BOWMANVILLE, Canada (July 7, 2019) – A repeat victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was not in the cards for CORE autosport. Instead, the team finished seventh in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, the latest round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Though Colin Braun was the fastest qualifier, the No. 54 ADT Nissan Ligier started from the back of the DPI field. CORE opted to change its tires and starting driver for the race, for which the penalty is a move to the back of the class.
Jon Bennett was given starting stint duties and took the green flag from 11th. Bennett tactfully made his way up to eighth in the first 40 minutes of the race. The ultra-fast circuit is notoriously difficult to pass on, however, so in his progress Bennett did go a lap down to the leaders.
When Braun jumped in and returned to the track, the team knew he’d need a full-course yellow to get back onto the lead lap. The yellow eventually came out, but much later than the team had hoped for. Once Braun was back on the lead lap, another caution, which turned into a red flag for track repairs, ate into the time Braun had to move up the field.
Braun was up to sixth when contact entering Turn Four sent him spinning of the track. He was able to recover and return to racing without issue, but dropped one place to seventh, where he finished.
CORE autosport will take the rest of July off before the next IMSA event, August 2 – 4 at Road America. CORE is the defending race winner at the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin track.
JON BENNETT
Driver: No. 54 ADT Nissan Ligier DPi
“Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a great place to drive a race car. One of its difficulties is the race surface is a bit fragile in parts. We’ve seen it before. It’s part of the track’s personality. I would say for the race, the track started out very good. The repairs made overnight were strong. I could tell as my stint progressed that the track was beginning to fail again and I passed that info along to Colin. These cars create so much downforce and so much mechanical load against the surface.
“We had a good performance here. It’s nice to finish on the lead lap and in sight of the leaders. That’s important and that’s progress for us. Colin was working his normal magic, but we came up unfortunate in the yellow flag department today. I’m super proud of Colin and of the team for putting together a car that’s capable of winning the pole. We’ve had glimmers of success and I think that only foreshadows good things for Road America and the rest of the season.”
COLIN BRAUN
Driver: No. 54 ADT Nissan Ligier DPi
“It wasn’t the ending we were hoping for. I think Jon did a great job in his stint. We lost a lap at the beginning and our focus shifted to getting that lap back knowing we needed a yellow. Unfortunately, that yellow came pretty late in the race and then we had another yellow and a red flag that ate into our time on the lead lap to work through the field.
“I was charging hard at the end and I was disappointed in the move that bounced me off the track in Turn Four, but glad it didn’t result in a bigger crash. At the end of the day, the team did a great job. Everyone pushed hard and we had great pit stops. We showed we had solid pace and I was happy to grab the pole. It felt like if we’d had a little more luck and that yellow had come sooner we would have had more time to work our way through the field.”