CTSCC: Consistency leads to records and GS championship for Maxwell and Johnson

Racing at a hometown track can provide a turning point for any racing driver or team, as was the case for the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Shelby GT350R-C this season in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class.

Multimatic, based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, with Billy Johnson and Toronto’s Scott Maxwell sharing the duties behind the wheel, found success throughout the year but truly stood out as a premier team in the second half of the 2016 season.

While Maxwell has been with Multimatic since its founding in 1992, Johnson joined the team only recently. “It’s been an honor to drive for Multimatic since I moved over there in 2014,” Johnson said. “In terms of how well [Scott and I] work together, we don’t have to fight different things in the car. We always say the same thing in terms of how the car’s handling, in terms of what we want out of the car, so I think we’re really efficient at improving the balance of the cars. I think we’re able to develop the car during a weekend better than anyone else, better than any combination I’ve had in my own career, so that’s been a huge advantage.”

After finishing eighth in the point standings last year, Maxwell and Johnson positioned themselves well after the first two races in 2016 with a win at Daytona and a second-place finish at Sebring. A pair of fourth place finishes followed for the team, the second of which occurred at Watkins Glen due in part to a slow pit stop for a left-front wheel issue.

In the meantime, the new-for-2016 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport had been performing well, particularly in the hands of co-drivers Cameron Cassels and Trent Hindman, who scored three consecutive wins between Sebring and The Glen in the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Cayman. The No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche of Danny Burkett and Marc Miller also began to pick up steam.

However, the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the fifth race of 10 for the Continental Tire Challenge, proved to be crucial for the No. 15 Ford as the team captured a commanding win at its home track on July 9. Maxwell scored his 13th career pole the previous day, a series record, while the win was number 19 for Johnson.

The hometown victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park sparked an incredible run for Multimatic. Clever pit strategy led to wins in the next two races at Lime Rock and then Road America, where Johnson earned a last-lap win after the leading car ran out of fuel. After three consecutive victories, Maxwell and Johnson found themselves leading the standings by 23 points.

A second-place finish at VIRginia International Raceway would be the last time in 2016 in which another GS competitor bested Maxwell and Johnson. Maxwell secured both poles at Circuit of The Americas and the season-ending Road Atlanta race, bringing his career and series record total to 16. Johnson then closed out wins at both tracks to become the winningest Continental Tire Challenge driver with 23 career victories.

“I’ve been in the series for 10 years now and had a lot of wins up until this point, but I’ve had up and down seasons,” Johnson reflected. “It’s been a long road working my way from [the Street Tuner class] ST to GS, from part-time seasons to full seasons, to finally be in positions to go after championships and then to win a championship. It’s nice to come full circle in that.”

The penultimate round of the season at Circuit of The Americas was doubly special for the team as many Ford representatives were on hand to celebrate the win. For the second time in 2016, it was a race in which Maxwell and Johnson led all but three laps.

The other occasion? The team’s mid-season hometown victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.