The race ended under yellow flag after an Audi in the GTD class ran off three minutes from the end. However, the previous 157 minutes had been largely incident-free with the safety car only appearing twice: the #55 Mazda that started from pole suffered a mechanical issue and the #23 Porsche that took the GTD pole position lost a wheel.

Unlike at Watkins Glen, luck was not on the polesitters’ side at Mosport: of the four crews that started from pole, not one finished on top of the podium.  PC class winner Colin Braun did however record the fastest qualifying time, but the CORE autosport team decided to start with his co-driver Jon Bennett, relegating the #54 Oreca Formula Le Mans to last place in class on the grid.

Outright winners Dane Cameron and Eric Curran did not come through from the back of the field, but did start in P5. Cameron had slipped back a place before the first salvo of refuelling stops, but managed to rejoin the track in third place before leapfrogging two rivals at once on his out-lap. The duo had led for more than half the race when they took the chequered flag ten seconds ahead of the Action Express Racing sister car driven by last week’s winners, Joaõ Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi. However Barbosa and Fittipaldi still top the season’s standings with three rounds to go. Brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor, the third drivers in the Corvette factory cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, completed a 100% Corvette DP podium.

Corvette did not enjoy quite the same success in GTLM (GT Le Mans, the American equivalent of LM GTE Pro). Although Antonio Garcia in a C7.R set the best time in qualifying, a Ford GT once again claimed the win. Like at Laguna Seca where the Ford GT scored its maiden win, the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team’s strategy based on controlled fuel consumption paid off as Ryan Briscoe et Richard Westbrook stayed out while their rivals pitted a final time to refuel. A week after their Watkins Glen triumph, the pairing came home just over a second ahead of the first Corvette, driven by Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, LM GTE Pro-class winners a year ago at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Third place went to Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the second Corvette.

In the GTD class, the race ended with a first taste of victory for the BMW M6 GT3 fielded by Turner Motorsports. After taking the lead a half an hour from the end, Jens Klingmann, partnering Bret Curtis, stayed out in front until the chequered flag. Shortly after being overtaken by Klingmann, Jeroen Bleekemolen (Viper) and Fabio Babini (Lamborghini) in second and third places collided, handing the two outstanding podium places to the #6 Audi R8 LMS of Stevenson Motorsports and to Paul Miller Racing’s #48 Lamborghini Huracan.

The competitors now head to Lime Rock in Connecticut for the Northeast Grand Prix on 23 July.

Results

Photo: Ford’s GTLM-class winners Ryan Briscoe (centre) and Richard Westbrook (right) chat to Corvette works drivers Tommy Milner (left) and Oliver Gavin (with his back to the camera), runners-up, after the race.

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