Long, Schein and Green Win in GT, GTA and GT Cup at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Patrick Long, Michael Schein and Chris Green won in Sunday’s GT, GTA and GT Cup race, respectively, at the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Canada presented by Audi at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The 50-minute GT/GTA Round 9, GT Cup Round 8 race was held in slick overcast conditions.

The race started behind the safety car with two additional pace laps due to a damp race track from a quick rain shower just before the race.

With the green flag out for a rolling single-file start, Long, in the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, took the lead from pole ahead of Andrew Palmer, in the No. 87 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT, and Ryan Eversley, in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura/HPD/Red Line Oil/RealTime Acura TLX-GT, in third.

In GTA, Schein, in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3-R, led from class pole ahead of class points leader Martin Fuentes, driving the No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Hublot Underarmour Ferrari 458 Italia, and Frankie Montecalvo, in the No. 66 DIME Racing Dime R&D Mercedes AMG SLS GT3.

In GT Cup, pole-sitter Green, in the No. 09 Pfaff Motorsports Castrol, Glasurit, KPMG Porsche GT3 Cup, led the first lap ahead of Alec Udell, in the No. 17 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and Sloan Urry, in the No. 22 TruSpeed Autosport Security National Mortgage/Avasis Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

As the GT cars furiously fought for position on the opening lap, running two- and three-wide, there was contact heading into turn 4 between Adderly Fong, in the No. 88 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3, and Eversley, who were also racing with JD Davison, in the No. 33 AE Replay XD Nissan GT Academy Nissan GTR GT3. It ended a potential promising day for Fong and Eversley, who both retired with crash damage.

With the caution out, Long led behind the safety car with Davison in second, Palmer in third, Kyle Marcelli, in the No. 2, CRP Racing Audi R8, in fourth and Bryan Heitkotter, in the No. 05 AE Replay XD Nissan GT Academy Always Evolving/Replay XD/Nissan Nismo GT3 GT-R in fifth.

The green flag re-appeared with just under 27 minutes to go after a lengthy but necessary clean-up, with Long getting a solid restart ahead of Davison, while Palmer was followed closely by Marcelli and Heitkotter.

In GTA, Montecalvo worked his way past Fuentes for second in class and 14th overall on the track, while Green continued to lead in GT Cup stretching the margin over Udell to 2.3 seconds and Urry to 8 seconds.

Among the movers was Johnny O’Connell, in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing ATS-V.R, who passed Andrew Davis, driving the No. 76 Calvert Dynamics Phoenix Performance Porsche 911 GT3-R, for ninth on the restart lap with a move in turn five.

In GTA, Fuentes would fight back, going side-by-side with Montecalvo through turn five in an exciting fight for position, and gaining second back for good in the run to the checkered flag in his Ferrari.

With 15 minutes to go, Long continued to lead a close race with Davison followed with a gap of one second and another half second back to Palmer while some corner stations reported moderate rain, which didn’t last long as the sun came back out for the conclusion of the race.

With nine minutes to go on lap 23, Davis made a move on O’Connell down the back stretch for ninth place while the leaders maintained their order at the front of the field with Long starting so stretch a gap over Davison and Palmer, with another five seconds back to Marcelli in fourth.

With the checkered flag out, Long would sweep the weekend at CTMP with his second straight win with the No. 58 machine leading every lap of the race. Davison, Palmer, Marcelli and Heitkotter completed the top five.

In GTA, Schein would make it a weekend sweep as well, taking the Sunday win, ahead of Fuentes and Montecalvo.

In GT Cup, Green would take his first ever Pirelli World Challenge victory, with Udell and Urry completing the podium in second and third, respectively.

Of note, O’Connell was awarded the Optima Batteries Best Start for gaining four positions on the first lap. The Motortrendondemand.com Clean Pass of the Race went to Davison for his pass on Fong. The Cadillac ATS-V Move of the Race went to Fuentes for his pass on Montecalvo and the VP Racing Hard Charger Award went to Green.

“It was a good day and we’ve been quick all weekend,” said Green. “It was my first time on the Pirelli tires in the Cup car. I really enjoyed the tires on the car. It’s been a special weekend not only because it’s home but also because it’s the big Castrol Victoria Day Speedfest weekend and because Castrol is my title sponsor. I have a lot of fans, family and friends out her this weekend. I just needed to stay out of trouble today with the changing track conditions. The Pfaff Motorsports guys did a great job on the car. I’m happy to bring this one home for them and me as well.”

“It’s really the perfect weekend for the team, myself and Patrick,” said Schein. “Double pole, double win. The race was interesting with the rain. It was hairy at the start it was really wet in the beginning coming out of turn five. You really had to be smooth on the throttle application and make sure you didn’t light the tires up and spin the car. Once it settled in a little bit and it dried out and the dry line formed, I was able to stick with the guys in front of me and I saw behind me that the cars were kind of dropping away from me. Maybe three quarters into the race I mellowed out a bit I saw the rain coming back. I didn’t want to make any mistakes and bring the car home in one piece. We have a short turnaround with Lime Rock coming up. It was a good race, I’m happy for sure.”

“It took a few minutes to get up to green flag racing after a delayed start which was a great call by Race Control and then having a yellow flag after the first racing lap. Once we got into a rhythm it was still as tricky all the way through the race. Absolutely qualifying laps. I think I bit through my drink bottle as I was holding on so tight through turn four as it was completely wet on slicks. The good thing was that the first half of the track was dry so you could get heat into the tires and then grit and bare through turn four and five. CTMP is a place that definitely makes you think twice when you have mixed conditions like that on slick tires. Luckily we were able to hold on. It was a very tight race up front. This is fun series. We are looking to push on to Lime Rock next week.”

GT, GTA and GT Cup teams now head for Lime Rock Park, May 27-28 for a double-race weekend.

Results from Sunday, May 22, 2016 Pirelli World Challenge Championship GT/GTA/GT Cup Round 9 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, part of the Canadian Grand Prix Presented by Audi. Drivers listed by position, place in class, class, name, hometown, car, laps:

1. 1, GT, Patrick Long, Manhattan Beach, CA, Porsche 911 GT3 R, 30

2. 2, GT, JD Davison, Denver, CO, Nissan GTR GT3, 30

3. 3, GT, Andrew Palmer, Los Angeles, CA, Bentley Continental GT3, 30

4. 4, GT, Kyle Marcelli, Barrie, Ontario, Audi R8 LMS GT3, 30

5. 5, GT, Bryan Heitkotter, Fresno, CA, Nissan GTR GT3, 30

6. 6, GT, Alvaro Parente, Porto, Portugal, McLaren 650S GT3, 30

7. 7, GT, Austin Cindric, Charlotte, NC, McLaren 650S GT3, 30

8. 8, GT, Michael Cooper, Syosset, NY, Cadillac ATS-V.R. GT3, 30

9. 9, GT, Andrew Davis, Athens, GA, Porsche 911 GT3 R, 30

10. 10, GT, Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA, Cadillac ATS-V.R. GT3, 30

11. 1, GTA, Michael Schein, Glen Cove, NY, Porsche 911 GT3 R, 30

12. 12, GT, Peter Cunningham, Milwaukee, WI, Acura TLX-GT, 30