I’m just getting back from an exciting weekend of racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP), where both of our Mazda Prototypes finished in the top five—a first for the season! That was a rewarding finish for us.
With some struggles during the first day of practice, our No. 70 Castrol Mazda was short on track time, but we managed to really get things rolling on day two. In our final practice heading into qualifying we made great strides with setup and of course leaned on our sister car, the No. 55, for some guidance since we were short on time.
With the short lap times at that circuit, the qualifying grid was super tight in terms of the time gaps between the Prototypes. It was obvious that the race was going to be ultra competitive. It’s hard to pass within the class at this track because of all the high-speed corners: there aren’t a lot of overtaking areas.
We really used qualifying as another practice session, continuing to advance the setup of the car. Kudos to our engineering staff, who got our car dialed in perfectly for the race! From the drop of the green, we were able to advance four positions in the opening laps. Throughout the next 1.5 hours, as I drove a double stint, we closed the gap to the leaders, which put us in a perfect position to charge forward to the end.
Photos by Ignite Media.
That opening hour and a half was quite intense: it was all green flag racing, so it was flat out for the entire time! I was able to take a small mental break down the back straightaway sometimes, but with the undulating nature of the road, you really couldn’t relax even there. It was one of the more intense—but rewarding—double stints I can remember.
Another reason you can’t relax at CTMP is because of the traffic from the other classes. It’s one of the fastest tracks we visit, and the GT cars don’t have the aerodynamic grip that the Prototypes do, so the speed difference between the classes is much greater than usual. The Prototype field lapped the GTD field every seven laps! Throughout a 45-minute stint, you might get only one or two laps where you pass just a single car.
I had two solid stints that put us in contention to fight forward, and Joel took over after the pit crew executed a great stop, as they did all day. Joel continued the push and really started to close the gap to the top three, and then the plot thickened: we encountered a short, intense rainstorm, which only covered the back half of the track.
As a full-course yellow came out, all cars were pitting for their final fuel load, but the option as to which tires to take would be the determining factor in the race. Although the front half of the track was 100% dry and sunny, the back half was completely wet! Very few cars gambled to stay on dry tires in those risky conditions. Most teams—including us—put on wet tires and later had to pit to change back to dry.
It was a nice feeling walking out of CTMP with two solid results by the entire team and the cars themselves. It leaves the whole team excited for what’s up next!