Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports took its first win of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship season, holding on through a nine-minute sprint finish to win the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Nick Boulle started the race and gained the early advantage once polesitter PJ Hyett was given an early drive-through penalty for moving out of line at the start of the race. From there, Tom Dillmann took over and maintained the green and yellow #52 ORECA LMP2 07’s advantage, keeping the #11 TDS Racing ORECA of Steven Thomas and Scott Huffaker behind.
With less than 20 minutes left, Ryan Dalziel crashed in the Esses to bring out a Full Course Yellow – just after Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley ORECA had overtaken Huffaker for second place.
Fraga closed to within a second of Dillmann with two laps left, but Dillmann’s masterful manoeuvring through traffic allowed him to hold Fraga at bay for the victory – the first win for Inter Europol Competition in IMSA, and the first IMSA win for both drivers.
“It’s an amazing result; for us to come here for the first time and do our very first laps together as a team here on Friday. It was a steep learning curve against those who tested here,” said Dillmann. “We made gains in every practice session, and they gave me the quickest car in the field.
“My first stint was quite easy, I could pull a gap, and the second was more complicated with those aiming to stay on the lead lap. I had to stay calm, even though the gap was coming down, and then finally, it was free air again.
“Then, the inevitable final caution – and to be honest, I expected it. It was tough, as in free air we were fastest and I could manage the gap, but then it would always bunch up again. I was able to set the fastest lap many times, and then in traffic in those final laps, I stayed calm.
“It was a long time coming for us here at IMSA. We have always had great pace all season. In the first races, we could not capitalise. At Watkins Glen, we did – and so here, we won, which is amazing. A great team, and great drivers, it’s very rewarding.”
Thanks in part to an alternate fuel strategy, Fraga and Gar Robinson finished second, just 0.658s away from their first win of the year, while the #11 TDS ORECA of Thomas and Huffaker completed the overall podium in third.
Behind them were the two United Autosports USA ORECAs, the #2 (Ben Keating/Ben Hanley) and the #22 (Daniel Goldburg/Filipe Albuquerque) in fourth and fifth; the #8 Tower Motorsport ORECA (John Farano/Renger van der Zande) came home sixth.
The #99 AO Racing ORECA of Hyett and Louis Deletraz dropped to eighth after Deletraz spun following contact with the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA (George Kurtz/Colin Braun), which finished just ahead of them in seventh.
Robinson and Fraga now lead the LMP2 championship with three races remaining in their season, but only by 12 points over Boulle and Dillmann. Robinson also took the lead in the Jim Trueman Award standings, with Boulle just 20 points behind him in the race for the golden ticket to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R took its long-awaited maiden victory in IMSA competition – via a 1-2 finish for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in GTD Pro.
The #3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims scored the victory, just ahead of the #4 of Nicky Catsburg, and Tommy Milner – who previously gave the Z06 GT3.R its first win in GT World Challenge America earlier this year.
Sims and Garcia led almost the entire two-hour, 40-minute race, only surrendering the lead during the first round of routine pit stops. This came just after Dennis Andersen crashed his #20 MDK by High Class Racing ORECA at turn nine, which led to the first Full Course Yellow of the race. Minutes later, Bryan Sellers and Orey Fidani tangled at Quebec Corner and the #13 AWA Corvette spun and crashed out.
While the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx just held on for third place, Heinrich and Priaulx were the winners in terms of the GTD Pro championship battle – after the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 (Jack Hawksworth/Ben Barnicoat) retired with 30 minutes left due to a suspected engine failure.
The #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 (Harry Tincknell/Mike Rockenfeller) and the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Ross Gunn/Mario Farnbacher) rounded out the top five in GTD Pro, with the red plaid #9 Pfaff Motorsport McLaren GT3 EVO (Oliver Jarvis/Marvin Kirchhöfer) sixth in the team’s home race.
For the second time in three years, Ontario native Roman de Angelis won his home race in the GTD class. This time, veteran driver Spencer Pumpelly was his co-pilot as the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin finally got its first win in 2024, in what has been a tough season for the 27 crew.
Pumpelly took the lead just after half-distance, taking advantage of a spin from Turner Motorsport’s Patrick Gallagher, and he and De Angelis never relinquished the advantage.
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis extended their massive GTD championship points lead with a second-place finish in class, while the #70 Inception Racing McLaren of Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff put on a late charge to take third place from the #96 Turner BMW of Gallagher and Robby Foley.
Rounding out the top five in GTD was the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus (Frankie Montecalvo/Parker Thompson).
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship returns with all four classes in action at Road America on 4 August.
Images © Jake Galstad / IMSA
