BOWMANVILLE, Ontario — Lap times during the opening practice for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park were extremely close for 88 minutes of the 90-minute session.
Until that point Friday afternoon, all nine Grand Touring Prototypes (GTP) entered in the sixth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship were clustered within eight-tenths of a second.
When the green flag flew with about four minutes remaining after a brief stoppage, however, Colin Braun made the most of the limited time. He hustled the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 around the 2.459-mile CTMP road course in 1 minute, 7.341 seconds (131.456 mph) to gap the rest of the GTP field by 0.780 seconds.
The remaining eight GTP competitors, led by Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, were clustered within 0.769 seconds. Braun expressed surprise when informed of his margin over second place.
“We were just kind of in our race plan,” Braun said. “We had made some changes to the car and just wanted to see what it was going to do. I had only done a couple laps in the car before the red flag, and I was just getting up to speed and figuring it out. It felt good, obviously. I just ended up getting a clear lap and I felt good about it.”
Filipe Albuquerque placed the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 third at 1:08.138, while Renger van der Zande improved on his final lap in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R to 1:08.353.
In the GT classes, Frankie Montecalvo posted the best overall lap with a 1:16.558 effort (115.629 mph) as the checkered flag flew for the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 from the GT Daytona (GTD) class. That edged Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO by 0.092 seconds.
Unlike Braun, Montecalvo said that he and the Vasser Sullivan team used the final four minutes of the session as a qualifying simulation.
“That’s exactly what it was, a ‘quali’ mentality to get ready for tomorrow,” said Montecalvo, the defending GTD pole winner at CTMP. “The car is great, and this is my favorite racetrack. The Lexus really loves high-speed circuits and so do I, and I think that’s why we mesh really well here.
“Last year, we got taken out from pole in the first corner, so we have some unfinished business here,” he continued. “I have the utmost confidence in our team, especially rolling off a win at Watkins Glen. We should be challenging for another win.”
Antonio Garcia turned the fastest lap among GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) entries in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD (1:16.724, 115.379 mph) that ranked third overall among the GT field.
Garett Grist (No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320) came out on top of a back-and-forth battle with Felipe Fraga (No. 74 Riley Ligier) for honors in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class. The two Ligier JS P320s were separated by 0.212 seconds at the end, with the Canadian Grist running a lap of 1:12.270 (122.490 mph).
Recaps from Michelin Pilot Challenge, VP Racing Challenge Action
A pair of other IMSA-sanctioned series were in action at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Friday as well. The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge conducted a pair of practices and the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge held two practices and qualifying.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
Robin Liddell laid down the fast lap of the day in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice on his final circuit around CTMP at the conclusion of the second session.
Driving the No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R that he shares with Frank DePew, Liddell was clocked at 1 minute, 22.137 seconds (107.776 mph), a full four-tenths of a second quicker than Canadian Jesse Lazare in the No. 69 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4.
Karl Wittmer, another Canada native, topped the Touring Car (TCR) class leaderboard with a 1:23.867 lap (105.227 mph) in the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Honda Civic FK7 TCR that he turned in the morning practice.
VP Racing SportsCar Challenge
Bijoy Garg continued his qualifying prowess by capturing the pole position for the fourth time in five races for the new sprint series.
The driver of the No. 3 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 claimed the overall and Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) pole for Saturday’s race with a top lap of 1:13.157 (121.005 mph) on his final time around the track in the 15-minute session. Garg enters the CTMP weekend on a two-race winning streak and within 60 points of the LMP3 class lead.
In GSX, Gregory Liefooghe (No. 43 Stephen Cameron racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82)) will start on pole for the third straight race after setting the fast lap in class qualifying. Liefooghe toured the 2.459-mile road course in 1:22.533 (107.258 mph) to better the 15 other GSX competitors. Liefooghe converted two pole positions at Sebring in March into second- and first-place race finishes.