• The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) 120 was the home race for Pit+Paddock and Montreal Motorsport Group (MMG).
• The track is one of the fastest in North America, a 2.459-mile, 10-turn clockwise circuit that played host to Formula from 1967 to 1977.
• The #93 Pit+Paddock FL5 Civic Type R TCR qualified P6 for the contest with Dai Yoshihara behind the wheel—his first time driving the CTMP course.
• By the checkered flag, the #93 Pit+Paddock FL5 Civic Type R TCR claimed P2, its first podium of the 2024 IMPC season.

One thing you’ll never hear anyone call Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) is relaxing; the near-Toronto facility is considered a monster track by the entire paddock, a blend between Watkins Glen and a street circuit. It’s a high-speed track too, which means big consequences when things go wrong.

Yoshihara assumed qualifying duties at CTMP. Like many other IMSA Michelin Pilot Cup tracks, it was Yoshihara’s first time driving, so his P6 qualifying effort netted him additional seat time. “I’m extremely pleased with Dai’s performance. He had never been to CTMP and was quick from the start of race week,” remarked Montreal Motorsport Group (MMG) Team Principal, Benjamin Distaulo.

AS IT HAPPENED

TCR didn’t get a clean first lap due to an incident with the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes GT-R GS, but within the first five minutes, Yoshihara climbed from P6 to P3. Miller in the #17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR and Gottsacker in the #33 Hyundai seemed to be in a league of their own early on, trading hands for the TCR lead during the first leg of the race. Yoshihara’s best lap time was nearly two full seconds faster than the leaders, but he seemed to be tempering his outright pace as part of a larger fuel strategy. The top 5 runners in TCR started to tighten as we approached 30 minutes of racing, forcing everyone to constantly consider the delicate balance between track position, pit stops, and traffic with the GS class. Indeed, the pace difference between the two classes was minimal here and added another interesting variable to the track action.

Despite the circuit’s challenges and the cross-segment traffic, there weren’t many on-track incidents through the first hour. The midpoint meant many would dive into the pits for the first time, including Yoshihara and his nearest competitor—the #52 Audi—who’d been challenging for P3 since the start. Wittmer resumed race duties in P6 before the first full course caution came at the 56-minute mark. By the time the green flag waved and the flurry of pit stops had run its course, Wittmer had climbed to P3. As a Montreal native, his familiarity with the track made him a real threat behind the leaders. P1 through P3 were only split by 0.8 seconds as we approached an hour and a half of race action.

The drama came with 27 minutes to go: the #17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR suddenly pulled off course with a mechanical failure. The #33 Hyundai never surrendered the lead after the Audi’s exit; however, Wittmer applied plenty of pressure all the way up to the checkered flag, even despite losing his anti-lock braking system. Wittmer and Yoshihara held onto second place, 0.723 seconds behind the winners.

FROM THE DRIVERS

“To have a well-deserved podium finish at our home track with this crew that’s been putting in sweat and tears since the start of the year is so rewarding to them,” Wittmer said. “I’m so happy, I can’t wait to party with these guys!” Indeed, we’ve been saying that it’s just a matter of time for several race weekends now. And finally at CTMP, despite the ABS problem, fortunes were finally on our side. To see him claw time away from Wickens during the final stages was incredible and shows that we have everything we need to fight at the top.

Dai’s response was equally as emotional. “P2 baby!!! So stoked for my first podium finish in IMSA, and it’s extra special at my team’s and my man Karl Wittmer’s home track! Huge thanks to all my sponsors— ARP, ENEOS, Turn 14 Distribution, Mishimoto, Whiteline, and DBA—for their incredible support.” Distaulo was incredibly complimentary of Yoshihara’s performance. He had the fastest lap overall for the first 50 minutes of the race, and this type of performance has helped him quickly build his confidence.

FROM THE TEAM

As ever, Montreal Motorsport Group was focused on maximizing every race weekend moment. From the moment the car rolled out of the trailer, the team was at it. Practice 1 was dedicated to dialing in a proper car setup. Practice 2 MMG’s focus shifted toward fuel consumption calculations and pit speed limiter issues with new MMG data engineer, Alexandre Dupré, and with Honda Racing Corporation and JASMotorsport engineers and strategists. Alex, who’s been working with team owners Benjamin and Nick for over ten years on other Honda projects, decided to join MMG at CTMP this weekend and played an integral part in this first-ever podium finish for MMG.

“Karl, Dai, and all of our MMG crew deserve this podium,” said Sabrina D’Amico, MMG’s co-owner and Logistics Manager. “What some don’t realize is that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work being poured into this program week after week and before each race weekend. The hard work finally paid off and I’m so happy we could all celebrate together after climbing onto that second step.”

Although we walked away from the CTMP race weekend with P2, it felt like a win for all of us. We’ve been building momentum over the last few contests, and this podium was the perfect way to start the second half of the IMPC season. There’s much more to play for in the upcoming months; the result means that we moved within striking distance of securing P4 in the overall championship. The next Michelin Pilot Challenge race is the Road America 120 from the Wisconsin road course of the same name on Saturday, August 3.

Thank you to ARP, ENEOS, Turn 14 Distribution, Mishimoto, Whiteline, and DBA for supporting Pit+Paddock’s inaugural IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign with Montreal Motorsport Group.

Gallery