Tom Dillmann charged to his first IMSA victory at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park which hosted the seventh round of the 2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
It was a thrilling sprint at the championship’s round in Canada as the lead fight narrowed down to just 0.658 seconds at the finishing line.
The race featured cautions, side-by-side racing, and thrilling fights across the whole 35-car field though primarily in the hotly contested LMP2 category.
As the day shone bright with no clouds in the sky at CTMP, a 2-hour and 40-minute affair got underway on a circuit demanding high commitment from drivers, but also consideration of tyre management in light of the hot ambient and track temperatures.
The race start kicked off the intensity with drama already for Ben Keating (#2 United Autosports USA Oreca 07) from seventh in the LMP2 category after he received a drive-through penalty for changing his tyres on the grid.
PJ Hyett retained his lead and asserted the quickest pace in the category, building a gap to four seconds before a replay package clearly showed him moving over and changing lanes before the start-finish line.
Consequently, he faced a drive-through which diminished his lead on Dan Goldburg in the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07.
Whilst Goldburg could not chase Hyett, Nick Boulle kept the United driver keen and alert from his #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07.
For the #20 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca 07 of Dennis Anderson, their difficult weekend which was hampered already by yesterday’s qualifying crash continued from bad to worse after Anderson was put slightly off the circuit by the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 of Stewart Wiltshire into Turn 9.
Anderson saved himself on the grass run-off with only hitting the two advertising boards during his excursion, although pitted to remove them before heading back out.
Unfortunately, as his left headlight was lodged out of place as well as having gathered debris on the back of his #20 Oreca, a black flag for this ensued another pit stop, followed after by Anderson returning to the track and soon after suffering an impact at the fast Turn 3.
He walked away from the car on his own strength having concluded a challenging race weekend for his team.
After a second caution was cleared further on, declared due to two GT cars making contact into Turn 3, many of the LMP2 teams were tasked with adjusting their strategy calculations in planning the remaining stints with reaching the end of the race with as little fuel stops as possible.
Nevertheless, the fight at the front heated up drastically with Boulle keen to defend his lead whilst attempting to lap Danny Formal’s #45 GTD WTRAndretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 at Turn 1.
Whilst realising the gap on the inside closed up for him and Gar Robinson behind in his #74 Riley Oreca 07.
In the midst of this fight, Steven Thomas in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 made a marvelous and opportunistic climb from fifth to second position.
During the second racing hour, the professional halves of each driver crew made their way into the race seats.
Louis Deletraz got into the #99 AO Racing still finding it challenging to climb back up the field after Hyett’s penalty at the start.
It was Tom Dillmann who asserted both consistently strong pace and a mistake-free run at the front in the #52 Inter Europol PR1 Oreca, eventually building his lead to six seconds amidst the give-and-take traffic management.
Filipe Albuquerque was finding difficulty in maintaining his pace after being overtaken by Felipe Fraga – who was at the wheel of the #74 Riley Oreca – for P4.
Approaching the final 40 minutes, teams had made their final fuel stops with the end in sight yet so far away with several ongoing fights for positions across the LMP2 midfield.
Dillmann’s commanding lead came down as Scott Huffaker (#11 TDS Oreca) chased his tail.
Meanwhile Deletraz (#99) had a brief half-spin and off at Turn 2 after making right-side contact with Colin Braun’s #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07, as the pair were negotiating a tricky situation in the midst of GTD traffic.
A third caution was declared with 16 minutes remaining after Ryan Dalziel went on the dirt off the racing line, out wide at Turn 8, before burying his #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 into the tyre barrier.
Marshals quickly pulled him out and Dalziel continued to pit lane as his mechanics replaced the front end of the damaged car, which seemingly escaped any major mechanical damage.
Eight minutes later, the final run to the end took place with eight LMP2s on the lead lap.
At the front, Fraga continued to pile the pressure on Dillmann, proposing an unpredictable choice on who would take the win.
Tom Dillmann managed the lead to the 0.658 seconds after 177 laps and secured his, along with Nick Boulle’s, first IMSA win for the #52 Inter Europol PR1 Mathiasen team, with the Centenary LMP2 Le Mans-winning outfit having joined IMSA for this year.
Felipe Fraga took a hard-fought second place with co-driver Gar Robinson in the #74 Riley Oreca, followed by Scott Huffaker and Steven Thomas in third place for the #11 TDS Racing Oreca.
Fourth was claimed by the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca of Ben Hanley and co-driver Ben Keating, followed by the team’s other car in fifth position, the #22 Oreca of Filipe Albuquerque and Goldburg.
Meanwhile in the GTD and GTD Pro categories, their race start was just as intense with the field of GT3 machinery keeping within company of each other.
The only incident concerned #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX driver Sheena Monk who briefly spun at Turn 3 after making contact with #55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang of Giammarco Levorato.
The Proton driver was awarded a drive-through for incident responsibility.
Tommy Milner was showcasing cunning form after making a move into second place on Jack Hawksworth (#14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F), making it a 1-2 formation for Corvette Racing in GTD Pro.
On the other hand, the #12 Vasser Lexus driven by Frankie Montecalvo fell from his GTD class lead down to fifth.
His sudden drop occurred quickly when Mikael Grenier overtook in the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG, with Patrick Gallagher’s #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 and the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S both followed behind.
After the first caution, Iribe missed his opportunity to follow the initial pass-around and took opportunity of just the second wave-by, costing nine GTD positions.
A second caution took place when Orey Fidani (#13 AWA Racing Corvette Z06) went off into the wall at Turn 3 after making slight contact with the #1 Paul Miller Racing GTD Pro BMW of Bryan Sellers. The latter driver served a drive-through for incident responsibility.
In GTD Pro, it was a sterling effort yet again by Ford Multimatic’s #64 Mustang showcasing pace back at Watkins Glen before the final rain shower, and now at CTMP with Harry Tincknell passing Hawksworth (#14) and Milner (#4), putting him up to second.
Traffic played a part in keeping the racing close, even between the GTD Pros lapping the GTDs.
More specifically, Alexander Sims – leading – found difficulty in getting past Danny Formal’s #45 WTRAndretti Lamborghini Huracan, which gave Tincknell an encouraging chance to close the gap, before he himself was held by Formal. This returned Sims’ lead to two seconds.
Unfortunately for the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Ben Barnicoat, their day became worse after going off at Turn 8 and returning to the pits with a supposed mechanical problem.
The final stretch to the finish was a comfortable and positive success for Corvette Racing with their first win and 1-2 finish in the new-for-2024 Z06 GT3.R.
Antonio Garcia (his 30th win in 200 starts) and Alexander Sims (his seventh win in 40 starts) took victory in the #3, followed by the #4 drivers Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner.
Third place was valiantly taken by Laurin Heinrich’s #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R and his co-driver Seb Priaulx, followed by the #64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 of Mike Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell.
Fifth was taken by previous race winner Ross Gunn and his teammate Alex Riberas in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
GTD victory was taken by Heart of Racing’s other competing Aston Martin with Roman De Angelis taking a win at his home circuit with co-driver Spencer Pumpelly.
Philip Ellis and Russell Ward co-drove the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to second position and a further extension on their championship lead, ahead of the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S duo of Frederick Schandorff and Brendan Iribe.
See here for the unofficial results of the 2024 Chevrolet Grand Prix.
