| May 19, 2019 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada – After starting second to last in the first race of the season for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama, Roman De Angelis finished the weekend in first, winning Race 2 on Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In the No. 79 Mark Motors Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car, De Angelis started third and quickly jumped to second at the start of the race, ready to hunt down Race 1 winner and leader Jeff Kingsley in the No. 16 Policaro Motorsport Porsche. While De Angelis was in hot pursuit of Kingsley, a caution in the first 15 minutes of the race bunched the field back together. Shortly after the restart, De Angelis made a move on the inside of Kingsley approaching the Andretti Straightaway to claim the lead with 25 minutes remaining. About five minutes later, rain began to fall over the 2.459-mile circuit, enough to bring out a red flag that ultimately closed out the race. The win gave De Angelis his second career Platinum Class victory in GT3 Cup Challenge Canada. “I knew we had the car to make the move, but it’s really difficult to pass here at Mosport,” said De Angelis. “It’s a really difficult track. It’s fast and flowing, not a lot of heavy braking zones, so you can’t just tuck the nose in there and brake a little bit deeper than the other guy. We really took advantage of that restart. The car was awesome as always. We showed that we had the pace yesterday and we put it to show again today.” With a fourth-place finish on Saturday and the win on Sunday, De Angelis holds a narrow one-point lead in the championship over Parker Thompson in the No. 3 SCB Racing Porsche, 63-62. Thompson wound up third on Sunday behind Patrick Dussault in the No. 77 Porsche for Lauzon Autosport. Thompson passed Dussault just prior to the red flag, but the pass was deemed outside track limits and Dussault was promoted back to second place. Finishing fourth and winning the Platinum Masters class was Alan Metni in the No. 99 Kelly-Moss/AM Motorsports Porsche. Like De Angelis, Metni is competing in both GT3 Cup Challenge Canada as well as south of the border in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama. The win comes in Metni’s second start of GT3 Cup Challenge Canada competition. “It’s good progress, it’s a lot of fun,” said Metni. “I came up here to learn. I know that some of the best drivers are up here, some of the best tracks are up here and I thought I could learn a lot from coming up here and running with them. I appreciate them letting me do that. We learned a lot, getting a little better each time we do this and hopefully eventually we’ll end up on the main podium.” While Metni leads the Platinum Masters championship by seven points, 67-60, it’s a three-way tie for second place between Etienne Borgeat and Perry Bortolotti – who rounded out the Platinum Masters podium on Sunday, respectively – and Platinum Masters Race 1 winner Marco Cirone. In the Gold Class, Sam Fellows in the No. 35 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche reflected on his first weekend in the series following his two wins and Yokohama Tire Hard Charger Award on Sunday. “It was a lot of fun, but I also learned a lot especially in Race 1,” said Fellows. “I was chasing some of the Platinum guys, but had a bit of a mishap in Turn 5. At the end of the day, it’s a learning experience because you’ve got to walk away from things like that and be positive. I’m not going to make that mistake again. “Today was a better day for me. I feel like if it stayed green, if the rain hadn’t come out, I think I could’ve picked up a couple more of the Platinum guys just near the end with the pace that we had. I’m optimistic and I can’t thank Pfaff Motorsports enough, Porsche of London, Durham Tourism and Piloti Shoes. It was a great weekend and we’ll go to Montreal with our positivity.” Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2019 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama season will take place at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal featuring Formula 1 on June 7 – 9. In the meantime, news and updates on GT3 Cup Challenge Canada can be found on IMSA.com and Porsche.com/Canada, as well as on social media using the hashtags #GT3Canada and #IMSA. |
