Yahoo Autos IMSA CTMP race day news and notes
Ganassi Cadillac paces warmup
Renger van der Zande was quickest in the morning warmup for this afternoon’s Chevrolet Grand Prix for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Van der Zande posted a 1m07.969s lap in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R to lead Alexander Sims in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac and polesitter Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06.
Wayne Boyd led LMP3 in the No. 17 AWA Racing Duqueine, while Loris Spinelli led GTD in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT. Lamborghini Huracán. Katherine Legge made the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 look strong with the second fastest time in GT overall, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to lead GTD PRO.
Energy saving a challenge
A 2h40m race likely means two pit stops for the GTP cars. But how those pit stops and the stints in between are managed could play a big role in the outcome of the Chevrolet Grand Prix. However, saving energy to extend a stint or reduce pit stop time is tough at CTMP.
“It’s quite a difficult track to to save energy, because there’s no heavy brake zones, and when you’re doing a lot of lifting and coasting, it’s quite lap time sensitive,” says polesitter Tom Blomqvist, who missed out on victory last year due to a hard-charging Renger van der Zande in the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. “The most important thing here really is just stay with people so there’s not a huge benefit to … I mean, there’s always a benefit to saving energy compared to the opposition, but only if you stay with them. So around here it’s it’s a little bit more sensitive to that and also the lap’s so short that if you if you’re trying to save energy and lose too much of a gap, you’re also going to lap down.”
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Blomqvist wins CTMP pole with Meyer Shank Racing Acura
Blomqvist and Brain make a strong pairing at CTMP
The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 looks to be in a pretty good position for today’s race. Not only did Tom Blomqvist put the car on pole, and not only has Acura proven the dominant marque so far this weekend at CTMP, but Blomqvist’s teammate Colin Braun is good at this track. Really good – Braun has five victories at CTMP, including last year in LMP3, more than any other driver in the field.
Keeping it clean… so far
Through two practice sessions and qualifying, not a single car in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship group had contact with a Canadian Tire Motorsports Park wall nor another car, only a few single-car spins interrupting the proceedings. While that was not true of the other series running this weekend, and likely won’t carry through the 2h40m Chevrolet Grand Prix, the lack of incidents is somewhat surprising to Canadian native and CTMP denizen Roman De Angelis, who won GTD here last year and scored the pole for today’s race.
De Angelis will start up front in his class, but expects the action to get a lot hotter in the race. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images
“At a track that’s high commitment, I think you have to have a lot more respect than, let’s say at COTA where if you have a mistake, you can open your hands and drive off,” De Angelis said. “I think as a driver you realize that, so you approach driving here a lot differently than you do at a track like COTA, which is a parking lot with lines on it, basically. So I think a lot of a lot of people have that respect, especially in practice. I’m sure when the when the race comes, it’ll be a bit of a different story for some but I plan on keeping it on on the track as long as I can, and hopefully being there at the end.”
Teammate advantage
De Angelis is starting on the outside of the second row, alongside his Heart of Racing teammate Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 that starts third in GTD PRO. With another GTD PRO car between him and next GTD qualifier Frankie Montecalvo (No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3), he thinks it’s a pretty good position to be in.
“If you’re anywhere near your your teammate, whoever’s in a position that they need help and you’re able to do so, you do it,” he explains. “Whether that means being a car between themselves and another PRO car, or them letting us through, where we work together, when one car does well we both do well.”
First Michelin Pilot Challenge victory for Toyota, Thompson
Billy Johnson and Parker Thompson, making his first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge start, won the GS category in Saturday’s MPC Canadian Tire Motorsports Park 120 in the No. 50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 after the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 GT4 of Robert Megennis and Cameron Lawrence was moved to the rear. The No. 95 had a refueling time less than the minimum permissible and was also found to be underweight.
It’s the first victory for Toyota in the series, and gives Thompson a 100-percent win record in MPC. It was the 24th win for Johnson in the series. Mikey Taylor and Chris Miller won TCR in the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR.
Tire allocation
GTP teams have three sets of Michelin tires for the race, including any used in qualifying. The other classes have seven sets total for the weekend.
Drive time
Minimum drive time in the Pro-Am classes is 45 minutes for the 2h40m race. Minimum time for GTP and GTD PRO is 10 minutes.
How to watch
The Chevrolet Grand Prix will air live on NBC, as well as streamed on Peacock. Audio can be found on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and on SiriusXM 207 or on the SiriusXM Web/app 992.
