CTMP Saturday Notebook

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

***Tom Blomqvist’s pole-winning lap of 1:04.394 (137.472 mph) was the fastest-ever in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship history. The previous record was held by Blomqvist’s co-driver, Oliver Jarvis, from qualifying at Daytona International Speedway in 2019 (136.792 mph). All six DPis, meanwhile, were under the previous class qualifying track record.

***Blomqvist said Meyer Shank Racing “used a bit of anger” from last weekend’s runner-up finish to “spur us on” to the team’s second consecutive pole although admitted their Acura ARX-05 is a bit of a handful, handling-wise. “We still have to work on it because it was definitely a wild, wild ride and not one I want to do for 2 hours and 40 minutes tomorrow,” he said.

***JDC-Miller Motorsports had its best qualifying run since the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona with Tristan Vautier ending up the best of the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs in third. “I actually don’t remember my whole lap. When you don’t it means that you were really on the edge because you didn’t have any energy left to process,” said Vautier.

***Unlike last weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen that saw the prototypes and GTD cars have a split start, all 24 cars taking part in Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix will be grouped together for a combined start procedure, as was the case at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio and Detroit.

***GTD pole-sitter Frankie Montecalvo, who qualified second among the overall GTD field, said: “We’re going to have to stay out of trouble at the start. I think it’s going to be a little hectic as we’ll be right behind some of the LMP3s back there.”

***Blomqvist, meanwhile, said he expects a close fight with the Cadillacs tomorrow. “They’ve been complaining a lot recently,” he said. “But if you look at the race in Watkins, the 01 car didn’t leave us for the whole six hours… They had a really poor [qualifying] session. I think they were trying too hard. It’s obviously got to their head a bit because they keep complaining about the BoP.”

***WeatherTech Racing is utilizing additional Multimatic crew this weekend due to the clashing European Le Mans Series round at Monza. The crew was also with the GTD Pro class Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo during last weekend’s round at Watkins Glen.

***With CTMP returning to the WeatherTech Championship calendar for the first time since 2019, this weekend marks the Canadian debut of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, albeit in GTD specifications. “I would have loved to go to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and raced the C8.R in full GTLM spec,” said Antonio Garcia. “That would have been really good to feel and see how the C8.R was around that track.”

***Roman De Angelis makes his GT3 debut at his home track this weekend. The Canadian told Sportscar365 that his last competitive outing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park came in 2019 in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, where he swept the weekend in the Platinum class. De Angelis got his first taste of the resurfaced track in 2020 while coaching a Ferrari Challenge client, revealing the surface was still dusty at the time.

***The No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Ryan Eversley and Aidan Read is running without Nurtec ODT decals this weekend due to Canadian law that prohibits the advertising of prescription drugs. 

***Tristan Nunez, who was dropped from the race lineup in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac prior to Detroit, is on-site this weekend helping support the team. Nunez is understood to have also attended the Detroit race last month.

***Acura fired up the powertrain for its ARX-06 LMDh car for the first time this week at ORECA’s headquarters in France. Sportscar365 understands the engine is a different design to the current 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 that’s utilized in the DPi. 

***BMW is pushing forward with the development of its LMDh car, which is set to commence on-track testing in July. While the car is constructed at the Dallara facility in Italy, chief drivetrain engineer Ulrich Schulz told Sportscar365 that dyno testing of the twin-turbo V8 engine is also ongoing. “We are now doing some endurance tests on the dyno where we’re going to simulate tracks, especially those tracks which are stressing the engine a lot,” he said.

***Notably, one of the tracks simulated during a previous dyno run was the Circuit de la Sarthe, as Schulz played a recording of the dyno simulating the engine on the Mulsanne straight and downshifting for one of the chicanes on the Le Mans circuit.

***Aside from the switch to forced induction, BMW had to extensively redesign the original DTM engine to prepare it for the LMDh project. According to Schulz, some of the direct changes affected the cylinder head to facilitate a switch from port injection to high-pressure direct injection, as well as the valve train, intake manifold, pistons and exhaust system.

***Porsche has announced the creation of the Porsche Time Attack North America, which will debut during the Porsche Sports Car Together Fest at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 2-4. Any Porsche-built race car, in factory specification, with the exception of current model year Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport are eligible, with two practice sessions and two timed events scheduled.

***The Chevrolet Grand Prix will be carried live on network NBC and on Peacock on Sunday, with coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET. Dave Burns will anchor the coverage alongside Calvin Fish with Brian Till and Hannah Newhouse in pit lane. The coverage immediately follows the NTT IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio.

***John Hindhaugh, Jeremy Shaw and Shea Adam, meanwhile, will be on the call for IMSA Radio’s coverage that will include IMSA.tv for international viewers.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

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