Clarington, ON – Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke found redemption, starting on pole and taking the win in the IMSA Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). The duo recorded the LMP2 and overall victory after a technical issue and resulting crash ended their day in last year’s race, where they led late. Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat (GTD Pro) and Russell Ward and Philip Ellis (GTD) also claimed victories in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s lone Canadian stop.
Clarke (co-driver Dillmann) in LMP2, Neil Verhagen (Connor De Phillippi) in GTD Pro and Dudu Barrichello (Canadian Roman De Angelis) in GTD, started on pole for the 2-hour and 40-minute race. An early caution came 15 minutes in, when Canadian John Farano (Sebastian Alvarez) ran off track and spun to a stop; he was able to drive away but needed to visit the paddock for repairs.
The polesitters continued to lead after the restart. With just over two hours to go, Barrichello had a slow pit stop, before needing to serve a drive-through penalty for too many crew members over the wall. The sequence put the points leader a lap down.
With just under two hours to go, another full-course caution came when Canadian Tobi Lutke (Mathias Beche) got stuck in the turn eight tire wall. Most drivers pitted under the yellow flag, while some stayed out, shaking up the lead positions. Meanwhile, Canadian Misha Goikhberg (Ricky Taylor) spun under the caution, dropping to seventh.
Trent Hindman (Danny Formal) in GTD, Barnicoat (Hawksworth) in GTD Pro and George Kurtz (Alex Quinn) in LMP2 pulled ahead after the restart. The LMP2 leaders started a pit cycle about 10 minutes later, where Goikhberg stayed out about 15 minutes longer before the team pitted and made its driver change.
Ellis (Ward) made a pass for the GTD lead with 1-hour and 26-minutes to go, while Dillmann (Clarke) took the LMP2 lead from Quinn (Kurtz) with 1-hour and 13-minutes to go. Just before that, Mikkel Jensen (Canadian Phil Fayer) got in the tire wall off turn eight, but he was able to pull away to avoid a caution.
The final hour of the race was relatively drama free, with Dillmann (Clarke) in LMP2, Barnicoat (Hawksworth) in GTD Pro and Ellis (Ward) in GTD holding onto their leads through their respective pit cycles. The LMP2 cars required an extra stop to top off on fuel, with the top-two cars making their stops with about 10 minutes to go and holding their positions.
Dillmann/Clarke went on to claim the LMP2 win over Quinn/Kurtz and PJ Hyett/Dane Cameron; the highest-finishing Canadian was Goikhberg, with Taylor, in fourth.
Barnicoat/Hawksworth took the GTD Pro victory over Nick Tandy/Harry King and Verhagen/De Phillippi. There were no Canadian drivers in the class, but the Canadian Pfaff Motorsports team finished eighth with drivers Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell.
Ellis/Ward recorded the GTD win over Aaron Telitz/Benjamin Pedersen and Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley. The highest-finishing Canadian was De Angelis, with Barrichello, who was able to help the team recover to sixth after the pit issues. De Angelis races in the GTP class, which isn’t part of the Chevy GP, and was filling-in as a co-driver on the No. 27 team for his home race.
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