AO Racing Wins CTMP Thriller After Late Drama

AO Racing’s PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron triumphed at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after late drama for Inter Europol Competition in the final stages of Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Chevrolet Grand Prix.

Hyett led the field to green from pole in the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca 07 Gibson, steadily opening up a significant gap to United Autosport’s Daniel Goldburg behind in second in what proved to be a dominant opening stint before the race’s first full-course caution.

After taking over for Hyett, Cameron continued to keep the AO entry at the head of the field, though Inter Europol’s Tom Dillmann charged up the order from fifth to second and set his sights on the race leader.

Despite an initially successful undercut strategy to hand Inter Europol the lead over AO, Dillmann crashed hard at Turn 3 on the final restart, handing Cameron the overall race lead in the final minutes.

He took ‘Spike’ to the checkered flag under caution ahead of the No. 22 United entry of Goldburg and Tom Blomqvist to secure the team’s first LMMP2 victory in IMSA competition.

The No. 74 Riley squad of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson was promoted to a third-place finish after a late penalty for TDS Racing.

United’s Ben Hanley and Phil Fayer came home fourth, despite an early off for the Canadian driver, while the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca came back from a drive-through penalty to complete top-five overall.

Early contender Steven Thomas in the TDS entry suffered a spin while running third after contact with the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and a late penalty for incident responsibility with Mario Farnbacher, which resulted in the race’s second stoppage after the No. 78 Forte Racing driver nosed his Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 into the Turn 8 barriers.

The No. 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca of John Farano spun and stopped temporarily on track at Turn 9 in the early stages as race-leader Hyett went by. Farano continued on, albeit in the middle of the GTD Pro field, eventually falling two laps down before the first round of pit stops.

The race’s first caution came out with just over 90 minutes remaining when George Kurtz sustained a heavy impact at the exit of Turn 3, resulting in significant and race-ending damage to his No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry and leaving debris strewn across the track.

Multiple drivers were involved in a first-hour collision when third-place runner Kurtz attempted to move his No. 04 Oreca past Brendan Iribe’s No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, spinning both cars and collecting Chris Cumming’s Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca and Robinson’s No. 74 Riley machine behind.

No action was taken by race control on this incident, which was all four drivers continuing on without interrupting race running.

DragonSpeed Takes First GTD Pro win; WTR Pulls Off a Spin-and-Win in GTD

DragonSpeed took its first-ever GTD Pro class victory with a fuel-saving strategy that saw the No. 81 Ferrari having made one less pit stop than its competitors.

Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoe came home ahead of the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R after starting from last on the GTD Pro grid.

AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche of Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler completed the class podium after leading laps in the middle stages, despite starting near the rear of the field.

Vasser Sullivan and Paul Miller Racing also spent time at the head of the class, but a variety of pit strategies and yellows shuffled the order.

Wayne Taylor Racing gambled on a late-race caution to bring the No. 45 Lamborghini of Trent Hindman and Danny Formal to victory lane in GTD after a race that started with a spin on the opening lap.

It marked Formal’s first WeatherTech Championship win.

Hindman led the GTD field in the final hour after electing to stay out to gain track position when the majority of the class leaders came in for energy and tires in the second half.

The WTR squad gambled on a late-race caution to maintain their significant advantage over Farnbacher, who made up significant ground before the Forte driver nosed his No. 78 Lamborghini into the barriers after attempting to avoid the No. 11 TDS machine, bringing out the race’s second yellow just before the final half-hour.

Formal completed his opening stint with a cracked rim after Lap 1 contact with Onofrio Triarsi, which resulted in a spin for both cars and a drive-through penalty for the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari.

The class points-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo finished second in class, with the pole-sitting No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth in third.

Thirty-four cars took the green flag after the No. 79 JDC-Miller Motorsports LMP2 entry of Scott Andrews and Gerry Kraut withdrew from the race.

RESULTS: Chevrolet Grand Prix