33 cars are set to contest next weekend’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the seventh round of this year’s IMSA Sportscar Championship.
The two hour and 40 minutes race will see the LMP2 category take centre stage for the third consecutive year, with GTD Pro and GTD also competing at the 3.957-kilometre venue.
LMP2 will feature 10 cars for its first sprint event of the year, with Era Motorsport notably absent.
A clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo has forced a change of driver at Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen, with Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing GTP driver replacing Harry Tincknell aboard the #52 ORECA 07 – Gibson, for the American’s first LMP2 start since the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Taylor’s co-driver, Misha Goikhberg, is one of five Canadian drivers in the LMP2 field, as part of a strong home contingent.
Phil Fayer (#2 United Autosports), John Farano (#8 Tower Motorsports), Tobi Lutke (#11 TDS Racing) and Chris Cumming (#73 Pratt Miller Motorsports) are also entered.
Elsewhere, Ben Hanley will race the #22 United Autosports USA ORECA, with Paul Di Resta another caught up with the FIA WEC clash, whilst Intersport Racing is yet to confirm the Pro driver for its #37 ORECA, a seat previously filled by Oliver Jarvis
In the LMP2 teams’ championship, the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA, which will be driven by Alex Quinn and George Kurtz, currently holds a 55-point advantage over both the #99 AO Racing and #22 United Autosports USA entries.
10 cars are entered into GTD Pro, with Car Blanche stepping up to the class having debuted in GTD last time out at Watkins Glen.
Valentin Hasse Clot and Scott Andrews will pilot the YRB Racing-run #68 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, for the first Aston Martin entry into GTD Pro since The Heart of Racing at the 2025 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
Home outfit Pfaff Motorsports, meanwhile, currently only has Sandy Mitchell named against its #9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3, with a ‘TBA’ appearing next to the slot occupied by Andrea Caldarelli so far this season.
After a runner-up finish at Watkins Glen, the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen has moved into the championship lead, 60 points ahead of the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry, with the #4 Corvette a further 21 points behind in third.
The best of the Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evos is in fourth, with the two-car factory effort effectively able to claim CTMP as a home race, given Multimatic’s role in running the cars.
And GTD is once again the largest class, with 13 cars.
In the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, Valkyrie GTP racer Roman De Angelis will line-up alongside drivers’ championship leader Dudu Barrichello for his home race, with Tom Gamble on FIA WEC duties.
Frederik Schandorff will return to the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari, having missed Watkins Glen due to the clash with the 24 Hours of Spa, whilst Robert Wickens is making his first IMSA start since Long Beach after a transport fire ruled the sprint race-only driver’s DXDT Racing team out of the previous sprint round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
As well as De Angelis and Wickens, Canada is also represented in GTD through the #13 Corvette of 13 Autosport, and driver Orey Fidani.
In the standings, Barrichello has a 157-point lead over the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus of Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen, with the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW only three points further back in third.
In the Bob Akin Award for the best Bronze-rated driver in GTD, Fidani has a 30-point advantage over Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe, with Myers Riley Motorsports’ Sheena Monk in third.
The 2026 Chevrolet Grand Prix will be held on the weekend of 11th to 13th July 2026, with the race beginning at 2PM ET on Sunday 13th.
Image courtesy of Jake Galstad/IMSA/Lumen
