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Buford Sweeps PWC GTS Races at CTMP

Jade Buford swept the PWC GTS races at CTMP…

Photo: Brian Cleary/bcpix.com

Photo: Brian Cleary/bcpix.com

Jade Buford got his second GTS win of the Pirelli World Challenge weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a dominant performance in Race 2 on Sunday.

Buford got a clean jump from pole in the standing start and went largely unchallenged the rest of the way in the No. 45 Racers Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4, leading home Lawson Aschenbach in the No. 10 Black Dog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4 by 7.240 seconds.

The second-place finish for Aschenbach was his sixth-straight podium in PWC competition.

The biggest drama came at the start, when outside pole-sitter Ernie Francis Jr. was unable to get away when the lights went out. The rest of the field scrambled to get around the stranded Ford Mustang, but Francis was unable to get the car moving.

The stalled car forced the stewards to deploy the safety car while the Mustang was towed off track.

When the race restarted, Aschenbach quickly charged up to third on the first green flag lap, then powered past Anthony Mantella in the No. 8 Mantella Autosport KTM Xbow GT4 down the Mario Andretti Straight and into second.

Mantella found himself fighting with the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR of Rodgrigo Baptista for the third spot for much of the race, ultimately coming out on top in the duel when Baptista was hit with a drive-through penalty for passing under a local yellow.

In spite of the penalty, he managed to recover a sixth-place result.

Ian James turned in an impressive run to fourth in the Panoz Avezzano GT, withstanding constant pressure from James Courtney’s Maserati GT4 for much of the 50-minute race.

The strong performance for the Panoz comes after the car suffered a drive-line issue in Race 1 of the weekend on Saturday.

GTSA class honors went to George Kurtz in the GMG Racing McLaren 570S GT4, while Tony Gaples took second in the second Camaro. Aristotle Balogh completed the GTSA podium in third for Stephen Cameron Racing.

Ryan Myrehn is an Indianapolis-based broadcaster and reporter. In addition to his work covering primarily domestic sports car racing for Sportscar365, he is the lead announcer for SRO America's TV coverage as well as a pit reporter for IndyCar Radio. Myrehn, a graduate of DePauw University, is also the host of Sportscar365's “Double Stint” Podcast.

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