Dillmann and Clarke make up for one that got away with IMSA CTMP triumph

One year after Tom Dillmann crashed out of the lead and broke his back in an accident at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, he and co-driver Jeremy Clarke drove Inter Europol Competition back to the top step of the IMSA LMP2 podium in Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix.

The No. 52 Inter Europol ORECA 07-Gibson of Clarke and Dillmann started from pole position and led the most laps in the two-hour, 40-minute sprint at CTMP. It’s the team’s first win since last year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and a crucial victory which keeps the team and its drivers at the forefront of the LMP2 title chase.

George Kurtz and Alex Quinn still retained their championship lead in the class with a second-place finish in their No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA.

Kurtz took the lead from polesitter Clarke after the second of two full course yellows in the race, when Tobias Lütke (TDS Racing) crashed in the esses. Kurtz made a pit stop before the yellow and cycled to the lead, and Quinn retained that advantage after all LMP2 teams made their driver changes.

Dillmann would stick with Quinn, and with an hour and 15 minutes left, the No. 04 car of Quinn got held up in slower GT traffic at turn one, allowing Dillmann to swing around the outside of Clayton Corner (Turn 2) to take the lead, which he would not relinquish even after a splash-and-dash pit stop with 10 minutes to go. Dillmann took the checkered flag less than 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Quinn.

Coming off their win at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron climbed from ninth to third in their No. 99 “Spike the Dragon” car, finishing ahead of the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen (Misha Goikhberg/Ricky Taylor) car in fourth and the No. 22 United Autosports USA (Daniel Goldburg/Ben Hanley) in fifth.

Accidents took the No. 8 Tower Motorsports, No. 11 TDS Racing, and No. 2 United Autosports USA cars out of contention - the most surprising of which was Mikkel Jensen’s crash in the No. 2 car, which put him and Phil Fayer 10 laps down.

Kurtz and Quinn will take a 70-point lead over Clarke and Dillmann going into the upcoming Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America on Aug, 2.

Barnicoat and Hawksworth are making up for lost time too, scoring their second straight win in GTD Pro. Jake Galstad/Lumen via Getty Images

GTD Pro wins for Vasser Sullivan Racing have become like waiting for buses in London: Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth waited two years to end a winless drought at Watkins Glen, and then a second win came along immediately after at CTMP.

After taking the lead less than an hour into the race, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Hawksworth and Barnicoat maintained firm control, taking back-to-back wins for the team for the first time since 2024.

Hawksworth started fifth, and a good pit stop under yellow allowed Barnicoat to take over from surprise leader Nikita Johnson in the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3. Barnicoat overtook the 18-year-old rookie shortly after the ensuing restart and retained that advantage throughout the remaining hour and 45 minutes.

The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Nick Tandy and Harry King took their second runner-up finish of the year, holding off the championship-leading No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen in third by just 0.745s. De Phillippi and Verhagen extended their championship lead to 108 points with four races left.

In fourth place was the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R (Tommy Milner/Nicky Catsburg), followed by the No. 65 Ford Racing Mustang GT3 (Christopher Mies/Frédéric Vervisch), and then the No. 59 RLL McLaren of Johnson and Max Esterson.

And after just one top-five finish in the last four rounds, Winward Racing, Russell Ward, and Philip Ellis finally found their way back to victory in GTD, taking their second win of the year in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.

Ellis took the lead from the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 just a little over halfway into the race and held on for the win, just 1.886s ahead of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Benjamin Pedersen and Aaron Telitz – who finished off a great day for the team across both GT classes.

Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley finished third in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW, followed by the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (Lorenzo Patrese/Albert Costa) and the No. 45 WTR Lamborghini (Danny Formal/Trent Hindman).

Early misfortunes for the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Eduardo Barrichello/Roman de Angelis) gave its GTD title rivals an opportunity to gain ground. After falling to last in class following a botched pit stop and a pit work violation penalty, De Angelis surged through the field during his stint, salvaging a sixth-place finish at the end.

It keeps Barrichello’s lead at 92 points over Pedersen and Telitz, with Gallagher/Foley still third in the standings, and Ward/Ellis up to fourth.

Several Canadian drivers and teams suffered a variety of misfortunes along the way: Crashes for the likes of Lütke and John Farano, unremarkable results for teams like Pfaff Motorsports and 13 Autosport – and right up there at the top, Robert Wickens and DXDT Racing’s hopes of victory were dashed when the No. 36 Corvette had to take emergency service for a broken throttle return spring.

RESULTS