2018 SportsCar Grand Prix

The Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

The 2018 SportsCar Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, on July 8, 2018. The race was the seventh round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background

Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017. ^[1] It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the thirty-sixth annual running of the race. ^[1] The 2018 SportsCar Grand Prix was the seventh of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and was the fourth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. ^[1] The race was held at the ten-turn 2.459 mi (3.957 km) Canadian Tire Motorsports Park circuit on July 8, 2018. ^[1]

After the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen 1 week earlier, Filipe Albuquerque led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 169 points, ahead of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr with 168 points, and Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya with 156 points. ^[2] With 147 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with a one-point advantage over Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. ^[2] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 155 points ahead of Katherine Legge with 154 points. ^[2]

On July 4, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of performance for the event. ^[3] In P, the Cadillac DPi-V.R received a 0.3 mm larger air restrictor while the Mazda RT24-P and Nissan Onroak DPi received an increase of turbo boost. Additionally, the Cadillac, Mazda, and Nissan received an increase in fuel capacity. In GTLM, the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R received a 0.9 mm larger air restrictor while the BMW M8 GTE received a reduction in turbo boost. In GTD, the Audi R8 LMS and Porsche 911 GT3 R received air restrictor increases of 1 and 3 millimeters, respectively.

Entries

Further information: 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 32 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 13 cars were entered in P, 8 in GTLM, and 11 in GTLM. ^[4] In P, United Autosports were absent. Spirit of Daytona Racing skipped due to a lack of funding. ^[5] Tequila Patrón ESM scaled down to a single entry due to a lack of spare engines following the previous round at Watkins Glen. ^[6] Ryan Dalziel joined Pipo Derani in the #22 Tequila Patrón ESM entry. In GTD, CJ Wilson Racing, Squadra Corse Garage Italia, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, HART, Park Place Motorsports, and P1 Motorsports were absent. Scuderia Corsa scaled down to a single entry while the #16 Wright Motorsports made its since appearance since Belle Isle. SunEnergy1 Racing skipped the event after ending their partnership with Riley Motorsports. ^[7] Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley returned to the Turner Motorsport entry.

Practice

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two 75 minute sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third session on Saturday morning lasted an hour. ^[8]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 11:30 am ET on Friday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for CORE Autosport, with a lap time of 1:07.155. ^[9] Kyle Masson crashed the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca in turn 1 against the tire barriers. ^[10] Performance Tech Motorsports later withdrew its entry from the event. ^[11]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	P	54	CORE Autosport	Colin Braun	1:07.155	_
2	P	6	Acura Team Penske	Dane Cameron	1:08.071	+0.916
3	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Filipe Albuquerque	1:08.088	+0.933
Source: [12]

Practice 2

The second practice session took place at 3:50 pm ET on Friday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for CORE Autosport, with a lap time of 1:06.902. ^[13]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	P	54	CORE Autosport	Colin Braun	1:06.902	_
2	P	6	Acura Team Penske	Dane Cameron	1:06.939	+0.037
3	P	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:07.881	+0.979
Source: [14]

Practice 3

The third and final practice session took place at 8:30 am ET on Saturday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for CORE Autosport, with a lap time of 1:06.712. ^[15]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	P	54	CORE Autosport	Colin Braun	1:06.712	_
2	P	6	Acura Team Penske	Dane Cameron	1:07.026	+0.314
3	P	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Felipe Nasr	1:07.336	+0.624
Source: [16]

Qualifying

Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups. ^[8] All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries. ^[17]

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	54	CORE Autosport	Colin Braun	1:06.315	_	12 1
2	P	6	Acura Team Penske	Dane Cameron	1:06.540	+0.225	1‡
3	P	85	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Robert Alon	1:06.841	+0.526	2
4	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Renger van der Zande	1:07.093	+0.778	3
5	P	55	Mazda Team Joest	Jonathan Bomarito	1:07.109	+0.794	4
6	P	7	Acura Team Penske	Hélio Castroneves	1:07.272	+0.957	5
7	P	52	AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	Sebastián Saavedra	1:07.276	+0.961	6
8	P	22	Tequila Patrón ESM	Ryan Dalziel	1:07.524	+1.209	7
9	P	77	Mazda Team Joest	Tristan Nunez	1:07.684	+1.369	8
10	P	99	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Misha Goikhberg	1:07.827	+1.512	9
11	P	5	Mustang Sampling Racing	Christian Fittipaldi	1:08.009	+1.694	10
12	P	31	Whelen Engineering Racing	Eric Curran	1:08.168	+1.853	11
13	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Nick Tandy	1:13.517	+7.202	13‡
14	GTLM	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Ryan Briscoe	1:13.831	+7.516	14
15	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Jan Magnussen	1:13.934	+7.619	15
16	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Laurens Vanthoor	1:13.955	+7.640	16
17	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin	1:14.080	+7.765	17
18	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Jesse Krohn	1:14.100	+7.785	18
19	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Alexander Sims	1:14.213	+7.898	19
20	GTLM	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Joey Hand	1:14.228	+7.913	20
21	GTD	15	3GT Racing	Jack Hawksworth	1:15.581	+9.266	21‡
22	GTD	14	3GT Racing	Dominik Baumann	1:16.020	+9.705	22
23	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers	1:16.386	+10.071	23
24	GTD	33	Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport	Ben Keating	1:16.417	+10.102	24
25	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Michael Schein	1:16.545	+10.230	25
26	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin	Álvaro Parente	1:16.554	+10.239	26
27	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley	1:16.707	+10.392	27
28	GTD	58	Wright Motorsports	Christina Nielsen	1:16.887	+10.572	28
29	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Cooper MacNeil	1:17.027	+10.712	29
30	GTD	93	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin	Justin Marks	1:17.603	+11.288	30
31	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	1:17.610	+11.295	31 2
32	P	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	did not participate			32
Sources: [18] [19]

• ¹ The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the P field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified.
• ² The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.

Race

Post-race

As a result of winning the race, Bennett and Braun moved from seventh to fourth in the Prototype Divers' Championship. Curran and Nasr jumped from second to first while Cameron and Montoya dropped from third to fifth. ^[20] As a result of winning the race, Briscoe and Westbrook took the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Hand and Müller dropped from first to third while Gavin and Milner jumped from sixth to fourth. ^[20] The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 183 points, 3 points ahead of Legge. ^[20] Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Paul Miller Racing kept their advantage in the GTD Teams' Championship. Whelen Engineering Racing took the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship while the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry took the lead of the GTLM Teams' Championship with five rounds remaining. ^[20]

Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Oreca 07 C 116 2:40:32.557‡ Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 2 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande Cadillac DPi-V.R C 116 +3.431 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 3 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr Eric Curran Cadillac DPi-V.R C 116 +4.666 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 4 P 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque Christian Fittipaldi Cadillac DPi-V.R C 116 +6.657 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 5 P 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor Acura ARX-05 C 116 +6.836 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 6 P 77 Mazda Team Joest Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez Mazda RT24-P C 116 +9.453 Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4 7 P 99 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg Stephen Simpson Oreca 07 C 116 +11.194 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 8 P 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Robert Alon Simon Trummer Oreca 07 C 116 +11.835 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 9 P 52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Sebastián Saavedra Gustavo Yacamán Ligier JS P217 C 114 +2 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 10 GTLM 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Ford GT M 112 +4 Laps‡ Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 11 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 112 +4 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 12 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 112 +4 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 13 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR M 112 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 14 GTLM 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand Dirk Müller Ford GT M 112 +4 Laps Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 15 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 RSR M 112 +4 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 16 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi Alexander Sims BMW M8 GTE M 112 +4 Laps BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8 17 P 6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya Acura ARX-05 C 111 +5 Laps Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 18 GTD 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Mercedes AMG GT3 C 107 +9 Laps‡ Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 19 GTD 14 3GT Racing Dominik Baumann Kyle Marcelli Lexus RC F GT3 C 107 + 9 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 20 GTD 44 Magnus Racing John Potter Andy Lally Audi R8 LMS GT3 C 107 +9 Laps Audi 5.2L V10 21 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 107 +9 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 22 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Katherine Legge Álvaro Parente Acura NSX GT3 C 107 +9 Laps Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 23 GTD 93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach Acura NSX GT3 C 107 +9 Laps Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 24 GTD 15 3GT Racing Jack Hawksworth David Heinemeier Hansson Lexus RC F GT3 C 107 +9 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 25 P 55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Mazda RT24-P C 107 Wheel Bearing Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4 26 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Jeff Segal Cooper MacNeil Ferrari 488 GT3 C 106 +10 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 27 GTD 58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long Christina Nielsen Porsche 911 GT3 R C 106 +10 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 28 DNF GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Michael Schein Wolf Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 R C 73 Fuel Pressure Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 29 DNF GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley Bill Auberlen BMW M6 GT3 C 63 Suspension BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 30 DNF GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Jesse Krohn BMW M8 GTE M 61 Crash BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8 31 DNF P 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Pipo Derani Ryan Dalziel Nissan Onroak DPi C 45 Turbo Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 DW P 38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French Kyle Masson Oreca 07 C -- Withdrawn Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Sources: [21] [22]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin

Standings after the race

Prototype Drivers' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 1 Eric Curran Felipe Nasr 198 2 1 Filipe Albuquerque 197 3 1 Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande 188 4 3 Jon Bennett Colin Braun 183 5 2 Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya 177

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 1 Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook 181 2 1 Antonio García Jan Magnussen 175 3 2 Joey Hand Dirk Müller 173 4 2 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 167 5 1 Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor 167

GTD Drivers' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Bryan Sellers Madison Snow 183 2 Katherine Legge 180 3 Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating 169 4 Cooper MacNeil 149 5 Jack Hawksworth David Heinemeier Hansson 147

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Teams' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 1 No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing 198 2 1 No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing 197 3 3 No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing 188 4 3 No. 54 CORE Autosport 183 5 2 No. 6 Acura Team Penske 177

GTLM Teams' Championship standing [20] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 1 No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 181 2 1 No. 3 Corvette Racing 175 3 2 No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 173 4 2 No. 4 Corvette Racing 167 5 1 No. 912 Porsche GT Team 167

GTD Teams' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 48 Paul Miller Racing 183 2 No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin 180 3 No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports 169 4 No. 63 Scuderia Corsa 149 5 No. 15 3GT Racing 147

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 234 2 Acura 222 3 1 Mazda 210 4 1 Nissan 209

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Ford 195 2 1 Chevrolet 187 3 1 Porsche 186 4 BMW 176 5 Ferrari 58

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings [20] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lamborghini 190 2 Acura 181 3 1 Mercedes-AMG 175 4 1 Lexus 172 5 Ferrari 162

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

1. Goodwin, Graham (August 6, 2017). "IMSA Announce 2018 Calendar". DailySportsCar. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
2. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 4, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
3. Dagys, John (July 4, 2018). "DPis Given Power Increase for CTMP". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
4. "Entry List: IMSA At Canadian Tire Motorsports Park". autoweek.com. July 3, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
5. Dagys, John (June 29, 2018). "Spirit of Daytona to Miss CTMP; Additional Races Unclear". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
6. Dagys, John (July 2, 2018). "ESM Scales Back to Single Nissan DPi for CTMP". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
7. Dagys, John (July 6, 2018). "SunEnergy1 Parts Ways With Riley, Absent from CTMP". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
8. "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: CTMP". sportscar365.com. July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
9. Bradley, Charles (July 6, 2018). "CTMP IMSA: Braun sets scorching early practice pace". motorsport.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
10. Dagys, John (July 6, 2018). "Braun Tops Practice 1 at CTMP". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
11. Dagys, John (July 6, 2018). "Performance Tech Oreca Withdrawn After Practice 1 Crash". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
12. "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 6, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
13. Dagys, John (July 6, 2018). "Braun, CORE Quickest on Friday; Castroneves Crashes at CTMP". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
14. "05_Results by Class_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 6, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
15. Dagys, John (July 7, 2018). "Braun Quickest Again in Practice 3". sportscar365.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
16. "03_Results_Practice 3.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 7, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
17. "2018 IMSA Sporting Regulations & Series Supplementary Regulations of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. May 16, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
18. "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 7, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
19. "01_Starting Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 8, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
20. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 10, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
21. "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 8, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
22. "2018 MOBIL 1 SPORTS CAR GRAND PRIX". racing-reference.info. Retrieved November 13, 2023.

IMSA SportsCar Championship
Previous race: 6 Hours of The Glen	2018 season	Next race: Northeast Grand Prix