The field was nicely bunched as Klaus Graf led the field round to the startline in the Canadian sunshine, and when the green flag flew the German racer was ready and kept his lead. Andy Meyrick was also ready and took the DeltaWing down the inside the Dyson Lola to take second; a cautious start from Tony Burgess causing the P2 field to immediately bottle-neck, although Mike Conway held on to his lead in the #552 HPD.
Jonathan Bomarito also held onto his pole position in GT in the #93 SRT Viper, but in GTC Seth Neiman was already in trouble with a puncture on the #44 Flying Lizard Porsche.
After five minutes, Graf’s lead was already approaching ten seconds, and while Meyrick could do nothing about the HPD ahead, he was going great guns in the chrome LM12 and maintaining a three-second gap over Burgess. P2 was now ESM/Level 5/ESM/Level 5 with Guy Cosmo taking the fight to Conway in the #01 HPD having taken second from Scott Tucker. Duncan Ende had already built up an eight-second PC lead in the #9 RSR ORECA, while the two BAR1 FLM09s of Chris Cumming and Tomy Drissi fought over second.
As ever, GT was nose-to-tail, with Bomarito holding a 1.2s advantage over Marc Goossens in the #91 Viper, while Olly Gavin was just a couple of tenths further back in third in the #45 Corvette. But while one Lizard Porsche was struggling in GTC (Neiman now having rejoined), the other was having no such issues and Nelson Canache Jr’s lead in the #45 over Henrique Cisneros in the #30 NGT Porsche was two seconds. Cooper MacNeil was third in the AJR Porsche.
Cosmo was all over Conway in the P2 lead-battle, which was taking place in the exhaust fumes from the Dyson Lola. By now, though, the prototypes were already amongst traffic and the gaps between the three cars were in flux as they swept past the GTC field. Once clear, the trio remained in the same order, but still glued together.
Charlie Shears had now caught up with the battle for second in PC and had the #18 Performance Tech car up to third. However, as he was lining up Cumming for second, he side-swiped the #66 TRG Porsche of Ben Keating into the tyre wall, fortunately without injury to the driver, but with a damaged radiator for the GTC. Inevitably, Shears picked up a penalty – 60 second stop/go – for avoidable contact, and when he stopped to take his punishment Drissi saw his opportunity to finally take second from his teammate.
Having run so well for the first 20 minutes, the DeltaWing suddenly slowed to a crawl with apparent oil-pressure issues. Meyrick nursed the car back to the pits, but it was destined not to rejoin.
After starting from the back of the grid following Jan Magnussen’s qualifying shunt, Antonio Garcia was soon pushing Wolf Henzler’s Falken Porsche for sixth but finally overcame the lupine resistance only after several laps. The Spaniard now had 18 seconds to make up before he could get on terns with the BMW Z4 of Bill Auberlen, who himself trailed the #56 sister-car of Dirk Müller by five seconds.
At the head of the GT class, the two SRT Vipers had broken clear of the #4 Corvette by the 40-minute mark and were separated by just a few lengths. Unfortunately for Bomarito, however, a lock-up at Moss Corner led to him running wide and gifting Goossens the class lead. Henzler, meanwhile, was losing more ground with a puncture on the blue and green RSR.
Guy Cosmo was the first of the lead cars to take a schedule stop – the P2 lead-battle by now having got past the Dyson P1 – with the #01 ESM HPD stopping after 50 minutes. He was followed down the pitlane by Graf (fuel only), but Tony Burgess completely missed his pitbox and was sent back round by his team. The two Level 5 cars stopped soon afterwards.
With an hour of the race gone, Graf’s lead was up to two laps over the ongoing Conway/Cosmo scrap which kept swinging back and forth between the Level 5 and ESM HPDs. This duel was undoubtedly the highlight of the race at this point, with second place overall being traded several times as the P2 chase sliced through the traffic.
With the pitstops in full-flow the GT lead was also changing regularly. Tommy Milner now led in the #4 Corvette by a second from the #91 Viper – Dominik Farnbacher now at the wheel – with Joey Hand now in the #56 BMW in third a couple of seconds further back. Maxime Martin had taken over the #55 Z4 in fourth, 12 seconds off the lead, but Bomarito had slipped to sixth after a stop/go penalty for speeding in the pitlane that probably had done nothing to improve his mood.
Conway retook the P2 lead with just over 90 minutes remaining when he took advantage of a huge clump of traffic – involving cars from all five classes – to go round the outside of Cosmo at Moss Corner. Five minutes later, Scott Tucker – third in P2 – handed the #551 HPD over to Marino Franchitti, indicating that it wouldn’t be too long before Mike Conway would be stopping in the #552. With the #551 being the nominated points-scoring car for Tucker, it was unlikely that the Level 5 boss would be attempting to match Conway’s impressive pace during the second half of the race.
Patrick Dempsey led GTC, but had yet to take his first stop in the #27, and when he stopped soon afterwards it was Spencer Pumpelly in the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche, by 11 seconds from Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Sean Edwards was a further half-dozen seconds adrift in third.
A frustrated Wolf Henzler was unwittingly closing the GT battle up as the outpaced Falken Porsche held things up. Milner found his mirrors full of Viper and BMW for several laps before finding a way past, but Hand couldn’t find a gap before Farnbacher nipped by the #17 RSR in traffic. There were now three seconds between each of the top three in the class. Bill Riley had evidently not been impressed by Henzler’s resistance and made his views known to the Falken crew in person.
With 75 minutes to go the leaders in each class were Klaus Graf in P1 (by three laps), Conway in P2 (8.77s), Duncan Ende in PC (one lap), Tommy Milner in GT (4.63s) and Spencer Pumpelly in GTC (9.19s).
With the Conway/Cosmo battle now seemingly at an end, attention now switched to the GT and GTC classes where things were closing up nicely. With Henzler’s roadblock now overcome, Milner’s pursuers were starting to get back on terms with the Corvette and 24 seconds covered the top six in class. Bomarito, meanwhile, had retaken fifth from Martin, who had earlier lost position to Magnussen. In GTC, just under 15 seconds separated first from third.
Conway made his stop with 64 minutes to go, while Duncan Ende ended a similarly excellent stint at the same time to hand over the PC leading #9 RSR ORECA to Bruno Junqueira. Disastrously, however, the Brazilian driver found himself unable to restart the car and its hard-won advantage swiftly evaporated. The class lead was now held by Mike Guasch in the #52 Molecular FLM09.
While the PC dramas were ongoing, Guy Cosmo handed the #01 ESM HPD over to Scott Sharp and the two Scotts were now separated by 15 seconds. Marino Franchitti, meanwhile, now had almost exactly an hour to make up the one lap deficit he currently held in third.
His task was eased hugely just a couple of laps later, however, when the race went yellow for the first time with 54 minutes to go. Tomy Drissi had run wide at the exit of Turn 1 and hit the tyre wall at speed. The impact tore off the front-left of the #7 BAR1 ORECA, but the driver was uninjured. Franchitti’s deficit was suddenly down to just nine seconds, before he headed for fuel and tyres when the pitlane opened.
Lucas Luhr had recently taken over the leading Muscle Milk HPD and led by four laps from Tucker. Renger van der Zande led PC in the #81 DragonSpeed ORECA, from Colin Braun’s #05 CORE FLM09; while in GT Milner led in the #4 Corvette from Farnbacher, Hand, Magnussen, Kuno Wittmer in the #93 SRT Viper and Maxime Martin. Jeroen Bleekemolen led GTC having elected not to pit the #22 AJR Porsche, from Pumpelly, Edwards and Ryan Dalziel in the #68 TRG car.
The race went green again with 38 minute to go and several early gains were made on the restart. Van der Zande lost two places immediately in PC, while Wittmer pounced to take fourth from Magnussen. Scott Tucker held on to the P2 lead, but Scott Sharp was pushing hard to close the gap; not helped by the interloping P1 HPD of Tony Burgess. The ESM boss needed to find a way past quickly as Franchitti was just seven seconds behind and closing fast.
Sean Edwards had taken second from Pumpelly, but his assertive defence of the position drew the ire of the officials who issued an official warning.
With 28 minutes to go, Franchitti had closed on to the rear of Sharp and pounced when the ESM car was momentarily baulked by Bleekemolen’s Porsche; the #551 going round the outside to take second. Moments later, the two Level 5 cars swapped places and the Scot now led P2. However, Sharp followed the #551 through as the lead changed and took second in the class.
In PC, van der Zande had recovered a place at the expense of Kyle Marcelli but was six second adrift of Colin Braun with 25 minutes remaining; the #05 CORE machine having overcome a cut tyre and a stop/go for speeding in the pitlane during Jon Bennett’s stint en route to the class lead.
Dominik Farnbacher was giving Tommy Milner absolutely no breathing space as the #93 Viper hassled the #4 Corvette all the way round the two and a half miles of tarmac; the gap rarely straying beyond half a second. Meanwhile, Wittmer was up to third and closing on the fight for the lead as the race entered its final quarter hour.
The Edwards/Pumpelly fight for second in GTC was even more spectacular, with the Flying Lizard Porsche grabbing the place at the exit to Moss Corner but almost immediately losing it again as the #45 lost momentum after riding the kerbs. But the fight was settled conclusively just a few seconds later as Edwards was tagged from behind by Bryan Sellers in the #17 Falken Porsche and turned around.
The MOMO car hit the wall side on but was able to continue in fourth place. To his credit, Sellers accepted full responsibility for the incident, but a podium finish for NGT was gone.
With six minutes to go, Farnbacher was back with Milner as the German made a last push for the GT lead, while Pumpelly was also making huge gains in the closing stages in GTC; the gap to Bleekemolen closing from four to just over one second in two laps. The two GT class fights overlapped at one stage and the Viper had a look down the outside of the Corvette, but without success.
Farnbacher kept the pressure on, but was complicated by the battle for second and third in PC between van der Zande and Marcelli coming through. Fortunately, neither duel was affected by this intrusion and moments later Lucas Luhr received the white flag. It was now or never.
The final lap saw the Viper put its nose alongside the Corvette more than once and a last gasp lunge looked to be on the cards, but a PC intervened and prevented the #93 from carrying maximum momentum through the last corner – Milner crossing the line just 0.27s ahead of Farnbacher to the utter delight of Olly Gavin and Corvette Racing.
“The change we made overnight certainly seemed to have the car right in the window again,” said Olly Gavin. “It was very busy at the start. I didn’t think I was on the right side of the track when it went green. Our lane wasn’t going very quickly and it looked like the BMW and a couple other cars were going to get by. Then all of a sudden it freed up and I was able to go by one of the BMWs at Turn 2. Coming off Turn 5 I was able to get around the other one. Then it was a case of following the Vipers around.
“The guys did a fantastic job in the pits before I handed over the car to Tommy. He drove brilliantly and withstood a massive amount of pressure from the Viper. He showed once again that at the end of the race when there is big pressure on, he can get the job done. It was a fantastic effort.”
Luhr crossed the line to complete a seemingly effortless victory for Muscle Milk, but in doing so perhaps decided the P2 win. Scott Sharp had closed back right up on Marino Franchitti with a late push and was almost alongside as the final corner approached. However, Luhr split the two cars across the line, denying the ESM man another lap. However, it is highly unlikely that the Level 5 driver would have made it easy for him.
“We had a really, really good car today,” said Klaus Graf. “The team prepared a great car and it was very strong from the beginning. I had a good start and was able to build a lead right away. After that, I just tried to maintain my speed and make sure I made no mistakes. You have to be careful with how you overtake here. Managing the traffic was my biggest task today. To win here four times is very special. I really like this place. Every year, Lucas and I pretty much celebrate our birthdays here, and every year we get pole position and win the race. It’s not bad!”
“The days when you win with a car that isn’t maybe the fastest are the most satisfying for sure,” said Franchitti. “The Level 5 guys in the pits were unbelievable. That really put us back in the game. We got lucky in the yellow and that closed it up. Then it was just a case of charging. But by the end, the tire was burned off the car and I was just really hanging on. It was close between Scott Sharp and I but we managed to hold on. I’m very proud of the job that Level 5 and Scott did.”
And it was also traffic that split the GTC leaders at the close, with Jeroen Bleekemolen taking the win for AJR by 2.32s, with Ryan Dalziel third for TRG.
“Fantastic,” said Bleekemolen. “It was a hard fought race. Since the caution the first three GTC cars were running very close together. The car ran really well. The strategy was perfect and got us back out into the lead. I just had to keep it out front and out of trouble. Even in the end we had more fuel in the car and our tires were a little older, but we were able to maintain the lead to the end. Fastest race lap, pole position and fastest in every practice but one is a good way to repay the crew for their hard work over the past two weeks.”
In PC, Colin Braun had the satisfaction of taking the win a day after the frustration of being denied pole on a technicality, while Renger van der Zande held on to second from Kyle Marcelli.
“I knew we had a fast car and we were going to have good pit stops. We executed and we stuck to our game plan,” said Braun. “I put my head down and tried to go as fast as I could. We had really good pit stops and were able to overcome the deficit and get the race win, which is what we’re all about.
“I would have loved to have pole number four of five this year, but I think the performance today proved we had the car to beat all weekend. I’m happy to get the win and I’m proud of all the CORE autosport guys that did a heck of a job today.”
P1 aside, Mosport (as was) once again dished up a great race throughout the field, with numerous top-class performances. Next up is Road America in three weeks’ time.
MH
