Carrera Cup Travels North of Border for Montreal Round

Following a pair of rounds in Florida to open the season, Porsche Carrera Cup North America travels north of the border in conjunction with Formula 1 as part of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

A total of 24 cars are entered for the pair of 40-minute races on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, following Carrera Cup’s last stop at the Miami International Autodrome, also with F1.

The only notable change to the entry list since Miami is the return of Pedro Torres, in the No. 16 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car, which is part of the seven-car Pro-Am class.

Kellymoss driver Riley Dickinson heads into the weekend with a 14-point lead over ACI’s Yves Baltas, who swept the most recent weekend in Miami, with Ryan Yardley, of Topp Racing, third in the Pro class standings after four races.

JP Martinez is out front in the Pro-Am championship, eight points ahead of Alan Metni, while Ruckus Racing’s Scott Blind holds control of the Masters class.

Two 30-minute practice sessions are scheduled for Friday followed by qualifying and the first race of the weekend on Saturday 14 at 6:05 p.m. ET. Sunday’s 40-minute race runs at 9:30 a.m., with both races to be streamed on Peacock, IMSA’s YouTube channel and PorscheCarreraCup.us.

Pre-Event News & Notes:

***For the second consecutive year, Carrera Cup North America visits the road course located on Notre Dame Island, and for the second consecutive round a world championship Grand Prix.

***Weather impacted both 40-minute sprints at Montreal in 2024, where the Yokohama ADVAN A006 tire for wet conditions were key. Baltas took the lead early in race one before a red flag for rain stopped, and soon ended, the race after just eight laps. Eventual season champion Loek Hartog led flag-to-flag in Sunday’s wet Race 2, where officials mandated the A006 tire for all drivers from the start. This weekend’s weather report looks much more promising than the 2024 edition.

***Baltas earned a pair of victories in Miami to move to second in the championship points behind Riley Dickinson. Montreal is returning to the site of his first Carrera Cup North America win. Topp Racing has finished second in each of four races this season – three times with Ryan Yardley, once with Tyler Maxson – to move into the Entrants Championship lead. In the Pro-Am class, James Sofronas of GMG Racing finished first in race one and second in race two at Miami.

***That win for Sofronas made him the first Carrera Cup driver to win a class in the three events shared with F1 at Miami, Montreal and Austin.

***Three Carrera Cup North America drivers on the entry list call Canada home. JDX Racing’s Zachary Vanier is from Garson, Ontario and sits seventh in the Pro standings. Pro-Am rivals Tom Collingwood (St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador) of BGB Racing and Marco Cirone (Toronto) of ACI Motorsports are fellow Candians at their “home” race this weekend.

***Hartog, the 2024 Carrera Cup North America champion, is making his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend. Hartog will race a Porsche 911 GT3 R for Manthey Racing. Roman De Angelis, a former champion in Porsche GT3 Cup North America, the precursor to Carrera Cup, will race Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Valkyrie in the Hypercar class at Le Mans.

***Porsche Motorsport North America announced a new partnership with Solairus Aviation in advance of the Montreal round of Carrera Cup North America. With the agreement, Solairus becomes the presenting partner for Rounds 3-6 of the championship while classes will be known as the Solairus Pro-Am and Solairus Masters.

***Solairus is now the Official Private Aviation Partner of PMNA, as well as Porsche Carrera Cup North America, Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama and Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama.