Westbrook Takes Ford to Strategic Victory in GTLM

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

A perfectly timed late-race yellow has given Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe GT Le Mans class honors in Sunday’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Westbrook took his No. 67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT to its second class victory of the season and third of the year for the team, edging out the pair of Corvette C7.Rs in the hotly contested class. 

It came after a dominating run by the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet, which lost out both on traffic and a full-course caution that effectively gave Westbrook a free final pit stop.

After having stretched his fuel mileage in the final hour, Westbrook pitted from the class lead with 25 minutes to go, moments before the race’s second-to-final caution for a loose wheel from the No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05. 

The team opted for right-side Michelin tires only, which got Westbrook out ahead of the field, where he held cruised to a 4.879-second victory, despite an additional late yellow.

Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen finished second in the No. 3 Corvette, courtesy of Pilet getting held up by the No. 14 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Kyle Marcelli in the closing laps.

The No. 4 Corvette of Tommy Milner managed to sneak by the Porsche as well to give the Pratt & Miller squad a double podium finish.

Pilet and Tandy, meanwhile, were forced to settle for fourth, with its sister No. 912 car of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor in sixth after contact with Westbrook in the second hour destroyed the right-rear of the Porsche.

Riley Team AMG Sail to Win in GTD

Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating picked up the win in GT Daytona, taking their Mercedes-AMG GT3 back to victory lane for the first time since Circuit of The Americas last year.

Bleekemolen took advantage of late-race issues for both of the Lexus entries to finish 2.919 seconds ahead of Marcelli, who lost the class lead after sliding off course on the second-to-last restart with 20 minutes to go.

The class pole-sitting No. 15 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth, which was also in the mix for the win, suffered an accident with six minutes remaining and was forced to make a late pit stop.

It promoted the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS of Andy Lally and John Potter to third.

Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow came finished fourth, missing the podium for the first time this season, although have extended their championship lead over Meyer Shank Racng’s Katherine Legge, who recorded a fifth place class result in the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 alongside Alvaro Parente.

RESULTS: Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix

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