RECAP: Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

A hot July weekend in Ontario saw Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s 2.459-mile road course serve up a feast of speed and strategy. In the 2-hour, 40-minute WeatherTech Championship race, AO Racing’s number 99 Oreca (PJ Hyett/Dane Cameron) ultimately “triumphed overall” by running a controlled pace early on. Hyett grabbed the Motul Pole Award and stretched the lead to nearly 15 seconds in his stint. However, late-race twists changed the script. Inter Europol Competition’s Tom Dillmann (driving the number 43 Oreca) had charged into the LMP2 lead on the final pit stop, only to crash into the barriers with 15 minutes remaining. The resultant full-course yellow shuffled the field and put Cameron back in front. Under the caution, Cameron kept it clean and took the checkered flag—AO Racing’s first win in LMP2—with United Autosports’ number 22 Oreca (Tom Blomqvist/Daniel Goldburg) finishing second and Riley Motorsports’ number 74 Oreca (Gar Robinson/Felipe Fraga) third.

The GT classes came down to gambles on fuel and timely cautions. In GTD PRO, DragonSpeed’s Ferrari 296 GT3 (number 81, Albert Costa/Giacomo Altoè) rolled the dice by topping off under an early yellow (halfway through the race). When a late crash by Dillmann again slowed the field, the Ferrari’s strategy paid off: it led the final 22 laps and scored DragonSpeed’s first GTD PRO victory. Costa/Altoè beat the factory Corvette Z06.R of Nicky Catsburg/Tommy Milner (number 4 Corvette) and the AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (number 77, Laurin Heinrich/Klaus Bachler) to the line. Albert Costa summed it up, “We played hard… we were lucky for once,” noting how they capitalized on the timing of the yellow flag.

In GTD, Wayne Taylor Racing’s Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (number 45, Danny Formal/Trent Hindman) pulled a comeback of their own. After contact early in the race dropped them to the back, WTR pitted during the first caution and stretched their fuel window. Two late cautions kept other cars boxed in, and Hindman drove out front to claim the win—WTR’s first-ever GTD victory (their 52nd IMSA win overall). Formal noted their “complete adversity in the first five minutes,” but the team stayed calm under red flags, and the gamble paid off. Winward Racing’s Mercedes-AMG of Philip Ellis/Russell Ward finished second, with the Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Parker Thompson/Jack Hawksworth third. Crowd favorite Robert Wickens (in a DXDT Corvette) scored a career-best 4th in GTD, thrilling the home crowd.

Key Takeaways:

• AO Racing’s breakthrough: The number 99 Oreca LMP2 of Hyett/Cameron controlled much of the race and inherited victory after a late caution.
• Fuel gambles pay off in GT: DragonSpeed’s Ferrari and WTR’s Lamborghini each dared to one-stop; both won when cautions locked the field.
• Safety car drama: Tom Dillmann’s late crash in LMP2 (with 15 minutes to go) triggered the final yellow, sealing the running order.
• New class winners: Cameron/Hyett picked up their first IMSA LMP2 win, DragonSpeed scored its first GTD PRO win, and Formal/Hindman earned WTR’s inaugural GTD win.