AO Racing’s PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron won the IMSA Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, after late drama and a caution curtailing proceedings early.
Hyett led away from pole in the #99 ‘Spike’ AO Racing Oreca LMP2, from Daniel Goldburg in the #22 United Autosports Oreca. He began to build a gap, with this standing at around 40 seconds when the race’s first full course caution was called, just over an hour into the race.
Hyett handed the car over to Cameron when he stopped during the caution. The latter was able to keep the car in the lead, with an hour and 15 minutes remaining when the race went green.
However, Tom Dillmann had climbed into the #43 Inter Europol Oreca LMP2 at the pitstops, replacing Jeremy Clarke. Clarke had started the car fourth, slipping to fifth midway through the first hour.
After the race went green, then, Dillmann sat fourth, behind Cameron in the lead, Tom Blomqvist in the #22 United car, and Benjamin Pedersen in the #53 PR1 Mathiasen machine.
Dillmann, though, wasn’t happy with this and began storming through the field, passing both Pedersen and Blomqvist before the final hour mark, to be just behind Cameron, leading the race.
At the next round of stops, quick work in the pits from the Inter Europol team meant Dilllmann was able to jump Cameron and take the lead. Things were looking good for the Frenchman, with another caution reducing the time he’d have to fight Cameron.
With 16 minutes remaining, the race restarted. But then, disaster — Dillmann crashed heavily into the tyre barriers at turn 3, putting him out on the spot and Cameron back into the lead.
With not enough time to recover the car and restart the race, Cameron crossed the line and took the chequered flag under caution, winning the race for the #99 AO Racing crew.
Tom Blomqvist, in the #22 United car, took second for himself, Daniel Goldburg, and United Autosports. Third was Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley Motorsports Oreca, with Ben Hanley fourth in the sister #2 United Autosports Oreca, and Benjamin Pedersen fifth in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen machine.
Dragonspeed win GTD Pro, WTR take victory in GTD
Albert Costa took the win in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, with a fuel-save strategy meaning he and teammate Giacomo Altoe making one less stop than their rivals in the class.
Altoe started the car last in GTD Pro, but by only making two pitstops instead of three, they were able to assume the lead and use the race’s second and third caution periods to save fuel and bring the car home and to victory.
This marked DragonSpeed’s first IMSA GTD pro win.
Second was the #4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner. Milner started the car fourth but they weren’t able to beat DragonSpeed’s clever strategy, taking second instead.
Third was the #77 AO Racing Porsche of Lauren Heinrich and Klaus Bachler, who like the Corvette weren’t able to match the fuel save strategy of DragonSpeed.
In GTD, the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini of Trent Hindman and Danny Formal took victory, despite Formal spinning the car the opening lap. He started from fifth, but the spin dropped him almost to the back of the field.
He began to make his way through the field, but the clincher in the win was the team’s decision to leave him out during the second caution period. That meant they were able to gain track position, which they then exploited when the final caution was called for Dillmann’s crash, taking the victory from there.
Second was Philip Ellis in the #57 Winward Mercedes AMG-GT3, along Russell Ward, while third in class went to Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
See the full results on the IMSA website.
