Success again! This past weekend we were racing north of the border at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, just one week after our win at Watkins Glen. What a neat and iconic circuit this is, with high-speed, daunting corners plus elevation changes thrown in to make it even more of a challenge. With average lap speeds as high as at Daytona, the 2.5-mile circuit is really a thriller.
Coming off the win the weekend before at Watkins Glen, our hopes were high that we could keep the momentum going—and we did! Britt put together another stellar qualifying performance to get the pole position. From there, the race played into our hands as best as it ever has this year. Britt had an incredible first stint, gapping the TCR field with a sizeable lead. Our No. 77 Compass Racing/TRUMPF Audi was hooked up.
Our #77 TRUMPF Audi & pit crew participated in the pit stop demonstration during the pre-race Fanwalk. As you can see, it was quite popular!
For the pit stop, we came in under green flag conditions. I jumped in after a clean pit stop, and it set us up for a strong finish. A full-course yellow came after that, zapping our lead and bringing the entire field together, all packed in behind us. It’s always an intimidating feeling when you have the whole pack behind you, and you know you have a target on your back!
In the laps after the restart, I was able to pull a bit of a gap, but I was still dealing with traffic as I caught slower cars in the faster GT4 class. Once again, the second- and third-place TCR cars caught up, which created some close racing. Finally, I got around the traffic and was able to pull a gap—enough to settle in for the last 20 minutes.
Even with the lead, those last 20 minutes were nerve-wracking, but we prevailed and came home with another class win! It felt so sweet to give Compass Racing a victory at their home race. We’re grateful to have had such a rare perfect weekend: Britt got the pole, we led every lap of the race, and we got the win. Now we have another short turnaround: in just two weeks, we go to one of my favorite circuits, and a place that I’ve been going to since childhood, Lime Rock Park. In the meantime, you can catch the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park broadcast at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 15, on FS1.