2016 SportsCar Grand Prix

 

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015.^[2] It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, thirty-fifth annual running of the race.^[2] The 1 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was the second of seventh scheduled automobile endurance races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the fourth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup.^[2] The race was held at the ten-turn 2.459 mi (3.957 km) Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on July 10, 2016.^[2] For 2016, the WeatherTech Championship race featured all four classes, Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge (PC), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and the GT Daytona (GTD) for the first time since the 2013 edition of the Grand Prix.^[3] The weekend also included races for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, Mazda Prototype Lites, the Global MX-5 Cup and the Nissan Micra Cup.^[4]

Before the race, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 187 points, ahead of Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in second by 7 points, and Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in third 180 points.^[5] With 198 points, PC was led by Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 3 points.^[5] In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 159 points, 8 points ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook.^[5] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 162 points; the duo held a thirteen-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas.^[5] Chevrolet and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.^[5]

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon while the third session on Saturday morning lasted one hour.^[6]

The first practice session was held in damp weather.^[7] Jordan Taylor set the fastest lap in the No. 10 WTR Corvette DP at 1 minute, 11.158 seconds, 0.985 seconds faster than Tristan Nunez's No. 55 Mazda. Ryan Dalziel in VFR's No. 90 vehicle was third, and Oswaldo Negri Jr.'s No. 60 MSR ligier was fourth.^[8] The seven-vehicle PC class was led by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports's No. 52 car, driven by Tom Kimber-Smith with a time of 1 minute, 13.154 seconds.^[7][8] The two Corvette Racing team cars of Oliver Gavin (No. 4) and Antonio García (No. 3) led GTLM. Andy Lally's No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 recorded the fastest time in GTD.^[8]

Rain continued to affect the track in the second practice session. Jordan Taylor was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 11.206 seconds, followed by the AER cars of Fittipaldi and Cameron in second and third.^[9] A 1:12.131 lap saw Renger van der Zande's No. 8 Starworks vehicle lead PC.^[10] Bill Auberlen led GTLM in the No. 25 BMW with a 1-minute, 15.961 lap. Tommy Milner's No. 4 Corvette was second. Müller in the No. 66 CGR Ford GT was third in GTLM.^[9] Lally's No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 led GTD, and Spencer Pumpelly, in the No.16 Change Racing Lamborghini, was second in class.^[10]

The final practice was held on a dry race track which allowed for faster lap times.^[11] Negri's MSR Ligier set the fastest overall lap of 1:10.522, 0.002 seconds faster than Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda.^[12][11] van der Zande led the PC class with a 1 minute, 11.884 second lap in Starworks' No. 8 car.^[12] Corvette Racing paced GTLM with García's No. 3 car lapping 1:15.233, ahead of the two BMW M6 GTLMs.^[12] With a 1:17.888 lap, David led the GTD class in the No. 6 Stevenson Audi R8.^[12]

In Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.^[13][6]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	55	Mazda Motorsports	Tristan Nunez	1:10.126	_	1 ‡
2	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Ricky Taylor	1:10.435	+0.309	2
3	P	70	Mazda Motorsports	Tom Long	1:10.572	+0.446	3
4	P	5	Action Express Racing	Christian Fittipaldi	1:10.761	+0.635	4
5	P	31	Action Express Racing	Eric Curran	1:11.177	+1.051	5
6	P	90	VisitFlorida Racing	Marc Goossens	1:11.296	+1.170	6
7	P	60	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	John Pew	1:11.760	+1.634	7
8	PC	54	CORE Autosport	Colin Braun	1:11.946	+1.820	151
9	PC	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	James French	1:12.372	+2.246	8‡
10	PC	85	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Stephen Simpson	1:12.448	+2.322	9
11	PC	20	BAR1 Motorsports	Matt McMurry	1:12.471	+2.345	10
12	PC	52	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Robert Alon	1:12.505	+2.379	111
13	PC	8	Starworks Motorsport	Alex Popow	1:13.197	+3.071	12
14	P	0	Panoz DeltaWing Racing	Katherine Legge	1:14.077	+3.951	13
15	PC	88	Starworks Motorsport	Mark Kvamme	1:15.020	+4.894	14
16	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García	1:15.198	+5.072	16‡
17	GTLM	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Dirk Müller	1:15.236	+5.110	17
18	GTLM	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Richard Westbrook	1:15.430	+5.304	18
19	GTLM	100	BMW Team RLL	Lucas Luhr	1:15.446	+5.320	19
20	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Bill Auberlen	1:15.501	+5.375	20
21	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin	1:15.549	+5.423	21
22	GTLM	62	Risi Competizione	Giancarlo Fisichella	1:15.780	+5.654	22
23	GTLM	912	Porsche North America	Earl Bamber	1:16.230	+6.104	23
24	GTLM	911	Porsche North America	Nick Tandy	1:16.476	+6.350	24
25	GTD	23	Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing	Alex Riberas	1:18.245	+8.119	25‡
26	GTD	6	Stevenson Motorsports	Andrew Davis	1:18.582	+8.456	26
27	GTD	16	Change Racing	Spencer Pumpelly	1:18.672	+8.546	27
28	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bret Curtis	1:18.673	+8.547	28
29	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Patrick Lindsey	1:18.745	+8.619	29
30	GTD	9	Stevenson Motorsports	Matt Bell	1:18.832	+8.706	30
31	GTD	27	Dream Racing	Cédric Sbirrazzuoli	1:19.000	+8.874	31
32	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports	Ben Keating	1:19.132	+9.006	32
33	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Madison Snow	1:19.151	+9.025	33
34	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Christina Nielsen	1:19.332	+9.206	34
35	GTD	97	Turner Motorsport	Michael Marsal	1:20.070	+9.944	35
36	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	1:20.197	+10.071	362
37	GTD	22	Alex Job Racing	Cooper MacNeil	1:20.269	+10.143	37
Sources:[14][15]

• ¹ The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the PC field as per Article 43.1 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver).^[13]
• ² The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[13]

The race was won overall by Eric Curran and Dane Cameron, driving a Chevrolet Corvette DP for Action Express Racing. They finished ahead of the Action Express Racing sister car of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, while the podium was completed by Ricky and Jordan Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing. In sixth place overall, CORE Autosport won the Prototype Challenge class with drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, while the GT Le Mans honors were taken by Ford Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook in the Ford GT in fourteenth place overall. The GT Daytona class was won by Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann in the Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]}

With a total of 220 points, Barbosa and Fittipaldi's second-place finished allowed them to keep their advantage in the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Curran and Cameron advanced from third to second.^[5] The final results of PC allowed Popow and van der Zande to extend their advantage in the Drivers' Championship to 14 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith.^[5] Gavin and Milner's fourth-place finish kept them atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 5 points over race winners Briscoe and Westbrook.^[5] Balzan and Nielsen's fourth-place finish allowed them to increase their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 22 points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Davis and Liddell advanced from sixth to fifth while Keen and MacNeil dropped to seventh.^[5] Chevrolet and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships with five rounds left in the season.^[5]

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 31   Action Express Racing   Eric Curran   Dane Cameron Corvette Daytona Prototype C 125 2:41:22.601‡ Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 2 P 5   Action Express Racing   João Barbosa   Christian Fittipaldi Corvette Daytona Prototype C 125 +10.112 Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 3 P 10   Wayne Taylor Racing   Jordan Taylor   Ricky Taylor Corvette Daytona Prototype C 125 +18.124 Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 4 P 90   VisitFlorida Racing   Marc Goossens   Ryan Dalziel Corvette Daytona Prototype C 125 +32.183 Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 5 P 70   Mazda Motorsports   Tom Long   Joel Miller Mazda Prototype C 125 +42.575 Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo 6 PC 54   CORE Autosport   Jon Bennett   Colin Braun Oreca FLM09 C 123 +2 Laps‡ Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 7 PC 8   Starworks Motorsport   Alex Popow   Renger van der Zande Oreca FLM09 C 123 +2 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 8 PC 52   PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports   Robert Alon   Tom Kimber-Smith Oreca FLM09 C 123 +2 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 9 PC 38   Performance Tech Motorsports   James French   Kyle Marcelli Oreca FLM09 C 123 +2 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 10 PC 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Misha Goikhberg   Stephen Simpson Oreca FLM09 C 122 +3 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 11 P 60   Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian   John Pew   Oswaldo Negri Jr. Ligier JS P2 C 122 +3 Laps Honda HR35TT 3.5 Turbo V6 12 PC 20   BAR1 Motorsports   Matt McMurry   Johnny Mowlem Oreca FLM09 C 122 +3 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 13 P 0   Panoz DeltaWing Racing   Katherine Legge   Sean Rayhall DeltaWing DWC13 C 121 +4 Laps Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 Turbo 14 GTLM 67   Ford Chip Ganassi Racing   Ryan Briscoe   Richard Westbrook Ford GT M 119 +6 Laps‡ Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Twin-turbo V6 15 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin   Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 119 +6 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 16 PC 88   Starworks Motorsport   Mark Kvamme   Richard Bradley Oreca FLM09 C 119 +6 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 17 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Antonio García   Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 119 +6 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 18 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Bill Auberlen   Dirk Werner BMW M6 GTLM M 119 +6 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 19 GTLM 66   Ford Chip Ganassi Racing   Dirk Müller   Joey Hand Ford GT M 119 +6 Laps Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Twin-turbo V6 20 GTLM 912   Porsche North America   Earl Bamber   Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 911 RSR M 119 +6 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 21 GTLM 62   Risi Competizione   Toni Vilander   Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 488 GTE M 119 +6 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 22 GTLM 911   Porsche North America   Patrick Pilet   Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR M 119 +6 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 23 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Bret Curtis   Jens Klingmann BMW M6 GT3 C 116 +9 Laps‡ BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 24 GTD 6   Stevenson Motorsports   Andrew Davis   Robin Liddell Audi R8 LMS C 116 +9 Laps Audi 5.2L V10 25 GTD 48   Paul Miller Racing   Bryan Sellers   Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 116 +9 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 26 GTD 63   Scuderia Corsa   Christina Nielsen   Alessandro Balzan Ferrari 488 GT3 C 116 +9 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 27 GTD 16   Change Racing   Corey Lewis   Spencer Pumpelly Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 116 +9 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 28 GTD 73   Park Place Motorsports   Jörg Bergmeister   Patrick Lindsey Porsche 911 GT3 R C 116 +9 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 29 GTD 22   Alex Job Racing   Cooper MacNeil   Leh Keen Porsche 911 GT3 R C 115 +10 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 30 GTD 27   Dream Racing   Cédric Sbirrazzuoli   Fabio Babini Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 115 +10 Laps Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 31 GTD 9   Stevenson Motorsports   Lawson Aschenbach   Matt Bell Audi R8 LMS C 114 +11 Laps Audi 5.2L V10 32 DNF GTD 44   Magnus Racing   John Potter   Andy Lally Audi R8 LMS C 112 Accident Audi 5.2L V10 33 GTD 33   Riley Motorsports   Jeroen Bleekemolen   Ben Keating Dodge Viper GT3-R C 110 +15 Laps Dodge 8.3L V10 34 GTLM 100   BMW Team RLL   John Edwards   Lucas Luhr BMW M6 GTLM M 108 +17 Laps BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8 35 GTD 23   Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing   Mario Farnbacher   Alex Riberas Porsche 911 GT3 R C 106 +19 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 36 DNF P 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito   Tristan Nunez Mazda Prototype C 60 Rear hub Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo 37 DNF GTD 97   Turner Motorsport   Michael Marsal   Markus Palttala BMW M6 GT3 C 34 Gearbox BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 Sources:[23][24]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin

Prototype Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     João Barbosa   Christian Fittipaldi 220 2   1   Eric Curran   Dane Cameron 216 3   1   Jordan Taylor   Ricky Taylor 211 4     Marc Goossens 197 5     Oswaldo Negri Jr. 191 Source:[5]

PC Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     Alex Popow   Renger van der Zande 231 2     Robert Alon   Tom Kimber-Smith 217 3     Stephen Simpson   Misha Goikhberg 209 4     Jon Bennett   Colin Braun 188 5     James French   Kyle Marcelli 179 Source:[5]

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     Oliver Gavin   Tommy Milner 192 2     Ryan Briscoe   Richard Westbrook 187 3     Bill Auberlen   Dirk Werner 170 4   1   Earl Bamber   Frédéric Makowiecki 166 5   1   Antonio García   Jan Magnussen 164 Source:[5]

GTD Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1     Alessandro Balzan   Christina Nielsen 191 2     Mario Farnbacher   Alex Riberas 169 3     Andy Lally   John Potter 163 4     Jeroen Bleekemolen   Ben Keating 155 5   1   Andrew Davis   Robin Liddell 152 Source:[5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1     No. 5 Action Express Racing 220 2   1   No. 31 Action Express Racing 216 3   1   No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing 211 4     No. 90 VisitFlorida Racing 197 5     No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 191 Source:[5]

PC Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1     No. 8 Starworks Motorsport 231 2     No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 217 3   1   No. 54 CORE Autosport 211 4   1   No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports 209 5     No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports 204 Source:[5]

GTLM Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1     No. 4 Corvette Racing 192 2     No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 187 3     No. 25 BMW Team RLL 170 4   1   No. 912 Porsche North America 166 5   2   No. 3 Corvette Racing 164 Source:[5]

GTD Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1     No. 63 Scuderia Corsa 191 2     No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing 169 3     No. 44 Magnus Racing 163 4     No. 33 Riley Motorsports 155 5   1   No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports 152 Source:[5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1     Chevrolet 236 2     Honda 227 3     Mazda 212 4     BMW 56 5     Ford 30 Source:[5]

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1     Chevrolet 192 2   1   Ford 185 3   1   Porsche 181 4   1   BMW 174 5   1   Ferrari 174 Source:[5]

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1     Ferrari 185 2   1   Audi 185 3   1   Porsche 183 4   1   BMW 169 5   1   Dodge 167 Source:[5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

• Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix official website
• IMSA.com Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event page
• 2016 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Fox Broadcast on YouTube
• IMSA Radio 2016 SportsCar Grand Prix Race Broadcast