Meyer Shank Racing Hangs On To Win In CTMP

The #60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun survived multiple late-race cautions to win the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after a bold strategic gamble in the second half of the race. Provisionally, it’s the second win of the season for Blomqvist and Braun – […]

The #60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun survived multiple late-race cautions to win the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after a bold strategic gamble in the second half of the race.

Provisionally, it’s the second win of the season for Blomqvist and Braun – and one that, pending post-race technical checks, stands as an unencumbered victory after the data manipulation scandal which burst from out of nowhere after their win in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Pole sitter Blomqvist set the tempo early from the front row alongside the #10 Konica Minolta Acura of Ricky Taylor who started alongside him. Both of the Acuras were particularly quick around the circuit formerly known as Mosport from the first practice session of the weekend.

The racing was relatively clean through the first hour as both leaders made their first routine pit stops and changed drivers. Braun got aboard the white and pink #60 Acura and retained the lead, ahead of Filipe Albuquerque in the black and blue #10.

Just as the race was crossing over the half-time mark, the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jules Gounon and the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn were fighting for position in GTD Pro. Gounon oversteered through the apex of turn eight and made contact with Gunn, which sent the Aston Martin spinning off and into the tyre barriers. A winded Gunn was able to get out of his wrecked car unhurt, as the Safety Car came out for the first time.

The leaders in the GTP class came into the pits. Albuquerque came out with the lead followed by the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R of Alexander Sims. Braun dropped down to third in the order – but this was the last time that Meyer Shank Racing brought its car into the pits.

LMP3 rookie George Staikos had a spin out of turn ten and couldn’t get his #4 Ave Motorsports Ligier JS P320 facing the right way. In advance of another full-course caution, Albuquerque brought the #10 into the pits just before the Safety Car was deployed again. Sims had to abort a pit stop while on pit lane, costing himself and Pipo Derani valuable track position after the caution ended.

Braun stayed out yet again after Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley made contact with Vasser Sullivan’s Aaron Telitz, leaving the #96 BMW M4 GT3 of Foley stranded at Moss Corner – and this resulted in another full course caution. Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo would finish sixth in class, but the race came to an end for Foley and Patrick Gallagher.

The race eventually ended behind the Safety Car after contact between the #01 Cadillac of Renger van der Zande and the #24 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus sent Van der Zande spearing head-on into the tyre barriers at turn eight. Van der Zande walked away after the frightening crash, the latest in a string of curse-seeming events for the gold and black Cadillac in both WEC and IMSA.

The win is Braun’s sixth win in all classes at the track formerly known as Mosport, and his second overall win.

Just like at Daytona, it was an Acura 1-2 finish with the #10 WTR/Andretti Acura of Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor finishing in second place, while the #25 BMW of Nick Yelloly and Connor de Phillippi gained significant ground in the championship by finishing in third.

Sims and Pipo Derani only managed to finish seventh in the #31 Cadillac, which as it stands brings De Phillippi and Yelloly to within ten points of the Championship lead in GTP. Albuquerque and Taylor are now just 29 points behind them in third.

JDC Miller Motorsports walked away with an impressive fourth-place finish for the #5 Porsche 963 (Tijmen van der Helm/Mike Rockenfeller) – ahead of the two Penske-run factory Porsches, thanks to spirited driving from young Van der Helm.

LMP3 served up a fiery and contentious finish at the end. The #74 Riley Ligier JS P320 of Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga took the class win, but only after Fraga pushed Garett Grist off into the grass at the final corner with less than ten minutes to go. IMSA Stewards saw no evidence of foul play, and Fraga took the chequered flag for the third time in a row.

Grist, who took the class lead with under an hour to go, would settle for second alongside co-driver Ari Balogh in the #30 Jr III Racing Ligier – just as they did at Watkins Glen. Anthony Mantella and Wayne Boyd finished third for local team AWA in their green #17 Duquiene D08.

Corvette Racing completed a perfect day of racing across two sides of the Atlantic. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor wouldn’t have had the chance to see their European-based crew clinch the World Endurance Championship title at Monza due to the clash between the start of this race and the finish to the WEC race.

But as if they had an intuition to do something special today, Garcia and Taylor went out and took the GTD Pro win in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD – which was Corvette Racing’s 12th win at the Bowmanville, Ontario Circuit, and their first since 2014.

Garcia seized the lead as Patrick Pilet in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and Ben Barnicoat in the championship-leading #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 pushed one another off into the grass after the first Safety Car restart.

That off-track excursion proved disastrous for the #14 Lexus of Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth – their first truly awful result of the year would see them finish off the podium for the first time, and 21 laps behind Garcia and Taylor.

Pilet and Klaus Bachler would hold on to finish second in GTD Pro for the home crowd favourite Pfaff team, while Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon came home third in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, despite Gounon’s collision with Gunn.

Hawksworth and Barnicoat still lead the championship standings but their advantage has been whittled down to 96 points heading into the next race at Lime Rock Park in two weeks’ time.

The final Safety Car spoiled what could have been a grandstand finish in GTD between Paul Miller Racing and Inception Racing. Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, and the #1 BMW M4 GT3 held off the #70 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO of Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff to take Paul Miller Racing’s third win of the season.

Sellers and Snow now have a whopping 212 point lead in the GTD standings ahead of Roman de Angelis and Marcø Sorensen, who finished fourth in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, behind the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes (Mike Skeen/Mikaël Grenier).

Gradient Racing and ace driver Katherine Legge were leading GTD until a rear brake issue on the #66 Acura NSX GT3 forced them behind the wall. Legge and Sheena Monk’s great opportunity went unfulfilled as they finished 11th in class, behind the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes (Russell Ward/Philip Ellis) which had a late puncture rob them of a podium finish.

UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS >>

More to follow!

Images courtesy of IMSA