Wittmer, Mills Score SprintX Race 1 Win at CTMP

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Kuno Wittmer and Michael Mills have claimed victory in the inaugural Pirelli World Challenge SprintX round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, following a dominant run for the BMW pairing.

Wittmer took the No. 46 Mills Racing BMW Z4 GT3 to a 24.367-second win over the No. 69 M1 GT Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra of David Ostella in second.

The Canadian took over the lead following the round of pit stops halfway through the 60-minute race, when Ostella climbed aboard the Audi from race leader Dion von Moltke.

The Audi took a new left-rear tire, while the Mills squad changed the BMW’s left-front tire during the mandatory stop but rejoined 12 seconds behind Wittmer.

It marked the first victory for the Mills’ family-run squad in only the Texas-based team’s second-ever race.

The No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Colin Braun and Brent Holden completed the podium in third, ahead of the Guy Cosmo and Walt Bowlin-driven No. 23 M1 GT Audi R8 LMS in fourth.

The pole-sitting No. 4 De La Torre Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Lars Viljoen dominated the early stages, bridging out to a 23-second lead but retired with gearbox failure just prior to the opening of the pit window.

Viljoen, however, set the race’s quickest lap and therefore will start from pole in Race 2.

TRG-AMR, meanwhile, scored top class honors in GTS, with Kris Wilson and Max Riddle taking a flag-to-flag victory in their No. 07 Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Wilson edged out the team’s sister TRG-AMR entry of Jason Alexandridis by 42 seconds.

The No. 45 Racers Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 was third in class but battled mechanical issues and also did not finish.

Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 8:15 a.m. ET.

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