IMSA in Canada

From July 06 to 09, the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park hosted the sixth round of the 2023 IMSA/Weathertech season, the Chevrolet Grand Prix.

The iconic Canadian circuit has the honor to be the only track to host an IMSA race outside the USA. It is the most important event in the Mosport’s calendar and I have been planning to go for a long time.

The IMSA championship is divided in 3 prototype classes, GTP, LMP2, LMP3, and 2 GT/production classes, GTD PRO, and GTD. It can be a bit tedious to keep up with all the details that differentiate them, but it is fair to say that IMSA is pretty close to the European WEC. For example, the new top-class GTP is similar (if not the same) as the European Hypercar. That makes things a lot easier for the teams wishing to compete in both sides of the Atlantic.

My plan on Sunday was simple, leave home at 10 o’clock, and get there around 11, giving us plenty of time to go to the open grid/fan walk, for a closer look at the cars and to take some nice pics for the blog. But the place was absolutely packed, we took forever to find a parking spot and when we finally arrived at the paddock, the open grid event was over.

But we were determined not to miss anything else. We crossed the bridge as fast as we could, just in time to catch the start of the race.

It is amazing to see those machines in action so close; feeling the thunder of the engines into your chest and the sweet smell of burned high-octane fuel.

Estela, my wife, and I recorded a very amateurish footage of the race, check it out.

We decided to leave a bit before the end of the race, to avoid the traffic jam. I was hoping to take some pictures of the race cars at the paddock but most of the teams had already packed their stuff and were ready to hit the road.

When the checkered flag was dropped, the #60 Acura ARX-06, driven by Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist (picture above) won the GTP prototype class and the BMW M4 driven by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won the GT Daytona class. The video below is a 6-minute-long race highlights.

This was my very first time watching a live sports prototype race, and it was a fantastic experience. To wrap up this post, I would like to share a beautiful description of our beloved Mosport that I found on the IMSA website:

-“The 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit tucked into the woods northeast of Toronto is both loved and feared by competitors. With blind turns and deceptively fast stretches, CTMP can send you to Victory Lane – or send you off course”.-