IMSA Preview: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Credit: Jake Galstad

The IMSA Sportscar Championship field heads north of the border this weekend for it's only round of the season not held in the US. The LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD fields race for two hours and 40 minutes around the circuit based in Ontario, Canada.

LMP2 - 10 entries

This is the first time this season that the LMP2 cars will compete in a non-endurance cup event this season, and therefore the first time we see two-driver line-ups and the absence of the endurance only entries.

The only major change here comes in the No.52 Bryan Herta Autosport w/ PR1/Mathiasen entry, where Harry Ticknell will be in São Paulo for the World Endurance Championship (WEC). His seat will be filled by Cadillac GTP regular Ricky Taylor.

The No.37 Intersport Racing entry has also yet to confirm the Pro driver who will race alongside Jon Field.

Championship wise, the No.04 Crowdstrike by APR car leads the way on 1007 points, bolstered by their Daytona win and second place last time out in Watkins Glen. George Kurtz and Alex Quinn will be looking to extend their 55 point advantage this weekend at a circuit which saw Kurtz crashing out on lap 53 last year.

There is a tie for second place currently, between the No.99 AO Racing and No.22 United Autosports entries. However, countback sees the Watkins Glen winning 'Spike the Dragon' sit second. Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett will be looking to go back-to-back with wins both here and this season, as they won this event last year.

Daniel Goldburg joins them in the tie for second, alongside co-drivers Paul Di Resta and Rasmus Lindh. The former is due to take up full-season duties, but sits out this round due to WEC commitments in Brazil. Last year, Goldburg took second place alongside Tom Blomqvist.

GTD Pro - 10 entries

The No.68 'Car Blanche' Aston Martin debuted in Watkins Glen from the old Van der Stuer Racing entry in GTD, switches to GTD Pro this weekend with Valentin Hasse Clot and Scott Andrews the drivers.

Credit: Brandon Bradraoui

Similarly to Bryan Herta Autosport, the No.9 Pfaff Lamborghini Temerario is awaiting confirmation for it's second driver, with only Sandy Mitchell listed at the moment.

The first three slots in the GTD Pro championship table are neatly organised by number order. The No.1 Paul Miller BMW - driven this weekend by Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi - sit at the top on 1575 points, with a win in Daytona and second in Watkins Glen their best results.

They're ahead of the No.3 and No.4 Pratt Miller Corvette pairing, on 1515 and 1494 points respectively. Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the former of the two entries won in Detroit, but otherwise have yet to stand on the podium - despite fourth place finishes in three of the five races so far.

Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No.4 are yet to see the winners circle this season, with best results of second in Laguna Seca and third in Sebring. Consistent points scoring has still put them right in contention however.

GTD - 13 entries

Tom Gamble is also busy with WEC duties in Brazil, so his slot in the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin will be filled by Canadian and fellow Valkyrie driver Roman De Angelis. He will line up alongside current championship leader, Eduardo 'Dudu' Barrichello.

Frederick Schandorff and Robert Wickens also return to their normal duties in the No.70 Inception Ferrari and the No.36 DXDT Corvette respectively.

Barrichello leads the way here on 1540 points, despite having no wins this season. Podiums in Daytona, Sebring and Laguna Seca push him to the top of the standings though.

He has a 157 point lead over Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pederson in the No.12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, who's only podium so far is their win in Long Beach. You then only have to go three points back to the No.96 Turner BMW of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher. They mirror the Lexus crew, with their only podium being second place in Long Beach.

The track

Credit: IMSA

10 turns (seven right and three left) wind their way around this 2.4 mile (3.9km) race track near Bowmanville in Clarington, Ontario, less than 100km east of Toronto.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly known as Mosport) is a very unique track containing lots of sweeping turns, letting the drivers utilise the full extent of their high-downforce machines.

The race has been run under various guises since 1975, but since 2024 has been run with the LMP2 class as the headliner. That makes it one of just two races on the current IMSA calendar (alongside VIR) that does not feature the GTP class. Inter Europol won the 2024 edition, with AO Racing victorious last time out.

Last seasons LMP2 pole time was set by eventual winner PJ Hyett, a 1:08.888, with the fastest ever LMP2 lap completed back in 2019 by Matthew McMurry, 1:08.197.

In GTD Pro Verhagen set the pace last year with a 1:15.046, seven tenths off Alexander Sims' lap record the year before (1:14.373). Similarly in GTD, Jack Hawksworths 1:15.101 wasn't good enough to best 2024's record, a 1:15.060 from Frankie Montecalvo.

Schedule

Practice 1 kicks action off on Firday afternoon at 13:55 local time, the only Sportscar Championship session of the day. FP2 runs at 10:35 the next morning, followed by qualifying at 16:00. The main event kicks off on Sunday at 14:05 and runs for two hours and 40 minutes.

Those at the track and watching along from home on IMSA TV or YouTube can also enjoy action from the IMSA Pilot Challenge, Sportscar Challenge and the Mazda MX-5 Cup.