BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – Dan Goldburg learned his lesson in Saturday’s first IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race of the weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park when he was balked in traffic at the start. He wasn’t about to let it happen again in Sunday’s finale.
Goldburg got the jump on polesitter and chief championship rival Bijoy Garg at the drop of the green flag in Race 2, then held Garg at bay the rest of the way to claim his third win of the season in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class. Meanwhile in the GSX class for GT4 cars, Gregory Liefooghe drove away from the pack to a comfortable victory.
Goldburg pushed the No. 73 JDC MotorSports Duqueine D08 into the early race lead on the 2.459-mile road course as Garg was slow getting up to speed in the No. 3 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 and slipped to fourth position. While Goldburg remained up front, Garg worked his way back to second place just past halfway through the 45-minute race and set his sights on the leader.
When Goldburg drifted wide in Turn 5 (CTMP’s historic Moss Corner) with 15 minutes remaining, it allowed Garg to close up tight behind. The Californian made several takeover attempts the rest of the way – none successful – and Goldburg won by 1.347 seconds.
“I knew the start was super important so I was really on edge for that,” Goldburg said. “After that, it was run clean laps. The team was calling out the gap. I knew Garg was a little faster but I had a feeling where that would be and it would be pretty tough to pass, so I just stuck to my plan and focused on the traffic.
“Everything was just solid,” he added. “We were really strong for Race 1 but got held up at the start and all kinds of stuff, so happy to pull it out today.”
With the win, Goldburg unofficially leaves CTMP with a 50-point lead over Garg at the halfway point of the six-event, 12-race season.
Liefooghe was the GSX polesitter for both CTMP races, but Stephen Cameron Racing pulled the No. 43 BMW M4 GT4 (G82) from Saturday’s opener to save the car for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race later in the day. Liefooghe made amends in Sunday’s VP Racing Challenge finale with a commanding performance that saw him win by 33.060 seconds ahead of Moisey Uretsky in the No. 44 Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
Liefooghe’s effort was aided by misfortune suffered by other frontrunners. Michael Cooper, the GSX winner Saturday, fell laps off the pace when he had to pit early with a mechanical issue in the No. 48 Accelerating Performance Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport. Francis Selldorff, who started second in Sunday’s race after placing second the day before in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (G82), had to make a pit-lane drive-through after being penalized for an improper race start. Selldorff did recover to finish fourth.
It all made Liefooghe’s drive to victory that much smoother.
“At that point, the two strongest cars were way back,” he said, “so (I was) just managing the tires in case there was a full-course yellow coming and staying off the marbles which was really bad here – and something to manage in traffic, too. It’s good to have a gap so you can let the leading (LMP3) cars go and still stay on the line and survive. The car was just hooked up all day.”
With the runner-up finish Sunday, Uretsky closed within 20 points of Sebastian Carazo (No. 27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche) for the GSX championship lead. Selldorff is third, 80 points behind Carazo, who finished sixth in class on Sunday.