This weekend, IMSA’s series will be in action north of the border at Ontario’s Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It will be a topsy-turvy weekend in a number of ways.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Grand Prix
There are 35 teams entered for Sunday’s 160-minute sprint race on the 2.439-mile road course. That is actually up by one team over last year. However, the class breakdown is very different.
Last year’s race had four classes (GTP, LMP3, GTD Pro and GTD) competing. The GTP class is not competing this weekend and will be replaced as the headlining class by LMP2. LMP3 is no longer in WeatherTech and will only compete in IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge this weekend on the undercard.
The LMP2 class will take center stage with 12 teams entered, down one from Watkins Glen. The only team not entered from Watkins Glen is DragonSpeed.
With the GTP class not being in competition this weekend, a number of the GTP drivers are free. The FIA World Endurance Championship being in action at Interlagos in Brazil has ruled a number of LMP2 regulars out of the race.
Tower Motorsport has brought on Renger van der Zande to team up with John Farano. Effectively, this is a return of sorts. Tower Motorsports is more or less the modern version of Starworks Motorsport. Van der Zande drove for the team full-time in 2014.
At TDS Racing, Mikkel Jensen is out of the car due to his responsibilities with Peugeot TotalEnergies in the Hypercar class. Scott Huffaker, who normally runs the endurance races, will drive in his place.
AO Racing has tapped Louis Deletraz to drive “Spike” alongside PJ Hyett. He will replace Paul-Loup Chatin, who is racing for the factory Signatech Alpine team in Brazil. Deletraz is a known quantity to the team and is coming off a victory last weekend in the European Le Mans Series at Imola in a car co-run by AO Racing and TF Sport.
Filipe Albuquerque, who normally races for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global, will drive United Autosports’ No. 22 alongside Dan Goldburg this week. He replaces Paul di Resta, who is driving a Peugeot in Brazil. Albuquerque drives for the team in ELMS.
Richard Mille AF Corse has tapped Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani to drive the No. 88 alongside Luis Perez Companc. Derani is replacing Nicklas Nielsen, who will be driving for Ferrari AF Corse in Brazil.
Finally, Era Motorsport announced last week that Stuart Wiltshire will make his series debut in the No. 18, replacing Dwight Merriman.
In GTD Pro, there are nine entries this weekend, down from the 11 at Watkins Glen. Iron Lynx and Risi Competizione are not entered as they only declared intentions to run in the Michelin Endurance Cup races.
The only driver change here is that Mario Farnbacher is back in The Heart of Racing’s No. 23 Aston Martin in place of Alex Riberas. Riberas is in Brazil to drive the team’s WEC entry in the LMGT3 class.
GTD has 14 entries, down from 21 in Watkins Glen. Triarsi Competizione, AF Corse’s No. 21 Ferrari, Magnus Racing, Lone Star Racing, Cetilar Racing, the Iron Dames and Wright Motorsports are not entered. Wright Motorsports has run every GTD race to this point of the season, but are not entered for the full season.
Spencer Pumpelly is back with The Heart of Racing in their No. 27. He’ll be driving in place of Ian James, who is in Brazil with Riberas.
Andretti Motorsports’ No. 43 Porsche has both of their drivers as TBD at the moment. This is the car that Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves have been sharing this year.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Grand Prix Entry List
The Chevrolet Grand Prix is scheduled to go green at 11:05 a.m. ET Sunday morning. The race will air live on USA Network at 11 a.m. ET.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120
For Michelin Pilot Challenge, there will also be 35 teams doing battle this weekend. That is down from 39 at Watkins Glen, but flat with the 35 cars that raced last year.
The Grand Sport class has 23 cars entered, down from 25 at Watkins Glen. The teams that are not entered are both of the cars from Automatic Racing, Kellymoss with Riley’s No. 21 Porsche and van der Steur Racing’s No. 82.
There are a couple of teams entered that didn’t compete at Watkins Glen. The aforementioned No. 82 at Watkins Glen was a joint venture entry between van der Steur Racing and Ruckus Racing. This weekend, Ruckus Racing is back with their own car, the No. 45, that raced at Mid-Ohio. Scott Blind will drive the car alongside Andrew Davis, who will replace JP Southern.
TWOth Autosport, a Canadian team previously associated with VP Racing SportsCar Challenge regular Eddie Killeen, will make their debut in the Grand Sport class this weekend with Justin DiBenedetto and Travis Hill driving a Porsche. The team has previously competed in the TCR class.
Hattori Motorsports is back with their Supra with Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson driving. Hawksworth was originally scheduled to race alongside Yuichi Nakayama at Mid-Ohio, but was called to Le Mans to replace Jose Maria Lopez after Mike Conway got hurt, resulting in Lopez being recalled to the No. 7 Hypercar.
Hawksworth and Thompson are the defending champions of the race. They should be formidable.
In TCR, there are 12 teams entered, down from 14 in Watkins Glen. The part-time efforts from Road Shagger Racing, HART and LA Honda World Racing are not entered.
At Montreal Motorsports Group, Bryan Ortiz has been replaced in the No. 6 Honda by Jon Brel. Saturday will mark the Quebecois driver’s series debut.
Baker Racing, which debuted at Mid-Ohio, is back with their Audi. Dean and Sam Baker will drive once again.
Driver shifts continue at Victor Gonzalez Racing Team (VGRT). Morgan Burkhard has been shifted from the No. 80 to the No. 99, where he will share with Tyler Gonzalez. Both driver slots in the No. 80 are marked as TBD.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Entry List
The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 is scheduled to go green at 1:25 p.m. ET Saturday. The race will air live on Peacock starting at 1:20 p.m. ET.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
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