Daytona Beach, Florida – The “I” standing for “International” in IMSA is highlighted this weekend when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship visits Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

 

IMSA-sanctioned sports car racing is a hugely international affair, with 18 participating auto manufacturers representing six nations. But the Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend at the historic venue colloquially known as “Mosport” is IMSA’s only event staged outside of the United States.

 

Located about 60 miles east of Toronto’s city center, CTMP is a fast and flowing 2.459-mile road course that has been a favorite of drivers and racing fans since 1961. It’s unique on this year’s WeatherTech Championship slate because the field will be comprised of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes, with Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) taking a summer holiday.

 

The three days are loaded with action, featuring a card that also includes the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin. Here’s what to watch for:

 

It may not be obvious at first glance, but every GTP car in the WeatherTech Championship is based on an LMP2 chassis from approved suppliers. Porsche uses Multimatic, Cadillac and BMW are with Dallara, Lamborghini with Ligier and Acura with ORECA, whose LMP2 07 chassis has become the choice of almost every LMP2 class competitor.

 

Because LMP2 cars are smaller and lighter than the complex hybrid-powered GTP class entries, the performance gap between GTP and LMP2 is surprisingly small – about three seconds a lap at most tracks. LMP2 cars also achieve their performance differently, with less straight-line velocity countered by higher cornering speeds.

 

The GTP pole time in 2023 at CTMP was 1 minute, 5.653 seconds. The LMP2 lap record is 1:06.315 – less than a second’s difference. It’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because weight and power regulations for LMP2 cars have been modified in recent years to maintain a performance separation between GTP and LMP2. But make no mistake, an LMP2 prototype is an extremely capable racing car.

 

Just ask Colin Braun, the driver who set that LMP2 track record in 2018. Not only that, Braun and Jon Bennett drove to the overall win for CORE autosport that weekend in a 12-car Prototype class field that included four LMP2s and eight Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars.

 

Six of Braun’s 24 IMSA race wins have come at CTMP, including last year, when he and Tom Blomqvist took the overall victory in a GTP-class Acura ARX-06 for Meyer Shank Racing. This year, Braun will be back to compete for the overall win, teamed with George Kurtz in the LMP2 class No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07.

 

“I think it’s neat what IMSA has done to give this class a spotlight race where they can compete for the overall win,” said Braun. “That makes it fun for us as teams and good for our sponsors and partners, and just brings some awareness to how great the racing is in the LMP2 class.

 

“I think oftentimes there are some storylines that go untold or unseen because there’s so much good racing in IMSA right now. You can’t cover everything, so it will be great to showcase what the competition is all about because it’s a heck of a class.”

 

Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker are the defending champions in the Touring Car (TCR) class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge. But theirs was a winless title campaign, and it’s been a full two years since Canadian favorite Wickens (No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR) last tasted victory. It came during the Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend in 2022, at a venue the Ontario native considers a home track despite having rarely raced there throughout the course of his varied and successful career.

 

“I raced there in Formula BMW in 2006, and then I did a (Formula) Atlantic race as a one-off in 2009,” Wickens said. “Apart from that, I was racing overseas in Europe and the stars never aligned where I could race in a series that came to CTMP (until the 2022 win). Although I feel I know the track like the back of my hand from watching it all the years, I actually don’t have much on-track experience.”

 

Wickens and Gottsacker finished second at CTMP in 2023. They rank third in this year’s TCR class standings, 310 points behind Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor, who have driven the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR to wins in four of five races.

 

LMP2 features the closest championship battle in the WeatherTech Championship, with Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga (No. 74 Riley ORECA) leading Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel (No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA) by just six points, though Stuart Wiltshire is subbing for Merriman this weekend.

 

It’s a three-team battle in GTD PRO, with Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich (No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R), Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3), and Ross Gunn (No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) in a 60-point cluster. Philip Ellis and Russell Ward (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT3) have an impressive lead in GTD, with four wins in five races to build a 305-point cushion over Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3).