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Dillmann, Clarke Win LMP2 Headline Race at CTMP

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Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA Inter Europol Competition claimed victory in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 headline Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Tom Dillmann drove the No. 43 Oreca 07 Gibson to a 9.796-second win over the second-placed No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR entry of Alex Quinn in the two-hour and 40-minute contest that saw multiple strategies at play in all three classes. While Jeremy Clarke led from pole in the Polish squad’s LMP2 entry, a pair of early race full-course cautions saw the No. 04 CrowdStrike entry of George Kurtz briefly take the lead after staying out during the second yellow, which saw the majority of the runners pit for service. An alternate strategy for the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca put FIA Bronze-rated Misha Goikhberg out front before pitting exactly at the halfway mark to change over to Ricky Taylor. The call, however, didn’t play out as Taylor was forced t...

WRT BMW Leads at Halfway as JOTA Cadillacs Suffer

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Photo: Joao Filipe/DPPI The BMW M Hybrid V8 of Raffaelo Marciello led the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at the mid-point of the FIA World Endurance Championship contest as the race began to unravel for the Cadillacs that locked out the front row. Will Stevens had continued to lead at the start of the second hour in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R that had started from pole, while Kevin Magnussen in the No. 20 WRT BMW jumped ahead of the No. 38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber. But both Caddys then had slow 90-second stops at the first round of pit stops, Bamber locking up slightly when he entered the box, causing the mechanics to readjust and delay the No. 38 car, before a sticking wheel nut hampered the No. 12 as well. This meant Magnussen enjoyed a 10-second lead over Stevens once the out of sequence No. 35 Alpine A424 that pitted early in the first hour returned to the pits. Bamber was in a net fifth at this stage having rejoined in traffic and being forced off at Turn 5 by the N...

Stevens Keeps JOTA Cadillac Ahead After First Hour

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Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI Will Stevens maintained Cadillac’s lead of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo after starting the FIA World Endurance Championship contest from pole but the sister Hertz Team JOTA machine has dropped to third. The pair of Cadillac V-Series.Rs maintained their 1-2 at the start despite an aggressive launch from Kevin Magnussen in the No. 15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 that guided the Dane around the outside of the No. 36 Alpine A424 of Fred Makowiecki, which had started third, and almost into second. The Cadillacs had then looked relatively comfortable out front on the damp but drying track over the first few laps but, as soon as they began encountering the LMGT3 traffic, Magnussen suddenly closed on Earl Bamber in the No. 38 Cadillac. Magnussen saw an opportunity on lap 11 when he charged up the inside of Bamber at Ferradura, banging wheels as the BMW forced its way ahead. Stevens enjoyed a lead of around five seconds at this stage in the pole-sitting No. 12...

New-Look VP Racing Challenge Format, 2027 Schedule Released

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Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will shift entirely to an endurance format next year, with most races set to be contested during USAC weekends in 2027. Confirmed on Saturday, the series, which was split between two 45-minute sprint races and an endurance component known as the Airbnb Endurance Challenge this year, will combine into a single format of races ranging from 90 minutes to three hours in length. The move comes after lower-than-expected car counts in both segments, with the new-look series set to formally drop GT3-spec machinery, which raced for a single season in 2025 as the GTDX class but did not feature any entries this year. Additionally, second-generation LMP3 machinery will no longer be allowed, with only the new-for-2025 Toyota-powered machinery eligible in the top class. The two specs of prototypes ran together this year as part of a grandfathering period. LMP3 will again be joined by the GSX class for SRO GT4-homologated machinery,...

Tunjo Takes Top Spot in VP Racing Challenge CTMP Opener

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Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA The start of the first of two 45-minute sprint races for the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park ultimately determined the finish for the overall and LMP3 winner. Wyatt Brichacek started from pole and led flag-to-flag but was assessed a ten-second time penalty for a false start, changing columns before crossing the start/finish line. Any full-course caution could dent or fully eliminate any margin Brichacek would build and move him down the finishing order. The decisive moment for Brichacek came with ten minutes remaining when the No. 87 FastMD with Remstar Duqueine D08 Nissan of Farhan Siddiqi went off course in Turn 3. The resulting cleanup brought the race under the full-course caution to the checkered flag and eliminated Brichacek’s well-built lead north of 13 seconds to offset the time penalty. The penalty ultimately dropped Brichacek to third. Brichacek’s disappointment benefited Oscar Tunjo, the Colombian who won his...

Taylor Quickest in Shortened First CTMP Practice

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Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA Ricky Taylor was quickest in opening practice for this weekend’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, in a session that ended ten minutes early due to an accident by a GTD car. The Cadillac factory driver, subbing for the Brazil-bound Harry Tincknell, reeled off a chart-topping 1:08.080 lap time in the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson. Taylor’s time was 0.098 seconds quicker than second-placed Sebastian Alvarez in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport Oreca, with 1:08.287 by Alex Quinn good enough for third quickest overall in the LMP2 headline race this weekend. Ben Hanley and Tom Dillmann completed the top-five for United Autosports and Inter Europol Competition, respectively. Philip Ellis was quickest of the GT cars in his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which was faster than the entire GTD Pro field. The No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z0...

Heart of Racing Aston Martin Tops Opening Sao Paulo Practice

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Photo: DPPI/WEC Aston Martin driver Harry Tincknell set the pace in the opening practice session for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo FIA World Endurance Championship round. The Briton clocked a 1:25.457 aboard the No. 009 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie to finish up just 0.024 seconds faster than the No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco. It had looked like Robert Kubica would set the pace in the AF Corse satellite Ferrari but his 1:25.184 was subsequently deleted for exceeding track limits and his next best lap put him in fourth position, behind the No. 51 factory car of Antonio Giovinazzi, who managed a 1:25.563. Behind the trio of Ferraris in fifth was the pick of the Alpine A424s, the No. 36 entry of Jules Gounon that registered a 1:25.700, while the top-six was completed by the lead BMW M Hybrid V8, the No. 20 car that managed a 1:25.998 in the hands of Sheldon van der Linde. Seventh quickest was Genesis Magma Racing with Mathieu Jaminet posting a 1:26.002 aboard the No. ...