This time a year ago, Tom Dillmann found himself lying in a hospital bed after crashing out of the lead of the IMSA Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. A mechanical failure sent his car crashing head-on from the lead of the race. The Frenchman sustained a back injury from the impact, and would have to miss the following race at Road America – putting an end to his and Inter Europol Competition’s hopes of repeating their 2024 IMSA LMP2 championships.
“Going into the weekend, it didn’t change anything for me. I go to any race wanting to win. But now, after the fact, I think it’s indeed a cool story,” said Dillmann, who got his measure of redemption a year after his accident.
Fast forward a year, and you’d find Dillmann standing proud and happy as the winner at the circuit formerly known as Mosport, alongside co-driver Jeremy Clarke. They gave the team its second CTMP win in the last three years, leading 93 out of 127 laps from pole position in their #43 ORECA 07-Gibson en route to the victory on Sunday.
In fact, last year’s accident is the only blemish on Inter Europol’s record in Canada, and over the last three races, this team has led more laps at CTMP than any other organisation.
“As a team, we are really strong here,” Dillmann said.
“In the race, Jeremy did a perfect job (at the start). A few cars took a chance with the strategy, and they got a yellow at the right time, which cost us the lead. I knew passing CrowdStrike (Racing by APR) and Alex (Quinn) would be a tough task, but we managed to do it.”
The Frenchman used lapped traffic to his benefit to drive around Quinn and back into the lead with just a little less than half of the race to go. “And then we had the pace to bring it home,” said Dillmann.
Since leaving the confines of the ByKolles/Vanwall organisation for Inter Europol Competition, Dillmann has reached new heights in his sports car racing career, and in turn, helped Inter Europol become a new standard-bearer in global LMP2 racing. This win comes just a month after Dillmann, Nick Yelloly, and Jakub Śmiechowski repeated as LMP2 class winners at Le Mans.
“I think we are doing really well all season,” he said, while lamenting a poor result at Sebring – without a mechanical issue in the Twelve Hours, “we would be right up there in the championship as well,” he said.
“In Europe, it’s been a bit tough. Obviously with Le Mans, it covered everything. When you win Le Mans, the season is already a success. 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, it didn’t go our way – and there was quite a bit of pressure to do a good result today, I felt.
“And I’m really happy that we managed to get a win and be back in the front, for a change.”
Sunday’s win put Dillmann and Clarke within 70 points of CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz and Alex Quinn, who finished second overall.
“George done a really good job, and the team as well, to get us in the race and up at the front,” Quinn said. “In the end it was all about track position and hitting traffic at the right time.”
That proved to be the case when Quinn found himself stuck behind the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 just long enough to leave him vulnerable to an attack from Dillmann in the first two corners. “Maybe a slight mistake or a bit unlucky in traffic, and that’s when Tom got past.
“But it was a fun race, of course. Tom’s a great driver, and it’s intense and high-commitment. You couldn’t make one mistake,” Quinn stated.
“And you know, we’re really happy to still get on the podium in second place. It’s exactly what we need this year, and we need to keep this going for the last few rounds, and keep getting good points.”
AO Racing’s PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron are only 81 points out of the lead, and United Autosports USA’s Daniel Goldburg, on his own, trails by 113 points with three races left in the IMSA LMP2 season, where a series championship, and a golden ticket to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, awaits at the end.
Images © IMSA
