The Inter Europol PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca team driven by Dillmann/Boulle beat the same cars of Gar Robinson/Filipe Fraga and Steven Thomas/Scott Huffaker in Sunday’s 2h40 race, which saw 34 cars start.
The premium GTP hybrids took a break from the fearsome 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course near Toronto, formerly referred to as Mosport. While those cars weren’t there, a few of the very best drivers still headed north of the border to drive LMP2 machines – since the World Endurance Championship race at Interlagos also complicated matters.
Pole winner PJ Hyett (AO Racing) led the sector at first but moved into the skin lane at first, repeating his mistake from Watkins Glen and receiving the identical drive-through penalty.
This gave the result in Daniel Goldburg (United Autosports) ahead of Boulle, Robinson (Riley) and George Kurtz (Crowdstrike by APR), with Hyett returning in sixth. Another penalty was inflicted on the #2 United Autosports as Ben Keating was given a drive-through for changing tires at first.
Dennis Andersen, who passed the #20 MDK High Class Racing at Turn 2 in qualifying, was pushed by the trackside markings at Turn 8 within the opening moments of the race. The first yellow flag got here out after 20 minutes when Andersen again had a tire puncture at Turn 9, causing most to pit.
After the restart, Boulle – who had taken the lead from Goldburg before the yellow flag – led ahead of Kurtz, Robinson, Goldburg and Thomas (TDS Racing).
A second yellow card got here 20 minutes later when Orey Fidani's Corvette GTD hit the barriers at Turn 3 after being ejected from the track by Bryan Sellers' Paul Miller Racing BMW.
Shortly after the restart, leader Boulle was delayed attempting to pass a late GTD automotive at Turn 1, after which Robinson was pushed wide by Kurtz as cars flew in all directions at Turn 2. Thomas moved into second, with Luis Perez Companc following within the AF Corse automotive. The big loser was Kurtz, who dropped to eighth, and quickly handed it to Colin Braun, who dropped back to twenty fourth overall with a number of work to do.
Most of the amateur drivers handed the baton to the professionals with 90 minutes to go, with Dillmann (replacing Boulle) ending ahead of Scott Huffaker (replacing Thomas) by 3 seconds.
The United duo of Ben Hanley (shared with Keating and after an earlier penalty) and Felipe Albuquerque (partnering with Goldburg) finished third and fourth, ahead of Fraga (replacing Robinson), Louis Deletraz (replacing Hyett), Pipo Derani (replacing Companca), Braun and Renger van der Zande (who had earlier been delayed when John Farano was penalised for driving through the pit lane for a rules infringement during a pit stop).
Fraga passed Deletraz for fourth when the regular Acura GTP driver spun out at Turn 9 and continued on. Deletraz lost one other place to Albuquerque before making his final stop with 45 minutes to go.
Dillmann suffered a shock when he collided wheels-on with Derani at Moss Corner in the ultimate 20 minutes, allowing Huffaker to quickly catch up.
Fraga, who was the last to take the lead, rode long and led until his final stop in the ultimate half-hour – profiting from a shorter refuelling stop to maneuver back as much as third, with Albuquerque fifth and Deletraz spinning after a collision with Braun.
The third and final yellow card got here with 16m to play when Ryan Dalziel crashed into the Esses, but just before that Huffaker ran wide and gave Fraga a second pass.
The race began with eight minutes to go and Dillmann was being chased by Fraga, Huffaker, Hanley and Albuquerque. That's where they finished, with van der Zande snatching sixth from Braun and Deletraz.
#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims
Photo: Jake Galstad / Motorsports images
Corvette dominates GTD Pro
In GTD, Corvette Racing ruled the roost, with Alexander Sims/Antonio Garcia taking the win ahead of Tommy Milner/Nicky Catsburg. After a late caution, they finished back-to-back.
Sims led from the beginning in his #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, and the ‘Vette scored a one-two victory when Tommy Milner’s #4 automotive passed the #14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth of Vasser Sullivan on the skin of The Esses at the tip of the primary lap.
The second hour of racing saw Harry Tincknell in his #64 Ford Mustang Multimatic outpace his rivals, but within the hands of Mike Rockenfeller that automotive dropped to fourth, with Seb Priulx and Laurin Heinrich of their AO Racing Porsche 911 taking third.
The retirement of the #14 Lexus from the race proved unexpected because of an engine failure on the very end.
The Turner Motorsports BMW M4 of Robby Foley/Patrick Gallagher and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Roman De Angelis/Spencer Pumpelly were battling for the lead within the pro-am class when Gallacher spun at Moss Corner, dropping him to fourth.
The result saw Aston take the win and finish second behind the #57 Winward Mercedes of Russell Ward/Philip Ellis with the Inception Racing McLaren 720S of Brendon Iribe and Frederik Schandorff.
