IMSA - Schedule, entries, championship standings... everything you need to know about the Chevrolet Grand Prix

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ventures north of the border next week for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. It’s the sixth round of the season with live coverage Sunday, July 9 on NBC.

Thirty-four cars are entered in the four competing classes. Canadian storylines were strong throughout last year’s race weekend, and many of the same players return this year.

The Entry List is available HERE.

Fast Facts

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

• Circuit Type: 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course
• Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)
• Race Length: 2 hours, 40 minutes

Schedule (CET)

Friday 7th July 8.50pm-10.20pm: Free Practice 1

Saturday 8th July 14h00-15h45: Free Practice 2

18h45-19h55: Qualifying ➡️ Watch live video on Endurance-Info.com

Sunday 9th July 14:15-14:35: Warm Up 18h05-20h45: Race ➡️ Watch live video on Endurance-Info.com

Track Records

• DPi: Tom Blomqvist, Acura ARX-05 DPi, 1:04.394 / 137.472 mph, 2022
• LMP3: Garett Grist, Ligier JS P320, 1:12.523 / 122.063, 2022
• GTD Pro: Mathieu Jaminet, Porsche 911 GT3 R, 1:15.468 / 117.300 mph, 2022
• GTD: Jack Hawksworth, Lexus RC F GT3, 1:15.546 / 117.178 mph, 2018

2022 Chevrolet Grand Prix Winners

• DPi: Renger van der Zande/Sebastien Bourdais, No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R)
• LMP3: Jon Bennett/Colin Braun, No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier JS P320
• GTD PRO: Matt Campbell/Mathieu Jaminet, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
• GTD: Roman De Angelis/Maxime Martin, No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3

Storylines

• A Quarter Century of CTMP Tradition: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has become a staple of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar. IMSA has raced at the track every year since 1999, with the exception of the pandemic years of 2020 and ’21.

• Reborn GTP Class Continues to Impress: The Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class has been an unqualified success in its first IMSA season, featuring hybrid-electrified powertrains paired with internal combustion engines in each car. Nine GTP entries are expected for the Chevrolet Grand Prix representing the four participating manufacturers: Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche.

• IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup Resumes: In addition to its place in the season-long championship, the Chevrolet Grand Prix is the third of seven events making up the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup schedule for the GT Daytona (GTD) class. The battle for Sprint Cup honors couldn’t be any tighter heading into the race weekend. Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorensen, co-drivers of the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3, hold a slim one-point advantage over Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, co-drivers of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. The No. 1 PMR team are defending Sprint Cup champions, while Heart of Racing and De Angelis took Sprint Cup honors in 2021.

• Happy Homecoming for Canadian Drivers: De Angelis, a native of Windsor, Ontario, also returns to CTMP as the defending GTD race winner, though he was teamed with Maxime Martin in the No. 27 a year ago. He wasn’t the only Canadian who claimed victory on their “home track” last year, though. Robert Wickens and Mark Wilkins drove to victory in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race to cap off a frenetic week. The duo won for the first time together the weekend before CTMP at Watkins Glen International, then Wickens had to rush to Indianapolis to be with his wife for the emergency delivery of their first child, and then he hustled back to CTMP just in time to hop in the car for the race, with Wilkins finishing the back-to-back victory sweep in the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Wickens and Wilkins are back to try for a repeat, though they’re driving in different cars this year for the BHA team. On top of that, Canadian team Pfaff Motorsports was victorious in the WeatherTech Championship GTD PRO class.

Who’s Hot?

• No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus: Co-drivers Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat have been red-hot for nearly a year in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3. They’ve won two of the past three GTD PRO races and have an astonishing run of nine straight podium finishes dating to the middle of last season. The last time the No. 14 didn’t reach the podium? Last year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park when Hawksworth missed the race while recovering from an injury.

• No. 74 Riley Ligier: Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga have driven to victory at Sebring and Watkins Glen this year in the LMP3 class to open an impressive 124-point lead after the two points-paying races. Can they make it three in a row?

Who’s Good Here?

• Colin Braun: The co-driver of the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 in the GTP class is a five-time winner at CTMP. He collected three class victories in the former Prototype Challenge class (2013, ’15, ’16) before taking the overall and Prototype class win in 2018, teaming with Jon Bennett in a CORE autosport ORECA LMP2. Braun and Bennett teamed again last year to win in the LMP3 class.

• Corvette Racing: The stalwart IMSA team has won 11 times at CTMP over the years, the first coming in 2001 and latest in 2014. Looking to break that drought this year in the No. 3 Corvette C8.R GTD will be Antonio Garcia, who was part of that 2014 win, and current co-driver Jordan Taylor.

Standings

GTP Drivers / Teams

1. Derani-Sims (Action Express Racing) 1602 pts, 2. De Philippi-Yelloly (BMW M Team RLL) 1538 pts, 3. Jaminet-Tandy (Porsche Penske Motorsports) 1527 pts, 4. Bourdais-Van der Zande (Cadillac Racing) 1495 pts, 5. Albuquerque-R. Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing by Andretti Autosport) 1491 pts, 6. Nasr-Campbell (Porsche Penske Motorsports) 1374 pts, 7. Eng / Farfus (BMW M Team RLL) 1348 pts, 8. Blomqvist / Braun (Meyer Shank Racing) 1323 pts, etc.

GTP Manufacturers

1. Cadillac 1767 pts, 2. BMW 184 pts, 3. Porsche 1655 pts, 4. Acura 1644 pts.

LMP2 Drivers / Teams

1. Hanley-Kurtz (Crowstrike Racing by APR) 973 pts, 2. Jensen-Thomas (TDS Racing) 970 pts, 3. Keating-Chatin (PR1 Mathiasen) 967 pts, 4. Merriman-Dalziel (Era Motorsports) 906 pts, 5. Van der Garde (TDS Racing) 850 pts, etc.

LMP3 Drivers / Teams

1. Fraga-Robinson-Burdon (Riley) 730 pts, 2. Mantella-Varrone-Boyd (AWA) 606 pts, 3. Kern-M. Bell-Fidani (AWA) 604 pts, 4. Dickerson-Grist (Jr III Racing) 578 pts, 5. Bechtolsheimer (JDC-Miller MotorSports) 552 pts, etc.

GTD Pro Drivers / Teams

1. Barnicoat / Hawksworth (Vasser Sullivan) 1795 pts, 2. Gounon / Juncadella (WeatherTech Racing) 1682 pts, 3. Garcia-J. Taylor (Corvette Racing) 1623 pts, 4. Bachler / Pilet (Pfaff Motorsports) 1609 pts, 5. Riberas / Gunn (Heart of Racing Team) 1408 pts, etc.

GTD Pro Manufacturers

1. Lexus 1795 pts, 2. Mercedes-AMG 1682 pts, 3. Chevrolet 1623 pts, 4. Porsche 1609 pts, 5. Aston Martin 1419 pts, 6. Ferrari 886 pts, 7. Lamborghini 874 pts, 8. BMW 793 pts.

GTD Drivers / Teams

1. Sellers-Snow (Paul Miller Racing) 1592 pts, 2. Telitz-Montecalvo (Vasser Sullivan) 1488 pts, 3. Sorensen-De Angelis (Heart of Racing Team) 1447 pts, 4. Iribe-Schandorf (Inception Racing) 1365 pts, 5. Gallagher-Folley (Turner Motorsport) 1225 pts, etc.

GTD Manufacturers

1. BMW 1728 pts, 2. Aston Martin 1626, 3. Lexus 1592 pts, 4. Porsche 1575 pts, 5. McLaren 1509 pts, 5. etc.