| Looking at the Canadians in the Field Racing on Home Soil July 7, 2025By Tony DiZinnoIMSA Wire Service |
| Entry List (Click Here) DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Most Canadians racing on home soil at this weekend’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 have had strong, steady or sneaky good seasons across the Grand Sport (GS) and Touring Car (TCR) classes. The Canadian contingent has particularly starred in TCR, due to both the volume of competitors and their respective successes for three different manufacturers: Honda, Hyundai and Audi. Honda has both a team and driver Canadian connection with the No. 93 Montreal Motorsports Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR of Karl Wittmer (from Saint-Lazare, Quebec) and LP Montour (from Blainville). MMG enters on a hot streak, having won the last two Motul Pole Awards with Wittmer and Montour on Honda’s home soil at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and then in the appropriately named LP Building Solutions 120 at Watkins Glen International, just five miles from the village of Montour Falls, New York. Wittmer, Montour and Dai Yoshihara finished third in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio endurance race and then Wittmer and Montour won at Watkins Glen, with the victory stopping Hyundai’s six-race TCR win streak the last two races of 2024 and the first four of 2025. They enter Canadian Tire Motorsport Park third in points, 230 behind championship leader Harry Gottsacker. While Hyundai lost its win streak at Watkins Glen, they’ve still been strong with Canadians at CTMP. Mark Wilkins of Mulmur is a 2022 TCR winner at the track and shared his winning No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR that day with his countryman Robert Wickens in Wickens’ first of two TCR wins at CTMP. Additionally, Montreal’s Denis Dupont seeks to join the list of Herta Hyundai TCR champions in the No. 76 Herta Hyundai. Dupont and Preston Brown are second in points heading into CTMP, only 30 behind Gottsacker in the similar No. 98 Herta Hyundai. Wilkins and Gottsacker’s regular co-drivers, Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi, are back for CTMP after a runner-up finish in class for Hyundai at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring that took place on Watkins Glen weekend. At Audi, the Baker Racing entry has been one of the quiet stars of the season, even if their results haven’t fully shown it. The team ran sporadic Michelin Pilot Challenge races the last couple years with four starts but has grown into a full-season outfit in 2025. Through Round 4 at Mid-Ohio, the team was the top non-Herta Hyundai in the TCR title ranking fifth in the championship, with two top-five and four top-10 finishes in as many starts. A fuel pump issue late at Watkins Glen negated a potential second-place finish. IMSA veteran James Vance of Toronto has ascended to the team’s lead pro driver aboard the No. 52 Audi RS3 LMS TCR but has also served as a coach and mentor for Bowmanville, Ontario’s Sam Baker and his father Dean, both of whom have grown in pace and performance as the year has gone on. The team added a second car for the first time at Watkins Glen, with Dean Baker sharing the No. 56 Audi with Indy car and sports car veteran Bruno Junqueira. Another Audi that has flown under the radar but steadily improved is the No. 37 Precision Racing LA Audi RS3 LMS TCR, featuring the father-daughter lineup of Ron and Megan Tomlinson, both from Ottawa. The Tomlinsons have started the year five-for-five in terms of top-10 finishes with a best finish of seventh twice. While the TCR field features nine Canadians, the lone Grand Sport (GS) Canadian in the field is Daniel Morad in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 he shares with Bryce Ward. His passes at Mid-Ohio were highlight reel material en route to a runner-up finish there. The 34-car field for Saturday’s race is split between 20 GS and 14 TCR entries. The GS points-leading No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS of Jan Heylen and Luca Mars has a 340-point lead over Jenson Altzman, who will return to double duty action between Michelin Pilot Challenge and WeatherTech Championship races over the weekend. The Nos. 39 and 95 BMW M4 GT4 EVOs from CarBahn by Peregrine racing and Turner Motorsport have a win apiece this year and are tied for third in points, albeit 390 points back of the lead. Michelin Pilot Challenge competitors have two one-hour practice sessions on Friday with qualifying first thing Saturday morning and the race Saturday at 1:25 p.m. ET, streaming live on Peacock and globally, ad-free, on YouTube courtesy of Michelin. Fast FactsCanadian Tire Motorsport Park 120Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Bowmanville, Ontario, CanadaJuly 11-12, 2025 Race Day/Time: Saturday, July 12, 1:25 p.m. ETLive Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 1:20 p.m. ET, Peacock in the U.S., globally on IMSA YouTube ad-free courtesy of MichelinCircuit Type: 2.459-mile, 10-turn road courseClasses Competing: Grand Sport (GS), Touring Car (TCR)Race Length: Two hours Michelin Pilot Challenge Track RecordsGS: Jack Hawksworth, Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO, 1:22.084 / 107.845 mph, July 2024 (Qualifying) TCR: Harry Gottsacker, Hyundai Elantra N TCR, 1:23.080 / 106.552 mph, July 2024 (Qualifying) 2024 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 WinnersGS: Stevan McAleer/Trent Hindman, No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CSTCR: Harry Gottsacker/Robert Wickens, No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR StorylinesCanada’s Finest in TCR: With nine Canadian drivers in TCR, there’s a good chance a home country driver will be on the podium on Saturday, as has been the case here frequently. Can Anyone Stop RS1?: As the season starts its second half, it’s going to take a significant effort to topple RS1 in the GS championship. The first attempt to cut in comes this weekend. Who’s Hot?RS1: Championship leaders Jan Heylen and Luca Mars are five-for-five in 2025 podiums, and their No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS won last year at CTMP with a different lineup. They’re hot until they’re not. Who’s Good Here?Billy Johnson: Johnson has won in three different decades at CTMP, including his most recent Michelin Pilot Challenge GS win in 2023, co-driving the No. 50 Hattori Motorsports’ Toyota GR Supra GT4 with Parker Thompson. The poignancy of that win has grown following the passing of team owner Shigeaki Hattori in April. Mikey Taylor and Chris Miller: Along with Johnson, Taylor and Miller are the only active drivers in the Michelin Pilot Challenge field with both a pole and a win at the track. In 2019 and 2023, the No. 17 UniTronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports car won from pole, with Taylor (2019) and Miller (2023) qualifying fastest one time apiece. Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winners in 2025 Field (8)Billy Johnson (3): ST – 2007; GS – 2016, 2023 Robin Liddell (2): GS – 2017, 2019 Mikey Taylor (2): TCR – 2019, 2023 Frank DePew (1): GS – 2019 Harry Gottsacker (1): TCR – 2024 Stevan McAleer (1): GS – 2024 Chris Miller (1): TCR – 2023 Mark Wilkins (1): TCR – 2022 Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Pole Winners in 2025 Field (4)Harry Gottsacker (1): TCR – 2024Billy Johnson (1): GS – 2015 Chris Miller (1): TCR – 2023 Mikey Taylor (1): TCR – 2019 Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winning Teams in 2025 Field (5)Bryan Herta Autosport (2): TCR – 2022, 2024JDC-Miller MotorSports (2): TCR – 2019, 2023 RS1 (2): ST – 2015; GS – 2024 KohR Motorsports (1): GS – 2018 Rebel Rock Racing (1): GS – 2019 Previous Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (7)Ford – 7Porsche – 6 BMW – 4 Audi – 3 Hyundai – 2 Mercedes-AMG – 1 Toyota – 1 |
