Championship Battles, Canadians in Spotlight at CTMP

A challenging end to an otherwise clean IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Watkins Glen International has set the stage for the second half of the season, where it’s anyone’s guess who will emerge at the head of the championship battles leaving Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

There are 42 cars, split 29 GS and 13 TCR, for Round 6 of the season, which sees the top four in GS are now covered by just 80 points, which includes entries from four different teams and manufacturers.

Turner Motorsport’s No. 95 BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Luca Mars and Dillon Machavern still leads by 60 points, with their 17th place finish at Watkins Glen not at all reflective of what looked to be their fifth top-five finish in as many races.

Debris caused a puncture to the car in the final moments of the race.

Just 20 points cover second through fourth. Two-time winners Ibiza Farm Motorsport sit second with Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky in their No. 44 McLaren Artura GT4, ten ahead of third-placed Bryce Ward in his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 and ten more ahead of fourth-placed Nate Cicero and Robert Noaker in their No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

Lurking in fifth is Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer in their No. 27 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO. Despite an 11th-place result at Watkins Glen, they’re only 140 back, and heading to two venues where the No. 27 car podiumed in 2025 at CTMP and Road America, respectively.

In TCR, three Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCRs maintain the top three positions in points, owing in large part to consistency.

Four podiums from Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi see their No. 33 Hyundai at the head of the field by 80 points over teammates Preston Brown and Belgian driver Denis Dupont, who resides in Montreal, in their No. 76 Hyundai, with Mark Wilkins and Madison Aust third in their No. 98 Hyundai 140 back. The team’s No. 18 Hyundai (Harry Gottsacker, Lance Bergstein) sits fifth in points.

Wilkins is one of three active Canadian drivers to win a Pilot Challenge race at CTMP, along with last year’s winners Karl Wittmer and LP Montour in their No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR.

Unfortunately for the all-Canadian Honda entry, early race mechanical woes at the LP Building Solutions 120 left Wittmer and Montour falling down the standings to sixth, 250 points in arrears after winning the previous round at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The 29 GS cars feature three Canadian drivers, including brothers Travis and Trevor Hill in the No. 22 Shopify Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport, Samantha Tan in her No. 38 ST Racing by Random Vandals BMW.

The Canadians are more prevalent among the 13 TCR cars.

Beyond the already mentioned Wilkins, Wittmer and Montour, Baker Racing has a quartet of Canadians in the father-and-son duo of Dean and Sam Baker, James Vance  and Kenny Riedmann split between their Nos. 52 and 56 Audi RS 3 LMS TCRs.

The CTMP 120 takes the green flag Saturday at 1:25 p.m. EST with live streaming coverage on Peacock and ad-free courtesy of Michelin on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.