For the first time this season, the Porsche 911 GT3 R will take center stage with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. As in past seasons, the top-level GTP class will not be in attendance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Instead the GTD Pro and GTD classes, along with LMP2, will be the feature.
What to watch at CTMP
- Round eight of series features LMP2, GTD Pro, GTD classes without GTP class
- AO Racing drivers Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler second in GTD Pro standings
- Adam Adelson piloting a Porsche 911 GT3 R in both WeatherTech SportsCar
- Championship and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge races
- Wright Motorsports carries momentum from a strong finish at CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa
The two-hour, 45-minute timed race this weekend is the only trip outside the United States for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this season. The ultra-quick 2.459-mile circuit will feature a Porsche 911 GT3 R both the GTD Pro and GTD Classes, with AO Racing’s No. 77 ‟Rexy” Porsche in the GTD Pro and Wright Motorsports’ No. 120 in GTD. In addition to the two classes for GT3 cars based on road-going cars, the LMP2 class represents purpose-designed prototypes in the race.
‟These weekends are special for us and our teams and drivers, with a focus on the GT3 machinery,” Volker Holzmeyer, President and CEO of Porsche Motorsports North America, said. ‟The GT cars are special to us at Porsche and have always been the soul of what we do. It’s special to get the opportunity to showcase the close, hard racing in the GTD classes at a historic track like Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.”
The race begins Sunday, July 13 at 2:05 p.m. ET.
The entries
The twin Porsche 911 GT3 R entries are two of the 35 cars competing in the race, with 10 in the GTD Pro class and 13 in the GTD class. Former Porsche Junior drivers Laurin Heinrich (Germany) and Klaus Bachler (Austria) enter the race behind the wheel of the No. 77 AO Racing entry and sit second in the GTD Pro Driver Championship standings, 52 points behind the leaders. AO Racing is second in the team championship going to the track historically known as ‟Mosport.”
The GTD class features cars identical to those competing in GTD Pro, but different driver line-ups. Adam Adelson fills the role of Bronze-rated driver for Wright Motorsports, teaming with pro Eliott Skeer in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports 911 GT3 R. Despite a challenging 13th-place finish in the last round at Watkins Glen, American drivers Adelson and Skeer remain fourth in the Championship hunt in their first full season of IMSA WeatherTech competition. Wright Motorsports most recently finished fourth in the 24 Hours of Spa as a one-off entry, and Adelson is pulling double-duty this week as the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge championship leader.
The race
A fast, historic race track measuring 2.459 miles around 10 turns and full of elevation change, CTMP has been testing drivers since the early 1960s. Canadian legend Ludwig Heimrath, Sr., won the track’s first sports car race in 1961 with a Porsche 718 RS60, and followed that with a win later in the summer. Hurley Haywood and G.W. Dickinson were the first IMSA race winners at the track in 1975, driving a Porsche 911 RSR. Porsche won four consecutive GT class races from 2002 to 2005, then added two more LMP2 class wins with Team Penske and the RS Spyder in 2006 and 2007. The RS Spyder Evo added an overall win in 2010. The last Porsche victory at CTMP came in 2022 when factory drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell drove a Porsche 911 GT3 R to victory before becoming teammates in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
Porsche holds the record for victories at the track with 18, including eight overall wins at CTMP since 1975.
Sunday’s race will air live on the USA Network and streaming on Peacock at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT in the United States. IMSA Radio will provide a live audio stream of the race, with race highlights available post-race at IMSA’s YouTube channel.
Drivers’ comments ahead of the race
‟It’s great to be headed back to IMSA after the Spa 24! CTMP is one of those events that always stands out in the IMSA calendar; it’s a proper old school track, and GTP won’t be there, so it’s going to be a really unique experience. This track is extremely technical and I haven’t raced here in GT3 machinery before, so for me it will be about being like a sponge and learning as much as I can as quickly as I can. It’s also a double header weekend for me, as I’m racing in VP Racing Challenge, so I’ve been working extra hard to learn and prepare, as there are two championships I’m fighting for. Wright Motorsports has been performing extremely well this year, and I’m confident that as a team we can bring home some great results this weekend.”
Porsche’s race cars at CTMP
GTD Pro class:
AO Racing #77: Klaus Bachler (AUT), Laurin Heinrich (DEU)
GTD class:
Wright Motorsports #120: Adam Adelson (USA), Elliott Skeer (USA)
The schedule (all times EDT)
Friday, July 11
1:55 p.m. – 3:25 p.m.: Free practice 1
Saturday, July 12
10:35 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.: Free practice 2
4:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.: Qualifying GTD
4:25 p.m. – 4:40 p.m.: Qualifying GTD Pro
Sunday, July 13
2:05 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.: Race
