Dillmann: “Cool Story” to Win in CTMP Comeback

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Tom Dillmann said it was a “cool story” in claiming victory in Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix, one year after he ended the race in the barriers with a broken back due to a mechanical failure.

Dillmann and Inter Europol Competition co-driver Jeremy Clarke claimed the team’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory since the 2025 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, in a rather controlling run from pole in their No. 43 Oreca 07 Gibson.

FIA Bronze-rated driver Clarke led the opening laps of the two-hour and 40-minute contest at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after setting a new LMP2 lap record on Saturday, before handing over to Dillmann.

“After qualifying yesterday, it helped build a lot of confidence,” said Clarke. “The main goal for Stint 1 was to grab the lead right at the start and maintain fuel targets and distance our pace and the traffic behind.

“I kept an eye on what was going on there, not pulling too much of a gap, trying just to maintain what I needed to do, knowing that there was a lot of traffic coming.

“I wanted to have enough of a gap that I could have a little bit of breathing room through the traffic. But Misha [Goikhberg] was very quick and I was able to continue that.

“Really the main goal was bringing the car home to Tom with no scratches, that way he could go do his thing.”

Dillmann made the eventual race-winning pass on the No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca 07 Gibson of Alex Quinn with 1 hour and 14 minutes to go.

The win, Dillmann’s third career in WeatherTech Championship competition, came 12 months after fracturing two vertebrae after his car’s throttle stuck wide open while in the lead of last year’s race.

“Going into the weekend it didn’t change anything for me,” he said of last year’s accident. “I go to any race wanting to win. Now after the fact, I think it’s indeed a cool story.

“As a team, we are really strong here.

“Jeremy did the perfect job. A few cars took a chance with the strategy and they got the yellow at the right time, which costed us the lead.

“I knew passing cross-track on Alex would be a tough task. But we managed to do it and we had the pace to bring it home.

“I think we’ve been doing really well all season. We were just unlucky in Sebring, otherwise we’d be right up there in the championship.”

Dillmann, Quinn “Surprised” By Late-Race Fuel Stops

Both Dillmann and runner-up finisher Quinn said they were surprised with the calls from their teams to make fuel stops in the closing moments of the race.

The top-three cars, including the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca of Dane Cameron, all pitted for a splash after it became apparent there wouldn’t be a late-race yellow.

While the final 1 hour and 47 minutes of the race ran caution-free, the stops for all three cars ultimately didn’t affect the finishing order.

“I knew I was one lap longer than Alex, so compared to Alex, I was not worried,” said Dillmann. “I knew I pitted the same laps as AO.

“But at then I didn’t know that I had a splash to do. When I got a late call to pit, I was, ‘Oh, did we make a mistake or something?’

“Then they quickly told me it was all good.

“I learned the 52 [car] had an alternate strategy but they were too far [behind] to make it work.”

Quinn added: “When you’re in the car you don’t know the full story necessarily. I was a bit surprised we had to do the splash but in the end it worked out well.

“Maybe we were were slightly unlucky. We came out on the out lap and hit a huge amount of traffic, so maybe we lost a bit there.

“But either way, I think it didn’t make a necessarily a huge difference for the race.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John