BOWMANVILLE, Ontario — For the third year running, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship dialed-up a unique menu of prototype and GT categories for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The lone event north of the border featured Le Mans Prototype 2, Grand Touring Daytona Pro and GTD competitors cavorting around the 10-turn, 2.459-mile road course widely regarded as one of the world’s most challenging “old school” race tracks.
The nine LMP2s, 10 GTD PRO and 13 GTD competitors put on a show worthy of the venerable CTMP, with Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke taking the overall win in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07.
The first-place finishers in LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD earning their wins with 9.796s, 1.993s and 1.886s margins of victory, respectively. And to prove the race’s cleanliness, all 32 starters took the checkered flag.
Can’t Keep a Good Team Down
The results of the Chevrolet Grand Prix once again proved that you can’t keep good race teams down for long. That was evident among all three class winners.
For Inter Europol, it was its first IMSA win since the 2025 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and it came 365 days after a late-race incident where Dillmann sustained back injuries.
Similarly for Winward Racing in GTD, there was a renaissance at CTMP for its No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a demoralizing series of setbacks since winning the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Vasser Sullivan Racing at least broke its run of tough luck at Watkins Glen International with a win there, but that came after only a single top-six finish in the first four GTD PRO races of the year. Now, the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 has gone back-to-back in GTD PRO.
All winning drivers hailed their teams, who made the difference in getting them back to the top.
All Streaks Must End
No matter the sport, all streaks must come to an end.
Joe DiMaggio “only” hit safely in 56 (not 57, 58 or 59) straight Major League Baseball games. Wayne Gretzky’s run of recording at least one point in consecutive National Hockey League games stopped at 51. The Boston Celtics won eight (not nine or 10) consecutive National Basketball Association titles. And Johnny Unitas threw touchdown passes in “just” 47 straight games before firing a blank.
IMSA boasted both five different teams and manufacturers visiting victory lane in both its GTD PRO and GTD classes through five rounds, but that was bound to end at some point.
With Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus (GTD PRO) and Winward’s Mercedes-AMG (GTD) scoring their second season wins Sunday, they were both the first to two in each class. BMW, Porsche, Ford and Chevrolet are the other GTD PRO winners with Ferrari, Lexus, Lamborghini and Porsche also having won in GTD.
Points Shakeups
On the surface, little about the LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD points races changed at CTMP. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA continues to lead the LMP2 standings, while the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO remains atop the GTD PRO heap and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin continues to have the inside track on the GTD crown.
Look a little closer though, and you’ll see all three championship races took some intriguing turns.
CrowdStrike enhanced their LMP2 points lead, building it from 55 entering CTMP to 70 leaving it. Inter Europol is now second, with defending champions AO third just 81 back and very much in the fight. Dillmann said Sunday Inter Europol has already had a good year, but they’re hungry for more.
“There was quite a bit of pressure to get a good result today, and I’m really happy we managed to get a win and are back in the championship fight,” Dillmann noted.
Similarly, Paul Miller Racing increased its GTD PRO lead from 60 to 108 points. No small feat. But Sunday’s results brought not one, not two, not three but four former champions into the mix within 160 points.
That would be AO Racing’s No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and both the No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Racing with Pratt MiIler Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs not to mention the venerable (and recently unbeatable) Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
“Super stoked and we’re excited for the rest of the year,” said Vasser Sullivan’s Hawksworth. “This was a track I’ve never won at, and Lexus has never won here, so we just ticked that one off. We just conquered Canada and now we’ll go on to the rest of the tracks. We’ve got (VIRginia International Raceway) which I’ve never won at so maybe target that one. We’ll go and have some fun and win some more races.”
Barrichello’s co-driver, Roman De Angelis, recovered points for the Heart of Racing Aston Martin with a storming drive to salvage sixth place. That said, Barrichello’s lead shrunk from 157 to 92 over the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 and 120 over the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Winward’s Ellis and Ward entered the race 300 points behind Barrichello and left it just 207 back. With four events remaining, anything is possible in their pursuit of a three-peat.
“I think we’ve never been out of (the championship),” a victorious Ellis said. “We have a great crew and a great car; we just need some good luck to come our way.
“For us we’re still going for that third championship in a row and this proves we’re still in it. We just need to have some good clean races coming up and we’re really looking forward to it. These guys work so hard. It’s a never give up attitude.”
