Ricky Taylor Quickest In WeatherTech CTMP Practice

Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor was fastest overall in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice Saturday morning (July 2) at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a lap at 136.361 mph.  With the track being freshly repaved, the lap is an unofficial track record, more than a half-second faster than Colin Braun‘s record lap from 2019.

Practice No. 1

Friday’s first practice session was the first time for WeatherTech teams on the 2.459-mile road course since before the COVID-19 pandemic (the 2020 and 2021 races ended up being cancelled).  With new pavement since the last visit, teams adjusted and the times came down.

Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist turned in a lap at 134.715 mph 43 minutes into the session to put himself on top.  That time held up.  In the closing minutes, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais was able to equal that time to the thousandth of a second.  A rare scenario, indeed.  Blomqvist is credited with the fastest time in the session only because he set the lap first.

Blomqvist and Bourdais were .181 seconds faster than Earl Bamber in the second Ganassi Cadillac.  Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani was fourth, followed by Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque.

In LMP3, Jr III Racing’s Garret Grist was quickest with a lap at 122.533 mph, seventh overall.  Grist’s lap was four-hundredths of a second faster than Braun.  Riley Motorsports’ Scott Andrews was third fastest in the session, but things weren’t all great for him.  54 minutes into the session, Andrews spun off at Moss Corner and brought out the session’s only red flag.  He did not return for the remainder of the session.

Andretti Autosport’s Gabby Chaves was fourth in his Ligier JS P320.  Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Kyle Marcelli was fifth.

In the GT3 ranks, things were extremely close…except at the very front.  WeatherTech Racing’s Daniel Juncadella was fastest in GTD Pro with a lap at 115.687 mph.  The lap was nearly four-tenths of a second faster than the Porsche of Pfaff Motorsports’ Mathieu Jaminet.  The Heart of Racing’s Alex Riberas was third, then Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and BMW M Team RLL’s John Edwards.

GTD was led by Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo with a lap at 115.075 mph, third of all GT cars.  He was .122 seconds faster than Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley, followed by Winward Racing’s Russell Ward, Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers and The Heart…