| July 7, 2019 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada – Fans at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park were treated to a show on Sunday morning with the second and final Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama race of the weekend. Ahead of the featured IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event – the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Acura – the Porsche one-make series ran its sixth of 12 rounds to reach the halfway point of the season and bid adieu to CTMP for the year after also participating at the track’s Victoria Day SpeedFest in May. The contest for the lead was a replica of Saturday’s race in Bowmanville, with Roman De Angelis taking his fifth GT3 Cup Challenge Canada victory of the season and his second weekend sweep after winning Rounds 3 and 4 in Montreal last month at the Canadian Grand Prix. He now owns a 27-point lead in the championship standings. “I’m just trying to get those points,” said De Angelis, who drives the No. 79 Mark Motors Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. “I’m here for the championship, not to really win races, and to do both is pretty cool. At the end of the day whether we’re second and leading the points, it doesn’t matter to me. I just want to win the championship.” While De Angelis cruised to his 20-second victory, other cars in the pack were forced to fight for their positions on the leaderboard, resulting in a 45-minute race that consistently saw battles on track. Ten minutes into the race, Jeff Kingsley in his No. 16 Policaro Motorsport Porsche was in hot pursuit of second-place Parker Thompson in the No. 3 SCB Racing Porsche but spun in Turn 10 as he looked inside for the position. The incident dropped Kingsley to the bottom of the leaderboard. As he worked to get back to the front, though, he encountered three- and four-car battles deeper in the field that he ended up having to navigate himself. Ultimately, the Ajax, Ontario native was able to pick off six cars and salvage an eighth-place finish. Meanwhile, Thompson held on for the runner-up finish, his best since Round 3 at Montreal and a solid recovery from a challenging Race 1 on Saturday. He kept Patrick Dussault’s No. 77 Lauzon Autosport Porsche behind him in third, although Dussault stayed within a second of Thompson for the entirety of the race. “The SportsCarBoutique guys have been awesome all week,” said Thompson. “Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify where we wanted to, P4, but we got the Yokohamas working for us now. Yesterday was tough. We had the pace to be on the podium, but with contact in Turn 1, I had to work my way back up to where we started. Today, they straightened up the old girl, the No. 3 was on rails and we were able to hold off second. Overall, a good weekend.” Ethan Simioni also was part of the fight for a podium spot as he kept close to Thompson and Dussault, but ultimately finished fourth, one second behind Dussault, in the No. 16 Porsche for Policaro Motorsport. Taking both Platinum Masters class victories this weekend was Marco Cirone in the No. 88 Mark Motors Racing Porsche. Cirone, too, was in a heated contest with fellow Masters driver Alan Metni in the No. 99 Porsche for Kelly-Moss/AM Motorsport until Metni’s car fell victim to mechanical issues. “Today was a lot more difficult because, boy, Alan was really, really fast,” said Cirone. “It’s unfortunate he had that mistake because otherwise, I don’t know if I would have been able to beat him. My teammate Michael (Di Meo, No. 96 OpenRoad Racing Porsche) got by me and he battled with him for a little bit. I think that worked to my advantage because they wore out their tires a little bit, I sat back and let things cool down and then I went for it. I was lucky enough to pass both of them.” Finishing second in the Platinum Masters class and earning the Yokohama Hard Charger Award was Michael Levitas in the No. 37 TPC Racing Porsche. Levitas started last but jumped to ninth by the race’s conclusion. It’s a quick turnaround for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama Rounds 7 and 8, which take place next weekend during the annual Honda Indy Toronto event. The street circuit in downtown Toronto will feature the headlining IndyCar Series, with other support series such as NASCAR Pinty’s Series and Stadium Super Trucks. Tickets are available at www.hondaindy.com. To keep up with news and updates throughout the season for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama, please visit IMSA.com and Porsche.com/Canada, and join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #GT3Canada. IMSA TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK Follow on Twitter @imsa, use the hashtag #IMSA, follow on Instagram @imsa_racing and ‘like’ IMSA on Facebook –www.facebook.com/imsa. For further information logon to www.imsa.com. |
