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Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann Win Chevrolet Grand Prix

Inter Europol Competition by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Tom Dillmann took the lead after the final pit stops Sunday (July 14). He held on after a late restart to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with teammate Nick Boulle.

“The [final stint was a bit difficult since I had to overtake lapped cars,” Dillmann told NBC Sports’ Ryan Myrehn in victory lane. “The final restart…I knew that that we had a lot of pace, so I wasn’t worried.”

Boulle and Dillmann’s margin of victory was 0.658 seconds over Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson. TDS Racing’s Scott Huffaker and Steven Thomas were third, then the two United Autosports entries. The No. 2 of Ben Hanley and Ben Keating were fourth, while the No. 22 of Filipe Albuquerque and Dan Goldburg were fifth.

AO Racing’s PJ Hyett started from the pole in his ORECA 07-Gibson and led early. However, he made a mistake and changed lanes prior to the start-finish line on the start.

Even though Hyett started from the pole, he had to maintain his positioning until the line. As a result, Hyett had to serve a drive-through penalty for the second straight race. The penalty took the pole sitter out of the hunt. Hyett and Louis Deletraz eventually finished eighth.

Hyett’s penalty gave the lead over to Goldburg in the United Autosports No. 22. He had Nick Boulle right behind him. After a short battle, Boulle took the overall lead.

Twenty-two minutes into the race, High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen slid into the tires in turn 9. That brought everyone into the pits before the full course caution came out. For Andersen, it was his second trip to the tires this weekend. He crashed in turn 2 during qualifying on Saturday.

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PJ Hyett Wins Chevrolet Grand Prix Pole

Unfortunately for Andersen, this crash hurt his No. 20 ORECA 07-Gibson a little more than the qualifying crash did. He was done for the day.

Shortly after the restart, Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Orey Fidani was hit from behind by Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers exiting turn 3 and spun hard into the tires in his Corvette. Fidani was OK and walked to the ambulance, but was out of the race. Sellers was given a penalty for the contact.

The restart was a mess at the front as GTD cars came out of the pits in the midst of the battle for the overall. Robinson and Kurtz had contact in turn 2 while fighting for second, resulting in Robinson going into the runoff and TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas taking second.

Boulle held on to the lead until he pitted to give way to Dillmann. Riley Motorsports kept Felipe Fraga out long before he made his final stop.

The race came down to a duel between Dillmann and Huffaker. Huffaker was as much as 10 seconds behind Dillmann after his final stop, but cut that lead down gradually.

The final half-hour saw Dillmann catch Era Motorsport’s Ryan Dalziel and Richard Mille AF Corse’s Pipo Derani, who were running ninth and 10th at the back of the lead lap. They, along with some slower GT traffic, held up Dillmann. That allowed Huffaker to catch up, while Hanley and Fraga also made up ground.

The entire complexion of the race changed when Dalziel went off exiting turn 8 and hit the tire barriers with 17 minutes to go. That brought the final caution of the race and bunched everyone back up.

When Dalziel went into the tires, Huffaker also went into the grass. While Huffaker didn’t hit anything, he did lose second to Fraga.

The green came back out with nine minutes to go with Fraga right up on Dillmann’s tail. However, Dillmann opened up enough of a gap over the final few laps to hold on to win.

GTD Pro saw Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Alexander Sims start from the pole. He pulled out a small gap over the field. Meanwhile, teammate Tommy Milner got past Jack Hawksworth for second.

The two Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports cars dominated the race, running one-two. Further back, Ben Barnicoat’s day ended with 30 minutes to go when he pulled the No. 14 Lexus off at turn 8 with mechanical issues.

The final restart had Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 leading with Nicky Catsburg right on his tail. AO Racing’s Laurin Heinrich was right there as well. Garcia held off his teammate to take the win.

Garcia and Sims’ margin of victory was 0.408 seconds over Milner and Catsburg. and Sebastian Priaulx were third, extending their points lead in the process. Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Mike Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell were third, while The Heart of Racing’s Mario Farnbacher and Ross Gunn were fifth.

In GTD, Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo started from the pole and had a buffer over the rest of the class. That buffer did not last long as The Heart of Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly ran him down and took the lead quickly.

Further back, Gradient Racing’s Sheena Monk was spun out in turn 3 on the first lap by Proton Competition’s Giammarco Levorato. While Monk continued at the rear of the field, Levorato was given a drive-through penalty for causing the incident.

A number of the GTD teams pitted after Andersen’s crash, but the minimum drive time is 45 minutes in the class. As a result, a group of drivers led by Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Kyle Marcelli stayed out.

During the caution, the 45-minute minimum drive time was reached. Since the Fidani crash occurred during a short yellow, the pits were not open. Marcelli had to wait for the restart to stop and switch to Danny Formal.

Turner Motorsport’s Patrick Gallagher got into the lead after the stops but made a driver error and spun at Moss Corner. That gave the lead back to Pumpelly as the Turner regular and part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver dropped to fourth.

Pumpelly eventually gave way to Roman deAngelis. The Canadian racer held off the pack, then pulled away on the final restart to give himself and Pumpelly the win.

De Angelis and Pumpelly’s margin of victory was 5.060 seconds over Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis and Daniel Morad. Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe and Frederic Schandorff were third, then Gallagher and Robby Foley. Vasser Sullivan’s Montecalvo and Parker Thompson were fifth.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Grand Prix Unofficial Results

WeatherTech teams are off for a couple of weeks before returning to action at Road America. Coverage of the IMSA SportsCar Weekend will be on Aug. 4 at 3 p.m. ET on Peacock.

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.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.