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.