DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 25, 2015) – GT Racing team owner Eric Cote is a man filled with passion for racing and pride for his home, the Canadian province of Quebec.
The Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin series had three Quebec-based teams in 2014, and Cote is honored to represent one. GT Racing is based in the Montreal suburb of Mirabel.
“With the climate here in North America, just being able to do this is exceptional in itself,” Cote said. “I do take pride in this because we started it in the back of our garage and continued to move up.
“These Porsche cars are pretty awesome cars to race, so for sure I’m proud of that. There are not a lot of people in Canada, and even less in Quebec, that can say this is their full-time job.”
GT Racing will begin the 2015 season in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series focused on returning driver Etienne Borgeat, with an eye on fielding a second car.
“Etienne will be with us, but we are looking for new guys to fill out the roster,” Cote said. “We will obviously try to beat those fast young kids in the front, like the past two years.”
GT Racing and Borgeat finished a close fifth, respectively, in the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin Platinum Cup Team and Driver Championship in 2014. It was the team’s third season in the series.
The team dabbled in GRAND-AM competition in 2006 and 2007 before racing with a two-car team in the Canadian Touring Car Championship from 2007-12 with Borgeat and other drivers. Borgeat won the CTCC title in 2011, but he always had aspirations to go endurance racing.
So Cote bought a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car with the idea of fielding it in six-hour club events and other Canadian endurance races. But the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin grew in 2012 after its first season in 2011, and increased grid sizes and increased competitiveness attracted Cote and Borgeat.
Borgeat finished second in the Platinum Cup standings in 2012. But Cote thinks he is a better driver than ever entering 2015.
“We’ve been racing different makes and models of cars before, and each car has its advantages and disadvantages at each track, where now all the cars all equal,” Cote said. “Etienne has stepped up his driving and made big improvements in the last few years. The results may not always be there to show it, but in our first year we almost won the championship, we came in second.
“We now need to manage our race tires, and be smart about it, especially at Calabogie. There’s always a place for improvement, but I’ve seen a lot of improvement in Etienne’s driving the past few years, and we will keep working on that.”
The 2015 Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin series starts on Victoria Day Weekend, May 15-17, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.
For updates on the series, follow @IMSA on Twitter with the hashtag #GT3CAN and on Facebook. The latest news can be found by visiting IMSA.com.
Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin: The Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin enters its fifth season in 2015 ready to produce more intense, exciting competition for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world’s most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned series is one of Porsche’s 20 global single-make Cup Challenge series and is the perfect platform for aspiring drivers to ascend to the highest levels of GT competition, such as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
Racing is divided into two classes – Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014 and 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the seventh, and current, generation of the street car; and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in the Platinum class. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.
ABOUT IMSA: The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 with a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, as well as four single-make series: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama; Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin; Ferrari Challenge North America; and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR Holdings group – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected TUDOR Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
From: Paul Kelly // paul@grand-solutions.net
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