BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Having two drivers in two distinctly different Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars tying for fastest time of the day around Canadian Tire Motorsport Park to the thousandth of a second is enough to leave anyone speechless.
For Sebastien Bourdais and Tom Blomqvist – each clocking laps timed at 1 minute, 5.712 seconds (134.715 mph) around the legendary 10-turn road course commonly called Mosport – the track itself did the job.
Blomqvist, Bourdais and their respective co-drivers looked spent after completing 90 minutes of practice in warm, humid conditions Friday in preparation for the Chevrolet Grand Prix.
For Bourdais, sharing the No. 01 Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R with Renger van der Zande, it’s his first time at a track that hosted the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and countless major sports car races since the 1960s.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to find my way around,” Bourdais admitted. “It’s a tricky place. I think I would really like it if it was smooth. But these cars are ride-height sensitive and they’re heavy, and when you hit those bumps – man, oh, man – it’s dodgy out there. And there’s no room for error. You feel like you’re on oval-type corners 50 or 60 percent of the time, but bumpy as can be. If you make a mistake, you’re gonna pay, and fast.”
Blomqvist and teammate Oliver Jarvis, driving the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05, are embroiled in a fierce DPi championship battle with the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura driven by Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor. Albuquerque was fifth fastest on Friday at 1:06.013 (134.100 mph).
“It’s a pretty crazy track,” Blomqvist observed. “Super-fast, and it’s a lot more bumpy than I remember. I know they resurfaced some areas, but it seems like the bumps are pretty intense.
“Our car seems pretty fast, but we definitely need to tune it up a little bit,” he added. “It’s not easy out there. I think it’s going to be a difficult weekend for everyone and super close. We’re hanging on for dear life. I was scared out there, I’m not going to lie.”
Garett Grist was fastest in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class, recording a lap of 1:12.245 (122.533 mph) in the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 to edge four-time CTMP class winner Colin Braun in the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier (1:12.284/122.466 mph).
The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Daniel Juncadella paced the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class, circulating in 1:16.520 (115.687 mph). The fastest GT Daytona (GTD) entry was the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 manned by Frankie Montecalvo at 1:16.927 (115.075 mph).