Buford sweeps PWC GTS weekend with wire-to-wire win

Jade Buford recorded his second straight GTS victory at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with a convincing 7.24-second win Sunday in the No. 45 Racer's Edge SIN R1 GT4 at the Pirelli World Challenge Victoria Day Speedfest.

Buford, who recently competed in the America Ninja Warrior competition in Daytona Beach, started from the pole position with a standing start for Round 6 of the 2017 GTS road racing campaign and led every lap to his fifth PWC career win.

• GTS results

  |

  GTS-Am results

Buford, an Auburn University graduate, completed the double-win sweep over former two-time GTS champion Lawson Aschenbach with an impressive start and held off Aschenbach early in the 50-minute race. The top six drivers in GTS were in six different car manufacturers in Round 6.

Ernie Francis Jr. started second to Buford, but was unable to leave the starting line at the green flag due to a mechanical issue in the No. 40 PF Racing/Breathless Racing Ford Mustang. Francis' starting line malfunction forced much of the GTS field to scramble for a position in Turn 1 at the famed 2.458-mile, 10-turn circuit.

"I've been fortunate to have been at the start of a lot of development of race cars, and the SIN car is one of them," said Buford. "The team has done a fantastic job working with me, developing the car, working on its weaknesses and really improving it. From what I was driving last year to now, it's a completely different car and it's impressive what they've done. And, we still have a couple of little tweaks to make and I think it will be an even better car. You have to do the best you can with what you have. As a driver, that's your goal."

Aschenbach, a Vanderbilt University grad, drove his No. 10 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4R from a seventh starting position to second place early in the 33-lap contest and remained in the runner-up spot until the checkered flag.

"I'm always looking forward to standing starts because the car seems to launch really well," said Aschenbach. "Unfortunately, the inside of the track here had a ton of marbles so I had a feeling we would get too much wheel spin and that's basically what happened. Fortunately, everyone was jostling around because of Ernie's (Francis, Jr.) misfortune. It ended up creating more passing opportunities on that first lap because everybody was so jumbled up and trying to sort each other out. I was able to pounce early. All in all, I'm really happy with the Camaro; six podiums in six races."

Local favorite Anthony Mantella of Toronto, Ontario, rounded out the top-three with his No. 8 Mantella Autosports KTM Xbow GT4 after a spirited battle with Rodrigo Baptista of Spain in the No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. Baptista finished sixth behind Ian James in the No. 50 Team Panoz Racing Panoz Avezzano GT in fourth and veteran Jeff Courtney in the No. 99 Kenda/JCR Motorsports Maserati GT4.

"With our car, it's really difficult to go up against the guys that are in front of us, and (Rodrigo) Baptista as well," said Mantella. "They have a little more straight line speed. Because our car is so good in the corners, the series has given some cars straight-line speed so it's really difficult to get by. Unfortunately, he got a little aggressive and he was forcing me off to the side in turn 4. Turn 4 is a high-consequence corner, I wasn't going to give it up because I wasn't going to go in the grass for him, and we made contact. The carbon-fiber was rubbing on the tires and immediately our two spotters were giving me reports about how much smoke was coming out. But, that's racing, it's passed now and we're moving on to Lime Rock."

Seventeen-year-old Nate Stacy piloted the No. 14 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR and collected seventh place Sunday at CTMP followed by local driver Martin Barkey of Huntsville, Ontario in the No. 80 MBRP Performance Exhaust KTM XBow GT4, George Kurtz in the No. 04 Crowdstrike/GMG Motorsports McLaren 570S and Tony Gaples in the No. 11 Blackdog Speed Sport Chevrolet Camaro GT4R.

Kurtz captured the GTS Amateur division honors Sunday in the PWC Victoria Day Speedfest.