The 2019 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, on July 7, 2019. This race was the seventh round of the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2019 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
After a temporary red flag due to an incident involving the No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac, the race was won by the No. 77 team of Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez. PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports secured their third consecutive victory in LMP2, while Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor topped the GTLM class. In GTD, Turner Motorsport scored their first victory of the season.[1]
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018.[2] It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was the seventh of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the third of seven rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[3] The race was held at the ten-turn 2.459miles Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on July 7, 2019.[4]
On July 3, 2019, IMSA released their latest technical bulletin announcing BoP for the event.[5] Restrictions were left unchanged for the two prototype classes from the previous round at Watkins Glen International, while minor changes were made within the two GT classes. The lone modification in GTLM was a 10 kilogram weight increase for the Corvette, while victory at Watkins Glen led to a 20 kilogram weight increase for the Acura NSX. The only other change was a four liter fuel capacity increase for the Lexus RC F.Colin Braun and Jon Bennett entered the race as defending winners.[6]
Before, Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 177 points, 1 point ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr.[7] In LMP2, Cameron Cassels and Kyle Masson led the Drivers' Championship with 131 points, ahead of Matt McMurry. The GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy with 151 points; the duo held a one-point advantage over Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor in second followed by Antonio García and Jan Magnussen in third with 151 points. With 119 points, Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman led the GTD Drivers' Championship, 16 points ahead of Richard Heistand and Jack Hawksworth. Acura, Porsche, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Acura Team Penske, Performance Tech Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.
A total of 34 cars took part in the event, split across four classes. 11 were entered in DPi, 2 in LMP2, 8 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. In DPi, Victor Franzoni replaced René Binder in Juncos Racing's sprint race lineup, with no other changes to the class. A similar change was noted in LMP2, as Dalton Kellett replaced Gabriel Aubry for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. In GTLM, Tommy Milner was sidelined after suffering a hand injury at Watkins Glen, necessitating Marcel Fässler to step into the No. 4 Corvette. GTD featured wholescale changes, with two cars dropping out after the preliminary entry list had been released. The Audis of Moorespeed and Starworks Motorsport withdrew, with the former having suffered a shunt at Watkins Glen and the latter citing performance issues as the cause for withdrawal. Bia Figueiredo also replaced Christina Nielsen in the Meyer Shank Racing No. 57 entry.[8]
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday morning lasted 75 minutes while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour. The third on Saturday morning lasted one hour.[9]
The first practice session took place at 11:20 am ET on Friday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for CORE Autosport, with a lap time of 1:05.876. Harry Tincknell was second fastest in the No. 55 Mazda followed by Hélio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske entry.[10] Kyle Masson set the fastest time in LMP2.[11] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Earl Bamber with a time of 1:14.560. Nick Tandy was second fastest in the sister No. 911 Porsche GT Team entry followed by Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25 BMW.[12] The GTD class was topped by the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jeroen Bleekemolen with a time of 1:16.885. Andy Lally was second fastest in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini followed by Frankie Montecalvo's No. 12 Lexus in third position.
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 54 | CORE Autosport | Colin Braun | 1:05.876 | _ | |
| 2 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Team Joest | Harry Tincknell | 1:06.295 | +0.419 | |
| 3 | DPi | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:06.341 | +0.465 | |
| Sources:[13] [14] | |||||||
The second practice session took place at 4:10 PM ET on Friday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for CORE Autosport, with a lap time of 1:05.875. Dane Cameron was second fastest in the No. 6 Acura Team Penske entry followed by Ricky Taylor in the sister No. 7 Acura.[15] Matt McMurry set the fastest in LMP2.[16] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Jan Magnussen with a time of 1:14.218. Marcel Fässler was second fastest in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry followed by Richard Westbrook's No. 67 Ford GT in third position.[17] The GTD class was topped by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen with a time of 1:16.859. Andy Lally was second fastest in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini followed by Richard Heistand in the No. 14 Lexus. The session ended early due to the circuits asphalt breaking up at turns two and five.
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 54 | CORE Autosport | Colin Braun | 1:05.875 | _ | |
| 2 | DPi | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Dane Cameron | 1:05.899 | +0.024 | |
| 3 | DPi | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Ricky Taylor | 1:06.047 | +0.172 | |
| Sources:[18] [19] | |||||||
The third and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET Saturday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:05.632. Colin Braun was second fastest in the No. 54 CORE Autosport Nissan followed by Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest entry.[20] Kyle Masson set the fastest time in LMP2.[21] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe with a time of 1:13.739. Jesse Krohn was second fastest in the No. 24 BMW followed by Patrick Pilet in the No. 911 Porsche.[22] The GTD class was topped by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley with a time of 1:16.229. Ben Keating was second fastest in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG followed by Andy Lally in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini. The session saw one stoppage when Tristan Vautier in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and Ryan Hardwick in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini collided at turn two.[23] Hardwick lost control of the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán and spun towards the barrier. The car sustained heavy right side damage, but Hardwick was uninjured and exited his car without external aid.[24] After practice, Paul Miller Racing withdrew the No. 48 car because the team did not transport a spare chassis to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:05.632 | _ | |
| 2 | DPi | 54 | CORE Autosport | Colin Braun | 1:05.784 | +0.152 | |
| 3 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Team Joest | Jonathan Bomarito | 1:05.947 | +0.315 | |
| Sources:[25] [26] | |||||||
Saturday's late morning qualification session into was broken into three groups that lasted 15 minutes each. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM and DPi/LMP2 had two separate identically timed sessions. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap.[27] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi, LMP2, and GTLM cars started in front of the GTD field.
The first was for cars in the GTD class. Robby Foley qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 96 car for Turner Motorsport, beating Ben Keating in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG by less than one-tenth of a second. Following in third was Trent Hindman's No. 86 Acura with the No. 57 Acura of Bia Figueiredo in fourth.[28] Zacharie Robichon completed the top five in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche followed by Frankie Montecalvo's No. 12 Lexus in sixth position.[29]
The second session was for cars in the GTLM class. Jesse Krohn qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 24 car for BMW Team RLL, besting teammate Tom Blomqvist in the sister No. 25 BMW by less than four-tenths of a second. Following in third was Ryan Briscoe's No. 67 Ford GT followed by the No. 911 Porsche of Patrick Pilet.[30] Laurens Vanthoor completed the top five in the No. 912 Porsche followed by Joey Hand's No. 66 Ford GT in sixth.[31] The Corvette Racing entries rounded out the GTLM qualifiers.
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the LMP2 and DPi classes. Colin Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport Nissan set the overall fastest time.[32] However, the car would be dropped to the rear of the DPi field because the team changed their starting driver. As a result, Hélio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura was promoted to first and would start the race from pole position.[33] Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 55 Mazda started in second position followed by Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 6 Acura.[34] [35] Tristan Nunez's No. 77 Mazda started in fourth position followed by Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac in fifth.[36] [37] Kyle Masson qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the No. 38 car for Performance Tech Motorsports, besting Dalton Kellett in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports car.[38]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .
The final results of DPi meant Cameron and Montoya increased their points lead to 3 points over Derani and Nasr while Jarvis and Nunez advanced from seventh to fourth.[41] McMurry's victory allowed him to take the lead of the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 165 points while Cassels and Masson dropped to second. Bamber and Vanthoor retook the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 186 points while Pilet and Tandy dropped to second. De Phillippi jumped to fourth after being fifth coming into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The final results of GTD meant Farnbacher and Hindman extended their advantage to 19 points while Montecalvo and Bell took over second position. Auberlen and Foley advanced from eighth to third. Acura and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Acura took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship. Acura Team Penske, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships, while PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports took the lead of the LMP2 Teams' Championship with five rounds left in the season.
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
| +DPi Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya | 207 | |||
| 2 |  Pipo Derani Felipe Nasr | 204 | |||
| 3 | Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor | 198 | |||
| 4 | 3 |  Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez | 188 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande | 188 | ||
| Source: | |||||
| +LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Matt McMurry | 165 | ||
| 2 | 1 |  Cameron Cassels Kyle Masson | 163 | ||
| 3 |  Gabriel Aubry | 95 | |||
| 4 | Eric Lux | 70 | |||
| 5 | Andrew Evans | 67 | |||
| Source: | |||||
| +GTLM Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor | 186 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy | 182 | ||
| 3 |  Antonio GarcíaJan Magnussen | 175 | |||
| 4 | 1 | Connor De Phillippi | 163 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Dirk Müller | 161 | ||
| Source: | |||||
| +GTD Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman | 151 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell | 132 | ||
| 3 | 5 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley | 123 | ||
| 4 | Andy Lally John Potter | 123 | |||
| 5 | Patrick Long | 123 | |||
| Source: | |||||
| +DPi Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #6 Acura Team Penske | 207 | |||
| 2 | #31 Whelen Engineering Racing | 204 | |||
| 3 | #7 Acura Team Penske | 198 | |||
| 4 | 3 | #77 Mazda Team Joest | 188 | ||
| 5 | 1 | #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac | 188 | ||
| Source: | |||||
| +LMP2 Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | 165 | ||
| 2 | 1 | #38 Performance Tech Motorsports | 163 | ||
| 3 | #18 DragonSpeed | 35 | |||
| 4 | #81 DragonSpeed | 30 | |||
| Source: | |||||
| +GTLM Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | #912 Porsche GT Team | 186 | ||
| 2 | 1 | #911 Porsche GT Team | 182 | ||
| 3 | #3 Corvette Racing | 175 | |||
| 4 | 1 | #25 BMW Team RLL | 163 | ||
| 5 | 1 | #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | 161 | ||
| Source: | |||||
| +GTD Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #86 Meyer-Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian | 151 | |||
| 2 | 1 | #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan | 132 | ||
| 3 | 1 | #96 Turner Motorsport | 123 | ||
| 4 | #44 Magnus Racing | 123 | |||
| 5 | #73 Park Place Motorsports | 123 | |||
| Source: | |||||
| +DPi Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Acura | 230 | |||
| 2 | Cadillac | 227 | |||
| 3 | Mazda | 216 | |||
| 4 | Nissan | 202 | |||
| Source: | |||||
| +GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Porsche | 205 | |||
| 2 | 1 | BMW | 181 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Chevrolet | 180 | ||
| 4 | Ford | 178 | |||
| 5 | Ferrari | 32 | |||
| Source: | |||||
| +GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Acura | 152 | ||
| 2 | 1 |  Lamborghini | 150 | ||
| 3 | Lexus | 149 | |||
| 4 | 4 | BMW | 135 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Ferrari | 135 | ||
| Source: | |||||
