Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA
***The Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is down to a 34-car grid following the withdrawal of Andretti Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R, which initially appeared on the entry list with two to-be-determined drivers. It marks the first GTD race that the Jarett Andretti-led effort has missed this season.
***Pfaff Motorsports took the wraps off a special plaid livery for its McLaren 720S GT3 Evo this weekend during a pre-race event at a Canadian Tire store on Wednesday. The team’s third driver, James Hinchcliffe, was among those in attendance.
***Elsewhere in the GTD Pro class, Paul Miller Racing has tweaked the livery on the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s sole race outside of the United States, with the car sporting the Canadian flag on the front.
***Seven Canadian drivers feature on the entry list for Sunday’s race: John Farano, Orey Fidani, Parker Thompson, Roman De Angelis, Mikael Grenier, Kyle Marcelli and Misha Goikhberg.
***Mercedes-AMG factory driver Grenier, whose other commitments this year include Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup and Intercontinental GT Challenge, notably told IMSA Radio’s Shea Adam that this is “the only race out of 26 race weekends that I race at home.”
***There have been no Balance of Performance adjustments to the GTD Pro and GTD class this weekend, following a power increase to the Ford Mustang GT3 that was put into place in last month’s round at Watkins Glen International.
***LMP2 returns to CTMP for the first time in five years, with the class set to feature as the headline category for the first time in series history. It is also the first sprint round of the season for the class, having only appeared at Michelin Endurance Cup rounds so far this season.
***The now-defunct Prototype Challenge category, featuring similar Pro-Am driver requirements, headlined at several races in 2014-15, including Lime Rock Park in 2014-15 and in 2014, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, both with GTD, along with a standalone races at Kansas Motor Speedway and Virginia International Raceway with IMSA Prototype Challenge machinery.
***Deletraz’s practice-topping time of 1:07.895 already broke the lap record for LMP2 machinery at the Ontario venue. The previous record was held by Matt McMurry, who set a 1:08.197 driving for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports during the WeatherTech Championship race in 2019.
***Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports driver Alexander Sims explained that the LMP2 class’ relative lack of straight line speed to GTP cars makes traffic management around the 2.459-mile circuit “really difficult” for GT drivers.
***Sims said: “The straight-line speed difference between our classes is so small that it’s really hard to let them by in an efficient way for both of us. They’re faster in the corners by a decent chunk in the high-speed sections here, but in the low-speed parts they didn’t look that strong especially in the bumpy parts at Turn 5. As they get close to you on the straight, you want to try and keep them behind but you’re just delaying the inevitable pain because at no point do they breeze past you. With the GTPs, they’re not that much faster than us through the corners but they are so much faster on the straights. So we co-exist on track super easy because they just blast past us and don’t affect us much.”
***While GTP cars are not in race action this weekend, a number of teams have used the period for testing, with both Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti and BMW M Team RLL having tested at Road America earlier this week, and Chip Ganassi Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in preparation for the next two WeatherTech Championship GTP rounds.
***The No. 01 CGR Cadillac will switch chassis to the No. 2-badged car that was run in last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning with next month’s WeatherTech Championship round at Road America, with its IMSA chassis set to be used in an upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship group test at Circuit of The Americas, according to a Cadillac spokesperson.
***A total of four teams: AF Corse, Heart of Racing Team, Proton Competition and United Autosports are split up this weekend between CTMP and the WEC race at Interlagos, to varying degrees.
***Tommy Milner returns to CTMP for the first time since 2018, after the Corvette Racing driver was replaced by Marcel Fassler due to a hand injury in the 2019 race. The CTMP event was canceled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Milner moved to WEC competition in 2022, while serving as the development driver of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R last year.
***Pipo Derani, meanwhile, turned his first competitive LMP2 laps since 2019 during opening practice on Friday. The Brazilian’s last race outing in the class came during the 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series season, when he teamed up with Alexander West and Come Ledogar for three rounds aboard a Spirit of Race Ligier JS P2 Nissan.
***Derani’s last race outing in the Oreca 07 Gibson dates back even further to when he joined Vaillante Rebellion in the 2017 WEC 6 Hours of Nürburgring and finished eighth in class alongside David Heinemeier Hansson and Mathias Beche.
***Pratt Miller announced a new partnership with Haas Automation, which will see the CNC machine tools being utilized at the team’s facility in New Hudson, Mich. It marks the Gene Haas-owned company’s foray into sports car racing.
***IMSA has clarified, in an update to the GTD Pro/GTD technical regulations, that GTD cars no longer have to have yellow headlight lenses but must still emit yellow light. GTD Pro cars, meanwhile, must continue to emit white light but are not mandated to have clear headlight lenses. Headlight color must be “satisfactory” in the “sole opinion” of IMSA officials.
***JACKSON, the firm behind Michelin’s IMSA PR and marketing efforts as well as the North American support of Aston Martin customer racing, has entered a partnership with The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer, to provide “pro bono strategic and marketing support” to the Official Charity of IMSA.
***AO Racing has announced that Hot Wheels versions of its ‘Rexy’ and ‘Roxy’ Porsche 911 GT3 Rs will be available in stores beginning next month.
***USA Network will carry live coverage of the Chevrolet Grand Prix at CTMP beginning Sunday at 11 a.m. EDT, with Brian Till and Calvin Fish in the booth, with Ryan Myrehn and Hannah Newhouse on pit lane. IMSA Radio’s coverage, which also appears on the live YouTube stream for international viewers, is comprised of the regular team of John Hindhaugh, Jeremy Shaw and Shea Adam.
John Dagys & Davey Euwema contributed to this report
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