Race-winning pace unrewarded in Canada

The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship headed across the border for its annual Canadian event, with Ben Barnicoat back on track with Vasser Sullivan. A strong qualifying result, and pace in the early stages of the Canadian Grand Prix looked promising, but ultimately went unrewarded with a P8 finish.

Pace looked strong as the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 headed into qualifying, with Ben’s teammate Aaron Telitz taking on responsibilities for setting the grid. After positive earlier practice sessions, the fluro yellow and black GTD Pro entry ended the timed shootout in P2, to secure a front-row position for the 2 hour 40 minutes race.

Watching on from the pitwall, Ben saw his #14 entry maintain position away from the rolling start, firmly in the battle. At 40 minutes, Ben took over the cockpit and was pushing hard as the #14 team attempted the undercut strategy to get back up the order. Just under an hour later, the British driver had climbed into the lead of the race as a full course caution was called. The Vasser Sullivan team looked in a strong position heading into the final half of the race.

The pitlane opened for the GTD classes shortly after this, and Ben led the field down to his pitbox. However, a delayed stop in a busy pitlane and issues whilst stationary,  dropped the car down the order, before it was able to return to the circuit. Eventually rejoining in P10, Ben worked to try and recover the lost ground. Despite his best efforts, however, Ben eventually brought the #14 home in P8.

Commenting on a diffiut day, Ben explained:

“A frustrating way to leave what was such a positive weekend to start. The #14 Lexus RC F GT3 had great pace in all practices and Aaron did a great job in qualifying. We had a great start to the race with Aaron having an amazing first stint, which I followed up with another strong stint. We were in the lead by a good margin over the other cars. Then, that mid-race yellow and rocky pitstop put us back in the GTD Pro field. Sadly, we couldn’t fully recover from that. Obviously, really proud of our engineer, Chris Andrews, and all of the Vasser Sullivan guys for giving us a great Lexus RC F GT3. Just disappointed we weren’t able to secure another win today”

The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship now travels to Road America, Wisconsin, over the weekend 1-3 August.