CTMP Saturday Notebook

Photo: John Walker

***After being forced to withdraw its car due to Boris Said’s heavy accident in practice, Action Express Racing will run its No. 5 Corvette DP in the Whelen colors in Sunday’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix. “Sonny Whelen is a great friend of our team and he deserves to have a car in this race,” said AXR Team Owner Bob Johnson.

***While the opening two days of TUDOR United SportsCar Championship action at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has been run in sunshine, things are likely to change tomorrow, with forecasts now calling for an 80 percent chance of rain, including occasional thunderstorms. It could mark the first rain race of the season.

***Remo Ruscitti had a big day on Saturday, claiming wins in both the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race (ST – Autometrics Motorsports) and Cooper Tire Prototype Lites (L1, 8Star Motorsports). The 20-year-old Canadian helped lead a sweep for 8Star in his Lites debut, giving the team its first overall win in IMSA’s prototype development series, with teammate Lamont Harris winning the Master’s class and Christian Potolicchio finishing third overall.

***An original oil painting work, titled Mosport Memories – The Early Years, created by fine artist Ken Dallison was unveiled today at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (pictured, above). Dallison was commissioned last winter to create the oil painting, which will be offered as a limited edition print. The original painting will be on display in the circuit’s Event Centre.

***Jim France and Don Panoz will receive the Bob Russo Heritage Award in recognition of their long-term support of sports car racing at the 26th Annual Motorsports Hall of Fame of America’s (MSHFA) Induction Ceremony on Aug. 6 in Detroit. The award, named in honor of the long-time motorsports journalist and historian, is presented at the recommendation of the MSHFA Board of Directors in recognition of the recipient’s contributions to motorsports throughout their career.

***Both SRT Motorsports and Flying Lizard Motorsports took advantage of their two-car lineups to have drivers evaluate setups on both cars. Marc Goossens and Jonathan Bomarito drove both the Nos. 91 and 93 Viper GTS-Rs, while Spencer Pumpelly and Dion von Moltke were at the wheel of the two Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS cars.

***Former OAK Racing driver Guillaume Moreau has joined Onroak Automotive in a business and marketing capacity. The 31-year-old Frenchman was forced out of the cockpit following an accident at the Le Mans Test Day in 2012, where he sustained fractured vertebrae and underwent multiple operations.

***Longtime sports car racing crew member Sam Dunlap passed away last month from a heart attack. Dunlap had been a regular in the IMSA, GRAND-AM and SCCA paddocks, having worked for Corvette Racing, Alegra Motorsports, Robertson Racing, Krohn Racing, among others, and most recently GT Sport in Pirelli World Challenge.

***Five of the 22 teams taking part in this year’s Tour de France are riding on Continental tires. The three-week journey covers more than 2,000 miles. The technology used on the course is applied to Continental’s products used by many IMSA driver’s as well. Drivers such as Ozz Negri, Jeff Westphal, Jon Fogarty, and Darren Law sport Continental tires on their road and mountain bikes. Expect to see some of these riders out at the Tour de Road America in August.

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