Johnny O’Connell led from the drop of the flag in his No. 3 Cadillac Racing, Cadillac ATS-V.R GT3 to take the GT Round 8 win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). Bryan Heitkotter took the GTA win, with Colin Thompson claiming another victory today in the MOMO GT Cup class.

After qualifying on pole and setting a new track record in the process on Friday, O’Connell held the lead at the rolling start as fellow front-row starter Olivier Beretta driving his No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia ran wide. This allowed the No. 9 of Kevin Estre  driving the Pfaff Automotive McLaren of Toronto K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 to get by for second as the field exited turn one.
A bit further back the No. 16 of Chris Dyson in his Dyson Racing Bentley/Breitling/Mobil 1, Team Bentley Continental GT3 locked up pushing the No. 6 of Robert Thorne wide in the second K-PAX Racing Pfaff Automotive McLaren dropping Thorne to sixth.

The 12-car GTA field took the rolling start and was clean through the early part of the lap with pole sitter Frank Montecalvo in the No. 66 DragonSpeed/Bayshore Racing Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 in first. As the field made its way out of the turn 5a/b complex, Dan Knox turned his No. 80 Lone Star Racing ACS MFG Dodge Viper GT3-R sideways. Behind Knox, a number of other GTA competitors were forced to avoid hitting Knox. Tim Pappas in the No. 54 Black Swan Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R contacted with Knox and the resulting damage resulted in a full-course caution and the retirement of the No. 54 car.

The eight-car Porsche GT Cup field was paced by Thompson in the No. 11 Porsche of Bucks County/PenVal Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, with Sloan Urry from aboard the No. 02 Engel & Voelkers Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in second, and Lorenzo Trefethen in the No 13 ANSA Trefethen Family Vineyards Porsche 911 GT Cup car third. Fourth was the No. 18 of Phil Fogg Jr in the Truspeed Zoro Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

At the yellow it was O’Connell, Estre, the No. 20 Bentley of Butch Leitzinger followed by Beretta, Dyson and Thorne. After the clean up, the race resumed on lap 7. On the restart Thorne got around Dyson and Beretta to move into 4th. As they completed lap eight it was O’Connell, Estre, Leitzinger, Thorne and Beretta with Dyson dropping to sixth.

The order for the GTA restart was Montecalvo in first, followed by Heitkotter in the No. 05 AIM Autosport Nissan GT Academy Nissan GT-R GT3, No. 30 Henrique Cisneros in the NGT MOMO Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, Christina Nielsen in the No. 07 TRG-AMR Royal Purple/Orion/La Salle Solutions/PassTime USA Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and Martin Fuentes in the No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Hublot/Samsung Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia in fifth. Once restarted the No. 08 of Erik Lux in the DragonSpeed Rembrandt Charms/Monticello MC Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 took advantage of the tight field to make a pass on Nielsen in Turn 10 for fifth position.

In GT Cup the four leading cars would take the green and after the early incident/restart would move well ahead of the rest of the eight-car class field and battle for the podium throughout the race. The top two of Thompson and Urry moved into a battle of their own with Trefethen and Fogg working hard to claim the last spot on the podium.

Lap 10 and the top three in GT pulled a two-second gap over Thorne in fourth. By lap 15 there were two packs of three leading the way with O’Connell, Estre, Leitzinger and then Thorne, Beretta, and Dyson following three seconds back. Over the next two laps Estre closed up on O’Connell as Leitzinger dropped back. After putting on the pressure, Dyson got by Beretta in Turn 9 to take over fifth. In GTA, Montecalvo had a large wiggle in turn three that took him off line and off the pace briefly. This allowed Heitkotter to take advantage of the situation and move into the GTA lead.

An extended period of green flag racing took place where the field was able to stretch out.

Lap 20 gave O’Connell his biggest threat as he came down the Turn 4 hill. The No. 77 GT Cup car of Preston Calvert in his Calvert Dynamics/Phoenix Performance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup spun directly in front of him making hard contact in the outside tire wall with O’Connell barely sneaking by. At this point the field once again slowed for a full-field caution. The yellow flag was waved at this point for contact in Turn 4 that took extended time to address as tire barriers were moved during the incident.

After the extended caution to repair the tire wall Race Control called for a green/white restart, with the GT front runners immediately going four wide as they entered turn one. Leitzinger got under Estre briefly taking over second. The two banged doors as they entered Turn 4 with Estre moving back into second. Just behind, the No. 2 of Mike Skeen from Charlotte, N.C. and his DeVilbiss/Hawk Performance, CRP Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra went side by side with Thorne for fifth B getting the job done dropping Thorne to sixth at the flag. In the end in GT it was O’Connell, Estre, and Leitzinger followed by Dyson and Skeen.

GTA also was able to take the green flag and finish the race in the order that they restarted with Heitkotter, over Montecalvo, Cisneros, Fuentes, and Lux.

The GT-Cup field finished the race with the top five of Thompson, Urry, Trefethen, Fogg, and Landry.

“Today was great win for so many reasons,” said O’Connell. “We had such little time to get the new car ready for this race and it has been almost a year since I actually won a race. And this one is really cool because its the 55th time I have been able to win for GM. It tells you how old I am! Seriously, to have Gary Pratt here who has taken care of me with great race cars. I have been around the world with great race cars to perform in and that is awesome. And to get it here at Mosport. Everyone knows I have a brotherhood with Ron Fellows and so for it happen here is special.”

“When you race at this level it is a science experiment,” added O’Connell. “It’s where engineers learn and you improve the breed. We had the big fire at Barber but then that’s when the team at GM comes together. We had a test mule car that was being used as a show car. Once it was clear that the other car was “toast” they went to work to get this other car prepped. There were some updates that needed to get done and the team went to work to get them done. You know the driver is just the quarterback…but the team is that group of special guys who made this happen. A lot of hours were put in to make this happen. If you can reward them with this type of win it makes the guys feel that when they dig deep we can do things like today.”
Best Lap GT # 3 1:17.237

Best Lap GTA # 10 1:17.861

Best Lap GT Cup # 11 1:20.970

Results are provisional until posted final. Round 9 of the GT/GTA/GT-Cup Championship is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Watch live streaming of the race at world-challengetv.com or torque.tv.

BOWMANVILLE, ON – Results from Saturday’s 25-lap 61.475 mile Pirelli World Challenge Championship PWC GT/GTA/GT Cup Round 08 race, part of the Remo Ferri Group GP prsntd by ReplayXD at CTMP, with finishing position, class, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, laps and reason out (if any).

1. GT, (1), Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, Ga., Cadillac ATS-VR GT3, 25.
2. GT, (4), Kevin Estre, Lochau Austria, , McLaren 650S GT3, 25, -.392.
3. GT, (3), Butch Leitzinger, Rebersburg, Pa., Bentley Continental GT3, 25, -1.039.
4. GT, (5), Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, N.Y., Bentley Continental GT3, 25, -1.571.
5. GT, (10), Mike Skeen, Charlotte, N.C., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 25, -2.706.
6. GT, (6), Robert Thorne, Littleton, Colo., McLaren 650S GT3, 25, -3.412.
7. GT, (2), Olivier Beretta, Monte Carlo, , Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 25, -4.057.
8. GT, (9), Michael Lewis(R), Laguna Beach, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3R, 25, -4.199.
9. GT, (11), JD Davison, St Petersburg, Fla., Nissan GT-R GT3, 25, -4.507.
10. GT, (12), Bryan Heitkotter(A), Fresno, Calif., Nissan GT-R GT3, 25, -5.042.
11. GT, (14), Peter Cunningham, Milwaukee, Wis., Acura TLX-GT, 25, -5.428.
12. GT, (7), Frank Montecalvo(A), Highlands, N.J., Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3, 25, -5.774.
13. GT, (13), Ryan Dalziel, Windermere, Fla., Porsche 911 GT3R, 25, -6.129.
14. GT, (15), Henrique Cisneros(A), Miami, Fla., Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 25, -6.487.
15. GT, (17), Ryan Eversley, Atlanta, Ga., Acura TLX-GT, 25, -6.744.
16. GT, (16), Duncan Ende, Los Angeles, Calif., Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 25, -7.144.
17. GT, (18), Martin Fuentes(A), Mexico City, MX, Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 25, -7.867.
18. GT, (19), Eric Lux(A), Buffalo, N.Y., Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3, 25, -8.074.
19. GT, (20), Christina Nielsen(R)(A), Aarhus Denmark, , Aston Martin Vantage GT3, 25, -8.715.
20. GT, (22), Dan Knox(A), Pilot Point, Texas, Dodge Viper GT3-R, 25, -10.264.
21. GT, (28), Drew Regitz(A), Denver, Colo., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 25, -10.601.
22. GT, (24), Bret Curtis(A), Austin, Texas, BMW E89 Z4 GT3, 25, -12.253.
23. GT, (27), Bill Ziegler(A), Ponte Vedra, Fla., BMW E89 Z4 GT3, 25, -12.572.
24. GT, (23), Henrik Hedman(A), Ft Lauderdale, Fla., MercedesBenzAMG SLS GT3, 13, Mech.
25. GT, (8), Andy Pilgrim, Boca Raton, Fla., Cadillac ATS-VR GT3, 1, Mech.
26. GT, (21), Timothy Pappas(A), Boston, Mass., Dodge Viper GT3R, 0, Crash.
27. GT, (25), Marc Muzzo, Toronto, Canada, Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 0, Crash.
28. GT, (26), Jeff Courtney(A), Milwaukee, Wis., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 0, Crash.
29. GT, (29), Mike Hedlund, Woodside, Calif., Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 0, DNS.
30. GTC, (30), Colin Thompson, Doylestown, Pa., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 25.
31. GTC, (31), Sloan Urry, Salt Lake City, Utah, Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 25, -.521.
32. GTC, (32), Lorenzo Trefethen(R), Napa, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 25, -1.535.
33. GTC, (36), Phil Fogg_Jr, Portland, Ore., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 25, -3.069.
34. GTC, (34), Mitch Landry, Lake Charles, La., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 24, -1:21.570.
35. GTC, (33), Eduardo Cisneros(R), Miami, Fla., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 24, -1 lap.
36. GTC, (37), Victor Gomez(R), San Juan, Puerto Rico, Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 24, -1 lap.
37. GTC, (35), Preston Calvert(R), Potomac, Md., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 17, Crash.

Time of race: 50 minutes, 28.419 seconds.
Average speed: 73.077 mph
Margin of victory: .392 Seconds
Lap leaders: Laps 1-25, #3 Johnny O’Connell
Fastest race lap: #3 Johnny O’Connell, 1:17.237 (114.613 mph)
Fastest qualifier: #3 Johnny O’Connell, 1:15.296 (117.568 mph)