2016 SportsCar Grand Prix


The 2016 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Bowmanville, Ontario on July 10, 2016. The race was the seventh round of the 2016 [IMSA SportsCar Championship|2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship] and the event marked the 31st IMSA sanctioned sports car race held at the facility.

Background

International Motor Sports Association president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship in August 2015. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, thirty-fifth annual running of the race. The 1 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was the second of seventh scheduled automobile endurance races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the fourth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the ten-turn Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on July 10, 2016. For 2016, the WeatherTech Championship race featured all four classes, Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge (PC), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and the GT Daytona (GTD) for the first time since the 2013 edition of the Grand Prix. The weekend also included races for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, Mazda Prototype Lites, the Global MX-5 Cup and the Nissan Micra Cup.
Before the race, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 187 points, ahead of Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in second by 7 points, and Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in third 180 points. With 198 points, PC was led by Alex Popow and Renger [van der Zande] over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 3 points. In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 159 points, 8 points ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 162 points; the duo held a thirteen-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Chevrolet and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Practice

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon while the third session on Saturday morning lasted one hour.
The first practice session was held in damp weather. Jordan Taylor set the fastest lap in the No. 10 WTR Corvette DP at 1 minute, 11.158 seconds, 0.985 seconds faster than Tristan Nunez's No. 55 Mazda. Ryan Dalziel in VFR's No. 90 vehicle was third, and Oswaldo Negri Jr.'s No. 60 MSR ligier was fourth. The seven-vehicle PC class was led by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports's No. 52 car, driven by Tom Kimber-Smith with a time of 1 minute, 13.154 seconds. The two Corvette Racing team cars of Oliver Gavin and Antonio García led GTLM. Andy Lally's No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 recorded the fastest time in GTD.
Rain continued to affect the track in the second practice session. Jordan Taylor was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 11.206 seconds, followed by the AER cars of Fittipaldi and Cameron in second and third. A 1:12.131 lap saw Renger van der Zande's No. 8 Starworks vehicle lead PC. Bill Auberlen led GTLM in the No. 25 BMW with a 1-minute, 15.961 lap. Tommy Milner's No. 4 Corvette was second. Müller in the No. 66 CGR Ford GT was third in GTLM. Lally's No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 led GTD, and Spencer Pumpelly, in the No.16 Change Racing Lamborghini, was second in class.
The final practice was held on a dry race track which allowed for faster lap times. Negri's MSR Ligier set the fastest overall lap of 1:10.522, 0.002 seconds faster than Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda. van der Zande led the PC class with a 1 minute, 11.884 second lap in Starworks' No. 8 car. Corvette Racing paced GTLM with García's No. 3 car lapping 1:15.233, ahead of the two BMW M6 GTLMs. With a 1:17.888 lap, David led the GTD class in the No. 6 Stevenson Audi R8.

Qualifying

In Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by. P stands for Prototype, PC, GTLM and GTD.
  • The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the PC field as per Article 43.1 of the Sporting regulations.
  • The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations.

Report

Race summary

The race was won overall by Eric Curran and Dane Cameron, driving a Chevrolet Corvette DP for Action Express Racing. They finished ahead of the Action Express Racing sister car of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, while the podium was completed by Ricky and Jordan Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing. In sixth place overall, CORE Autosport won the Prototype Challenge class with drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, while the GT Le Mans honors were taken by Ford Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook in the Ford GT in fourteenth place overall. The GT Daytona class was won by Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann in the Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.

Post-race

With a total of 220 points, Barbosa and Fittipaldi's second-place finished allowed them to keep their advantage in the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Curran and Cameron advanced from third to second. The final results of PC allowed Popow and van der Zande to extend their advantage in the Drivers' Championship to 14 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith. Gavin and Milner's fourth-place finish kept them atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 5 points over race winners Briscoe and Westbrook. Balzan and Nielsen's fourth-place finish allowed them to increase their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 22 points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Davis and Liddell advanced from sixth to fifth while Keen and MacNeil dropped to seventh. Chevrolet and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships with five rounds left in the season.

Race results

Class winners are denoted in bold and. P stands for Prototype, PC, GTLM and GTD.

Championship standings after the race

Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.