

  • Bryan Herta Autosport (2): TCR – 2022, 2024
  • JDC-Miller MotorSports (2): TCR – 2019, 2023 
  • Murillo Racing (2): ST – 2017; GS – 2022 
  • CarBahn with Peregrine Racing (1): GS – 2025 
  • KohR Motorsports (1): GS – 2018 
  • MMG (1): TCR – 2025 


 

Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winning Manufacturers in 2026 Field (8)

  • Ford – 7
  • Porsche – 6 
  • BMW – 5 
  • Audi – 3 
  • Hyundai – 2 
  • Honda – 1 
  • Mercedes-AMG – 1 
  • Toyota – 1 


 

 

LMP2 and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park: A Win-Win Overall

Third Consecutive Year WeatherTech Championship’s Trip to CTMP Showcases LMP2 as Headliner


 

July 2, 2026

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – If it’s time for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) then it’s time for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) cars, teams and drivers to enjoy a weekend in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship spotlight for the third straight year. 


 

That’s because, with their counterparts in the exotic Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category enjoying a weekend off, 10 LMP2 competitors will be the fastest cars in a field expected to add a combined total of 23 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GTD entries, making for a projected field of 33. 


 

Thus for three days of practice, qualifying and the two-hour and 40-minute race itself, LMP2 will be king of the 10-turn, 2.459-mile road course East of Toronto. Much to the drivers’ delight.


 

“One of the biggest differences about being top gun on the track is your eyes are always forward,” says Jeremy Clarke who, together with Tom Dillmann and Bijoy Garg, co-drove the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 to a fourth-place finish in the Sahlen Six Hours of The Glen last weekend. Clarke qualified on pole, his second of the season (Rolex 24 At Daytona). 


 

“Of course, you need to keep an eye on your competitors behind you. But you know where they’re at at all times, whereas the GTPs can pop out of nowhere. So having your eyes forward is really beneficial.”


 

That’s particularly true at a track renowned both for its succession of blind, high-speed turns and for its return on commitment, so to speak. That’s especially the case in an LMP2 car, given that the category’s aggressive aerodynamic rules package enables teams to dial-up the downforce generated by their ORECA chassis. 


 

“The P2 is such a fantastic car,” says George Kurtz, who teamed with his full-season co-driver Alex Quinn to win both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. They share the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA in IMSA. 


 

“It is so quick in the corners that I think if you’re not out on track in one of these cars you might not have an appreciation of how fast it is in the corners compared to a GTP; how well it actually gets around. Talking with some of the GTP drivers who also race LMP2, they quite enjoy these P2 cars.” 

“An LMP2 car at CTMP is nuts,” adds Clarke. “It’s a really aggressive track; it takes a lot of cajones to get around there! We’re going to test this week and, hopefully, build up the confidence in the car that you need there and, hopefully, deliver a strong performance.


 

“Being able to go flat through Turn 1 feels really good, and the downhill run into the hairpin (Moss Corner). It’s easy to over-slow the car so it’s a great feeling when you get it just right. There’s a huge amount of time to be gained there.”


 

It’s a couple of other sections of CTMP that bring a smile to Kurtz’s face.


 

“When you get to Turn 2 over the hill, that’s a big commitment corner that carries speed all the way through,” he says. “Then you have Turn 8 . . . you’re just about flat out in that thing. You’ve got to turn in flat and just kind of manage a little lift mid-corner. It’s amazing how fast you are. Then when you look at the data and see the numbers you think ‘Wow! That’s pretty quick.’ So it’s lot of fun those turns.”


 

Let’s see, according to Clarke and Kurtz, that’s Turns 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8: Five turns on a 10-turn track. In other words, 50 percent of CTMP’s turns are particularly satisfying to get just right. Even more satisfying? Winning a race when your category is in the spotlight.  


 

“When you can have an overall win at an IMSA race, that’s pretty special,” says Kurtz. “So that’s what we’re going for. We had a really good test there and we like the track: high speed, high commitment … fun. So, we’ll see how it all winds up but we’re really looking forward to it.”

The CTMP LMP2 headliner has created a trend: the last two winners have gone on to win the LMP2 title. Dillmann won the CTMP race with Nick Boulle in 2024 before securing the title, then PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron won last year to propel themselves to the 2025 crown. 


 

Leaving Watkins Glen, Kurtz and Quinn now lead the LMP2 championship by 55 points ahead of a two-way tie between Hyett and Cameron and Daniel Goldburg (No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA), who will co-drive with Ben Hanley at CTMP. 


 

Hyett noted how pivotal the CTMP win was for AO Racing’s summer stretch of success in “Spike,” its No. 99 ORECA. 


 

“I knew we had a good shot at performing well there,” says last year’s Jim Trueman Award recipient. “Yeah, it was a huge confidence boost not just for myself, for the entire team. And then, yeah, absolutely helped with our championship position.”


 

And what does it mean to win overall? 


 

“It’s real cool,” Hyett says, succinctly.


 

It’s safe to say those are sentiments shared by the other drivers who will be competing in LMP2 in the Chevrolet Grand Prix.

 

 

 

Entry List Notebook – Chevrolet Grand Prix

LMP2 Headliner, Canadians in Action and Tight Title Battles


 

July 1, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class headlines the annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park outside Toronto for a third straight year. The three classes all have relatively close title battles with 55 (LMP2), 60 (Grand Touring Daytona Pro) and 157 (Grand Touring Daytona) points covering first and second place. 


 

The field of 33 cars at CTMP covers 10 LMP2, 10 GTD PRO and 13 GTD cars who will race Sunday, July 12, at 2:05 p.m. ET (Peacock, IMSA Official YouTube channel, IMSA.TV). 


 

Car Blanche, which debuted at Watkins Glen and finished third in GTD, shifts into GTD PRO this race with Valentin Hasse Clot and Scott Andrews sharing the team’s renumbered No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. 


 

Half of the 10 ORECA LMP2 07 cars feature a Canadian with all of Bronze-rated Phil Fayer (No. 2 United Autosports USA), John Farano (No. 8 Tower Motorsports), Tobi Lutke (No. 11 TDS Racing), Misha Goikhberg (No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen) and Chris Cumming (No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports) set to qualify and start Sunday’s race. Goikhberg’s No. 52 car has a fill-in co-driver this week as Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor is set to make an LMP2 cameo appearance. 


 

Pfaff Motorsports headlines the Canadian entries in GT in GTD PRO with its No. 9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3, along with 13 Autosport in GTD (Bob Akin Award points leader Orey Fidani and Matthew Bell share the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R) and also Canadian engineering powerhouse Multimatic, a key partner of the Ford Racing GTD PRO program. 


 

Canadian drivers in the two GT classes include Fidani, Roman De Angelis – filling in alongside GTD points leader Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo – and the returning Robert Wickens in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R alongside Mason Filippi.

 

Fast Facts

Chevrolet Grand Prix

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

July 10-12, 2026


 

Race Day/Time: Sunday, July 12, 2 p.m. ET

Streaming Coverage: LIVE Flag-to-flag beginning at 2 p.m. (streaming on Peacock in the U.S.; IMSA.tv, IMSA Official YouTube channel outside the U.S.)

Qualifying Stream: Saturday, July 11 at 3:55 p.m. ET (Peacock in the U.S.; IMSA.TV, IMSA Official YouTube channel globally)

IMSA Radio: Selected sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; XM live race coverage on XM 206, Web/App 996

Circuit Type: 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course

Classes Competing: Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)

Race Length: 2 hours, 40 minutes


 

Track Social Media: 


 

Event Hashtags: #IMSA


 

WeatherTech Championship Track Records

  • LMP2: Matthew McMurry, ORECA LMP2, 1:08.197 / 129.806, July 2019 (race)
  • GTD PRO: Alexander Sims, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, 1:14.373 / 119.027 mph, July 2024 (qualifying)
  • GTD: Frankie Montecalvo, Lexus RC F GT3, 1:15.060 / 117.937 mph, July 2024 (qualifying)

 

2025 Chevrolet Grand Prix Winners

  • LMP2: PJ Hyett/Dane Cameron, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07
  • GTD PRO: Albert Costa/Giacomo Altoè, No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3
  • GTD: Danny Formal/Trent Hindman, No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2


 

2025 Chevrolet Grand Prix Motul Pole Award Winners

  • LMP2: PJ Hyett, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07
  • GTD PRO: Neil Verhagen, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO
  • GTD: Jack Hawksworth, No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3


 

Storylines

  • LMP2’s Sprint and Headliner: The first of two sprint races of the year for the LMP2 field is also the one chance for the class to secure an overall win in IMSA competition during the season. 
  • Wickens’ Return: Robert Wickens makes his first WeatherTech Championship start since Long Beach after a transporter fire took the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R out of action prior to Monterey (the team returned to competition last week at Watkins Glen). He enjoyed his best 2025 race at his home circuit last year, finishing fourth and just off the podium.  
  • Fill-In Factor: CTMP once again sees a number of guest drivers with Ben Hanley (No. 22 United ORECA), Ricky Taylor (No. 52 BHA w/PR1 Mathiasen ORECA), Roman De Angelis (No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin) all filling in for others with schedule conflicts. 
  • GTD PRO Title Shift: The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO moved to the head of the GTD PRO class at Watkins Glen ahead of the pair of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs. The two Chevrolets will seek to change that stat at the Chevrolet Grand Prix. 
  • Dudu vs. Chasing GTD Pack: Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello in the No. 27 Aston Martin holds a 157-point lead on the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and 160 on the No. 96 Turner BMW. Either of those two cars will look to cut into Barrichello’s lead this race. 


 

Who’s Hot?

  • No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07, LMP2: One of only two LMP2 cars with three top-five finishes in as many races sees this entry move to the front of the LMP2 championship. 
  • No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, GTD PRO: The most recent GTD PRO winners have three poles in the last four races. 
  • No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, GTD: Quietly, this Porsche has two podiums and three top-four finishes in the last four races. 

 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett: Five-time IMSA champion Cameron leads the way in CTMP wins, with three overall across both the Prototype and now LMP2 classes. Co-driver Hyett won his first IMSA race at CTMP last year and has the last two poles in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07. 
  • Antonio Garcia: The similar five-time WeatherTech Championship title winner (with a sixth in ALMS) also knows his way around CTMP, with three wins across two GT classes (GT Le Mans, GTD PRO). 


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Winners in 2026 Field (15)

  • Dane Cameron (3): P/Overall – 2016, 2017; LMP2/Overall – 2025  
  • Antonio Garcia (3): GTLM – 2014; GTD PRO – 2023, 2024
  • Roman De Angelis (2): GTD – 2022, 2024
  • Alexander Sims (2): GTLM – 2017; GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Giacomo Altoè (1): GTD PRO – 2025 
  • Albert Costa (1): GTD PRO – 2025 
  • Tom Dillmann (1): LMP2/Overall – 2024 
  • Robby Foley (1): GTD – 2019 
  • Danny Formal (1): GTD – 2025 
  • Felipe Fraga (1): LMP3 – 2023 
  • Trent Hindman (1): GTD – 2025 
  • PJ Hyett (1): LMP2/Overall – 2025
  • Tommy Milner (1): GT – 2013 
  • Nick Tandy (1): GTLM – 2015 
  • Ricky Taylor (1): P/Overall – 2015


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Pole Winners in 2026 Field (10)

  • Jack Hawksworth (3): GTD – 2018, 2025; GTD PRO – 2023 
  • PJ Hyett (2): LMP2 – 2024, 2025
  • Nick Tandy (2): GTLM – 2015, 2018 
  • Ricky Taylor (2): P – 2015, 2017 
  • Roman De Angelis (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Jon Field (1): LMP675 – 2002 
  • Robby Foley (1): GTD – 2019 
  • Antonio Garcia (1): GTLM – 2016
  • Alexander Sims (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Neil Verhagen (1): GTD PRO – 2025 


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Winning Teams in 2026 Field (14)

  • Corvette Racing (13): GTS – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; GT2 – 2009; GT – 2011, 2013; GTLM – 2014; GTD PRO – 2023, 2024 
  • Riley (3): GTD – 2014, 2018; LMP3 – 2023 
  • PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (2): LMP2 – 2019; LMP2/Overall – 2024 (as Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen)
  • Heart of Racing Team (2): GTD – 2022, 2024 
  • Intersport Racing (2): P2 – 2004, 2005 
  • Turner Motorsport (2): GTD – 2016, 2019 
  • Wayne Taylor Racing (2): P – 2015; GTD – 2025 
  • AO Racing (1): LMP2/Overall – 2025 
  • Conquest Racing (1): P2 – 2012 
  • DragonSpeed (1): GTD PRO – 2025
  • Inter Europol Competition (1): LMP2/Overall – 2024 (as Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen)
  • Paul Miller Racing (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Pfaff Motorsports (1): GTD PRO – 2022 
  • Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (1): GTLM – 2017 


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Winning Manufacturers in 2026 Field (9)

  • Porsche – 18
  • Chevrolet – 15
  • BMW – 5
  • Ferrari – 5
  • Acura – 4
  • Aston Martin – 4
  • Ford – 3
  • Lamborghini – 1 
  • Mercedes-AMG – 1
 

 

 

Three Takeaways: Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Whelen's Roll, Vasser Sullivan's Reinbold Tribute, Crowds Keep Flocking to IMSA


 

June 29, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Throughout the week leading into the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers were keeping a wary eye on the weather.


 

“It’s a lot like Le Mans or Spa in that the weather pops up out of nowhere,” said Ricky Taylor, driver of the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

“Every now and then the weather does seem to be a bit crazy,” added Nicky Catsburg, who competes in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. “I remember a red-flag situation maybe last year or a few years ago.”


 

Turns out weather was no issue whatsoever for the 2026 Sahlen’s Six Hours, which was run on a picture-perfect early summer day in New York’s Finger Lakes Region. But that didn’t mean the Watkins Glen race was any less chaotic than it generally tends to be – for whatever reason.


 

There were no red flags for weather or anything else, but also no fewer than nine full-course cautions – the last of which ended the race with Jack Aitken at the front of the field to end a six-hour batttle he and co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti controlled after Aitken earned the Motul Pole Award in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

“It’s a big field, fitting into not the biggest track in the world (3.4 miles and 11 turns),” said Aitken. “It’s narrow, it’s fast, and there’s a lot of pinch points going up the hill into some very fast sequences.”


 

Exhibit A: the early crash that eliminated Colin Braun in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 and the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie when driver Roman De Angelis attempted but was unable to respond fast enough to a traffic stack-up approaching the top of The Glen’s famous “Esses.”


 

“As the race gets to a close, people start taking more risks,” Aitken added. “It’s always going to be quite a cool race because it’s sketchy and it’s a bit scary. But it’s thrilling, that’s for sure.”


 

That’s one clear takeaway from another action-packed Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Here are three more…


 

Magic Eighth Podium for Whelen

Along with teammates Bamber and Vesti, who also turned in strong drives, Aitken and the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R extended their advantage in the points standings with a GTP-era record eighth consecutive podium finish - a streak that dates to September 2025. It appears the No. 31 Cadillac is only trending up: Watkins Glen marked the second consecutive race win for the Whelen car, which is displaying a faultless combination of one-lap qualifying speed, smart strategy, and stint-long race pace at every stop on the WeatherTech Championship trail. 


 

Aitken has built a 203-point cushion over Laurin Heinrich (who finished third at Watkins Glen in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 with Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick) in their fascinating one-on-one battle for the GTP Driver’s championship. Sunday’s runner-up Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande (No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) are the top driver pairing in the standings, 245 points off.


 

But Aitken isn’t taking the dream season to date for granted. He knows one really bad weekend combined with a really good weekend for his competitors could result in a 150-to-200 point swing. 


 

“You just never know in IMSA racing,” he said. “That’s the cool thing. You can say it’s going to be super predictable, then there’ll be another yellow coming, but then you've got a massive green run until right at the end when you can't go green again.”


 

He’ll also have to fight off the challenge of Heinrich, whose evolving 2026 schedule has resulted in a full-time GTP campaign in two different Porsches (the No. 5 JDC-Miller car and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry he co-drove to victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer). The No. 7’s full-time duo is close behind the No. 60 Acura pair, 258 points off Aitken’s lead.


 

The No. 5 Porsche took advantage of the cautions to rally for Heinrich to claim the final podium spot at Watkins Glen after it fell a lap down earlier in the race and lost a tire in the process. Another electrifying performance that included several daring passes has marked the 24-year-old German as sports car racing’s most exciting young prospect since his countryman (and also Porsche factory driver) Stefan Bellof.


 

“I have to say a big thank you Porsche and to JDC and my teammates because it was a really good day; we made a good turnaround,” Heinrich said. “There was some very good racing out there today. I think that’s exactly what IMSA stands for and what the fans want to see. It was hard but fair. Very exciting, I hope. 


 

“I’m looking forward to re-watch it tonight.”


 

Vasser Sullivan Celebrates Reinbold  

When a member of the racing community passes away, all branches of the sport feel affected and offer their support. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is no exception.


 

Dennis Reinbold was best known for the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team that has competed in the IndyCar Series since the turn of the century, nearly winning the Indianapolis 500 with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2025. Reinbold, who died earlier in June at the age of 65, was an important mentor to James ‘Sulli’ Sullivan, co-owner of the Vasser Sullivan team that serves as the factory-supported Lexus team in the WeatherTech Championship’s GTD and GTD PRO classes.


 

The team’s No. 12 GTD and No. 14 GTD PRO entries were fielded under the Vasser Sullivan w/Dreyer & Reinbold banner at Watkins Glen, and Sulli gave an impassioned mid-race interview to NBC Sports during the Sahlen’s Six Hours. 


 

Sulli was later overcome with emotion when Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat broke a two-plus-year winless streak to claim GTD PRO honors in the No. 14 Lexus RC G GT3.


 

“A lot of people don’t know that Dennis was so instrumental in helping me get started as an owner in the sport,” Sullivan said. “Our partnership started for an IndyCar race at Baltimore with Jimmy (Vasser) and I look back on it as so instrumental for me. He was a partner before he was a friend.”


 

Reinbold and Sullivan later joined forces to field teams in RallyCross and X Games competition.


 

“So many memories,” Sulli reflected. “I don’t know the last time Dennis won a race, but we’re going to make sure it’s today, I think.”


 

Mission accomplished with the GTD PRO victory. Vasser Sullivan w/Dreyer & Reinbold narrowly missed a podium finish in GTD, with Aaron Telitz, Frankie Montecalvo, and Benjamin Pedersen taking fourth place after a late splash for fuel – ironically, the same issue that befell the same No. 12 GTD car in 2025.


 

Sports Car Racing’s Roll Isn’t Slowing 

The first clue came when leading racing journalist Marshall Pruett’s daily ‘Good Morning from…’ social media post featured an image of several lanes of fans queuing up to get into Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s Six Hours weekend.


 

At 7 o’clock Thursday morning.


 

Suffice to say the WeatherTech Championship’s popularity was on display for all to see at one of America’s most historic road courses from Thursday to Sunday, with campers packing the property from the Esses to the Boot (and above, on the traditional pre-race open grid walk). 


 

The strong turnout extended a record attendance streak for IMSA and comes on the heels of momentum-building recent news regarding top-class convergence with the FIA World Endurance Championship for 2030 and the introduction of a new LMP2 chassis and Gibson engine package to the WeatherTech Championship in 2029.


 

“We have been so fortunate since even before the beginning of the 2024 season where we had record attendance at each of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “We’re extremely proud of that. The grid walks are packed, and I think you’ll see that continue for the rest of the season all the way to the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.”


 

The GTP class now enjoys its first extended break of the season, allowing LMP2 to take top billing at the next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – the July 10-12 Chevrolet SportsCar Classic at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. 

 

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