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- Category: Road Racing
By: John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service
July 9, 2025
July 9, 2025
Daytona Beach, Florida – AWA didn’t win the LMGT3 class in the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, but its Canadian maple leaf-liveried Corvette Z06 GT3.R won the hearts of the international racing community from the heart of France.
Now the only Canadian team to participate in this year’s 24-hour classic at the Circuit de la Sarthe is back on home soil to compete in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the sixth of 10 races on the slate for Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class competitors in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The GTD, GTD PRO, and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) classes take the spotlight at CTMP, while the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class enjoys a mid-summer break before returning to top the bill August 1-3 at the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America.
Etobicoke, Ontario (town near Mississauga, Ontario near Toronto) native Orey Fidani secured Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s invitation to Le Mans by winning IMSA’s Bob Akin Award, presented to the top Bronze-rated full-time driver in the GTD class. Fidani and his AWA co-drivers Lars Kern and Matt Bell claimed the ’24 Akin prize on consistency, then opened the 2025 IMSA campaign with a Rolex 24 At Daytona class victory.
Fidani and Brendan Iribe (No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3) are tied with 1590 points to lead this year’s Akin Award standings. It appears set to be a two-horse race between Fidani and Iribe for the 2025 Bob Akin Award the rest of the season. Fidani and Bell rank eighth in the overall GTD standings.
Fans at CTMP – located about 50 miles northeast of Toronto’s City Centre in Bowmanville and colloquially known by its original name of Mosport – are in for a treat, because AWA’s No. 13 Corvette will be wrapped in a Canadian-themed livery almost identical to the one its Europe-based twin sported on the way to its top-10 class finish at Le Mans.
“Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is my home track, and just being there is a great feeling,” Fidani said. “I honestly couldn’t tell you how many laps I’ve done there; I feel like I could probably drive it with my eyes closed. It’s a challenging layout, and no matter how many times I drive it, it never gets old.
“This race means so much to the whole team,” he added. “CTMP is an extremely special place for me. It's where this whole journey began and it’s very sentimental to be able to compete at my home track in front of friends and family.
Fidani has remained fiercely loyal to his co-drivers and team as they worked up the sports car ladder together as a group since 2022, and Wojteczko is extremely grateful Fidani insisted on taking on the Le Mans effort as AWA rather than just trying to find a ride on his own.
Fidani also praised Bell, who had competed twice before at Le Mans in the LMP2 class and has consistently lent a veteran presence to the AWA effort.
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable of the title of veteran just yet,” laughed Bell, a 35-year-old Englishman. “It was definitely different to be essentially the only driver there that’s done Le Mans before.
“You have to have your routine ready, and in the race, you can’t sit and watch the TV screens the whole time, because when you jump in you feel tired. Le Mans is not a track to drive around tired. It’s a pretty high commitment circuit.
“I was just trying to make sure everybody was as prepped off the track as they were on it, and it seems to have gone alright.”
The AWA team notched a 10th-place class finish at Le Mans, which was a positive achievement that left everyone wanting more.
“We’re obviously a very competitive team,” Bell said. “We want to win; we won the Akin Award last year and we won Daytona this year. We fell a little short on pace at Le Mans. We learned some lessons; we’re pretty sure immediately that we know why, and what went wrong. But you never know that until you’ve done it wrong, and then you’re in the race. So, we weren’t quite as competitive as we hoped to be, and it really is a pace race these days for all classes.
“Having Jeff Braun (respected racing engineer and father of IMSA driver Colin Braun) along with us was important, as he’s done it a couple times,” Bell added. “He’s been both keeping our team moving forward in the IMSA paddock and going to Le Mans. I think bringing Jeff in was a really big jump for the team and he’s done a great job bringing all the people together.”
Bell and his teammates didn’t bring home a trophy from Le Mans, but they brought home a suitcase full of memories. There’s no doubt they’ll get a huge round of applause every time AWA’s rolling homage to Canada turns a lap of CTMP.
“After seeing the massive amount of support we received in Le Mans, we knew we had to bring back the red livery for the Canadian crowd,” Fidani said. “I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car and we’ll be doing everything we can to put on a good show and get a great result here.”
Bell added, “The whole Fidani family and the team were proud to be, I believe, the only Canadian team to be flying the flag. It just added an extra little element to everything for everyone.
“It was cool to see such a positive reception to guys proud of where the team was coming from and the national pride. Definitely a big hit and a big fan favorite – as the IMSA car has been as well this year (in the black and gold livery it ran from Daytona through the June 22 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International). We seem to have resonated on the livery front with the fans so far this year, so they are doing a great job.
“The parade day (at Le Mans) was such a cool day,” Bell continued. “It’s easy to forget how crazy that all is, and to do it again and see Orey and Lars experience it. Such fun to see so much engagement from so many fans of the race. You always want to make sure the people coming to watch the event are having as much enjoyment as you are. We had some great times on that parade and that will stay with me for a while.”
Practice for the Chevrolet Grand Prix starts Friday, July 11, with the 2-hour, 40-minute race slated for 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 13. Domestic coverage is on USA and Peacock, while international viewers have the option of IMSA.TV or the official IMSA YouTube Channel.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: David Phillips/IMSA Wire Service
July 9, 2025
July 9, 2025
Daytona Beach, Florida – It’s safe to say Robert Wickens circled this weekend in red when he and DXDT Racing announced plans to compete in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. After all, Wickens originally hails from Guelph, Ontario – a Toronto suburb – and the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) is the WeatherTech Championship’s only visit to Canada this year.
“There’s lots to be excited about and I’m just trying to embrace a home race. It's been a long time since I've been in the headline event at a hometown race,” admits Wickens. “The last was IndyCar in 2018 (streets of Toronto, where he finished third). The Canadian fans are always passionate and always super loyal, and it's going to be awesome to see everybody out there.”
It’s also safe to say that having run countless number of laps at CTMP, Wickens knows the 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit inside and out – witness his two IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Touring Car (TCR) class wins there for Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA). Call it advantage number one for Wickens who was injured in a crash back in 2018 and now operates the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R using hand controls including Bosch’s electronic braking system.
It's equally safe to say Wickens will heavily lean on another advantage this weekend, namely Josh Gibbs. After all, Gibbs plays a uniquely vital role in the Wickens + DXDT equation for he is the crew member responsible for lifting Wickens into and out of the No. 36 DXDT Corvette during driver changes with Wickens’ co-driver, Alec Udell. Efficiently executing Wickens’ ingress and egress from the cockpit during pit stops can win or lose positions on the track.
“It’s a cliche, but you can win and lose a race during a pit stop,” says Gibbs. “You’re literally carrying a human body around the car, around the tires and the rest of the crew doing their jobs, other cars coming in and out of the pits and constantly keeping your head on a swivel for safety sake.”
Prior to Wickens’ GTD debut at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this season, he and Gibbs joined the team in spending a full day practicing pit stops at the DXDT shop in Charlotte, North Carolina under the watchful eyes (and remorseless stopwatch) of team manager Bryan Sellers.
“But by the end of the day we were under six seconds for getting Robert out of the car,” Gibbs says. “So the next target was five seconds …”
Gibbs did not come by this job by accident. A standout center on the Saginaw Valley State University football team, he didn’t hear his name called during the National Football League draft so, instead, he turned his attention to becoming a strength and conditioning coach for the Arena Football League’s Reno Express and later worked with AMA Motocross/Supercross champion Nico Izzi.
Subsequently, Gibbs worked in a spinal cord recovery clinic, where he met Michael Johnson who was paralyzed in a motocross accident at age 12 but who returned to racing go-karts and, later, using hand controls, race cars.
When Johnson moved to race cars, Gibbs took on the added responsibilities of assisting his driver getting into and out of the cockpit, successfully as it turned out. Johnson won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Lime Rock Park in 2018 before joining BHA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge effort in 2021. Fortuitously, when Johnson brought the curtain down on his racing career, one Robert Wickens was quick to contact Gibbs.
“When Michael took the personal family ‘out’ Robert called and said ‘Hey, I’ll take you!’” Gibbs recalls.
“It’s crazy how effortlessly Josh can toss me around getting in and out of the car,” says Wickens.
However, it turns out there’s more to the job than brute strength. As Gibbs noted, helping Wickens in and out of the DXDT Corvette amid the helter-skelter action in the pits is daunting enough. Ultimately, doing it quickly takes second place to doing it carefully.
“It’s a strong and powerful grip,” says Gibbs, “but it’s actually not hurting the way I do it. There is an art to it. I guess over the years I’ve perfected the grip and the moves, such that it’s not a ripping grab. I’m looking at the head. I’m looking at the arms. I’m looking at the body. I’m looking at which path we’re taking so that we’re not hurting anything.”
With Wickens’ GTD program limited to the non-endurance races on the WeatherTech Championship schedule, this weekend marks just the third time this season the Wickens/Gibbs tandem will be working together in the heat of competition. Wickens concedes there is work to do.
“We’re still working to find time getting me into the car,” he says. “We’re quick but not as consistent as we’d like. Getting out is relatively easy, but there’s a lot more moving parts to get connected getting into the car.
“We got the pit stops down to 16 seconds at Long Beach but even then we lost some time. At Laguna Seca the whole pit stop was a disaster, beginning with our car getting hit by another car. But like anything else in racing, we keep practicing, keep working to do what we need to do to be competitive.”
And to continue developing their fair advantage.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: RobertWickens.om
July 4, 2025
July 4, 2025
Toronto, Ontario – Following his electrifying runner-up finish at the Nürburgring 24 Hours—where he made history as the first driver to finish with hand controls—Canadian motorsport icon Robert Wickens returns to his homeland to compete in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP), July 11–13. Wickens is racing the #36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the GTD category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Robert Wickens: "I couldn't be more excited about being a part of the headline race, driving a Corvette Z06 GT3.R. It's a big race for myself, as well as my team, DXDT Racing, we feel like a podium is just around the corner, and there is no place I would rather achieve that than at home at CTMP. The Corvette has always been a fan favorite. Ron Fellows put Corvette Racing on the map in Canada with all of his success with Pratt and Miller. Ron has had a huge influence on CTMP and on my career. He's someone I've always looked up to from a very young age, and he's helped me, other Canadian drivers progress from karts to cars. Now to return, driving a Corvette just like Ron has done for so many years holds a special place for me."
Nürburgring 24 Recap
At the grueling 24‑hour endurance classic, Wickens and his “Bryan Herta Autosport -Team America’s” co‑drivers secured an impressive second-place finish in the #831 Elantra N TCR—an extraordinary feat given he raced using his hand-operated throttle and advanced Bosch electronic brake system. This marked a milestone as the first time in the event’s long history that a driver finished on the podium using non-traditional driver aids.
Wickens attempted the fete in 2024, while still racing with Bryan Herta Autosport in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series. His effort was cut short when he suffered a hand control failure during the “NLS” licensing races. Hyundai and Bryan Herta Autosport offered Wickens another opportunity this year, using the new Bosch hand control system.
The effort was a massive success, Wickens drove for over six hours in the legendary 24-hour endurance race and had the honor of taking the checkered flag, proving that both he and his Bosch hand control system are fully capable of competing for victories in endurance racing.
Corvette Z06 GT3.R: GTD Success With DXDT Racing
In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Wickens has dazzled in the #36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for DXDT Racing. With the evolution of the Bosch hand control system, GM and Pratt and Miller paired with DXDT Racing to give Wickens an opportunity in the GTD category of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, North America’s premier SportsCar racing series. Wickens has impressed not just with inspiring perseverance, but also with pace:
Debut 2025 GTD race at Long Beach: set the second fastest lap of the race weekend in the GTD category.
Wickens and his teammate Alec Udell started on the front row at Laguna Seca and looked set for a podium before being hit in the pit lane.
This innovative braking technology, jointly developed by Bosch, Pratt Miller, Chevrolet, and DXDT, supports seamless driver swaps between manually controlled and pedal-powered configurations on the same steering system. The IMSA race at CTMP will be Wickens third of five races in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R this season.
Back Home: The Ultimate Fan Experience
Canadian fans are invited to get closer than ever through the “Wickens Ultimate Fan Experience” at CTMP. VIP guests receive:
- Three-day event “Super Ticket” with paddock access
- Private meet‑and‑greet with Wickens
- Exclusive behind‑the‑scenes tour of DXDT Racing
- Grid-side photo opportunities with Wickens and the DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R
- Entry to Robert’s dedicated cheering section
- A commemorative swag pack
- Plus, a surprise podium experience—if Wickens finishes in the top three
- This exclusive three-day package offers fans an intimate experience with one of Canada’s most inspirational sports heroes, the cost is US$120 and is available at www.robertwickens.com.
From IMSA to INDYCAR: Immediately after CTMP, Wickens remains in-country to join the Toronto Indy — where he serves as a technical advisor for Andretti Global. Andretti Global are the defending race winners of the Toronto GP. Wickens works from Kyle Kirkwood’s timing stand, Kirkwood has won two of the three INDYCAR races on street circuits this season. Kirkwood, who recently triumphed at Long Beach, credited Wickens’ analytical expertise as pivotal to his performance.
About Robert Wickens
Canadian driver Robert Wickens made a dramatic return to elite motorsport after a life-changing 2018 INDYCAR crash. Since returning to competition with hand controls in 2022, he has won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR title, earned a historic podium at Nürburgring 24, and competed in the IMSA GTD series using hand controls—with continued innovation in braking systems from Bosch. Wickens has become a trailblazer for the disabled community and continues to work toward innovation in public mobility.
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- Category: Road Racing
By: JWR Racing
July 4, 2025
July 4, 2025
Whitby, Ontario — Jonathan Woolridge Racing is proud to announce a new partnership with Oro Station, Canada’s newest premier motorsport and automotive innovation campus, ahead of the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). The collaboration brings together one of the country’s rising racing talents with an organization shaping the future of Canadian motorsport.
Located in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, Oro Station Motor Circuit features a 4.1-kilometre FIA Grade 3 circuit integrated into a state-of-the-art automotive campus focused on performance engineering, research, and education. As Woolridge prepares to race in front of a hometown crowd, the support from Oro Station adds both local pride and forward-thinking synergy to his campaign.
Currently competing in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, Woolridge drives the #54 Ligier JS P320 LMP3 for MLT Motorsports and has already made headlines with a standout victory at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season. His sights are firmly set on progressing to the LMP2 category, and the partnership with Oro Station further reinforces his upward trajectory.
“Teaming up with Oro Station for my home race at CTMP is incredibly special,” says Woolridge. “Their commitment to innovation and engineering excellence aligns perfectly with the values I carry onto the racetrack every weekend. To represent such a forward-thinking Canadian organization at a track that means so much to me is a real honour.”
Oro Station branding will be featured on Woolridge’s #54 LMP3 machine and across team assets throughout the race weekend. The partnership also includes exclusive digital content that will give fans a deeper look into the shared ambition to elevate Canadian motorsport on the world stage.
The Chevrolet Grand Prix takes place July 11–13 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, and is one of the most anticipated events on the IMSA calendar. For Woolridge, the weekend is more than just a race, it’s a celebration of hometown roots and a bold step forward.
About Oro Station
Oro Station is a new automotive innovation park under construction in Oro-Medonte, Ontario,Canada. Oro Station will be home to the future of automotive technology and education, while providing specialized services in motorsports, automotive restoration, and advanced engineering. The site will feature 500,000 square feet of industrial space dedicated to automotive research, engineering, education and development, including a 4.1km FIA Grade 3 motor circuit with dynamic driving areas. Oro Station will create connections between enthusiasts and experts alike, and establish a vibrant community with an eye towards advancing the automotive industry in Canada.
For more information about Oro Station please visit www.orostation.ca
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By: demiracing.com
March 19, 2025
March 19, 2025
Radical Canada is thrilled to announce that Canadian racer Demi Chalkias will compete in the 2025 season of the FEL Emzone Radical Cup Canada as a driver with Radical Academy. This exciting partnership highlights both Chalkias’ and the Radical Academy’s commitment to empowering females in the motorsport world.
Demi Chalkias, a rising star in the racing community, expressed her enthusiasm about this opportunity: “I am incredibly excited to return to racing in Canada and to be part of the Radical Academy. It’s an honor to represent an initiative that supports and encourages girls in motorsport. I am looking forward to not only competing but also inspiring the next generation of female drivers.”
Radical Academy not only prepares women for roles as drivers, but it also opens doors to a wide range of career opportunities within the Motorsport industry. This includes technical and STEM, marketing and communications, as well as hospitality disciplines. By joining this prestigious program, Chalkias will have access to professional guidance, and a network of industry leaders, all designed to help her reach new heights in her racing career.
Radical Canada is proud to support this initiative and to have Demi Chalkias as a key ambassador for the program. “Demi embodies the spirit of the Radical Academy,” said Robert Burgess, Team Principal “Her passion and determination set a fantastic example for women everywhere. We believe that with our support, she will achieve great things on the track.”
Chalkias will take to the track in the FEL Emzone Radical Cup Canada, showcasing her skills against a competitive field. Fans and supporters can expect to see her in action throughout the season, as she aims for victory and aims to inspire others along the way.
For more information on Demi Chalkias and the Radical Academy, please visit www.demiracing.com and www.radicalcanada.ca/academy