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1995 marked the twenty-fifth season of the International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) GT Championship.
In the mid-90s, the International Motor Sports Association went through a transition period and made changes to the classes. In 1994, they introduced the World Sports Car Championship (WSC). These were two-seater open cockpit cars with normally aspirated motors. Fuel capacity was limited to 18.5-gallons and vehicle weight was determined by engine configuration and displacement. In the case of production-based cars, gone were the GTS, GTO and GTU classes. In 1995, the Grand Touring Supreme-1 (GTS-1) and Grand Touring Supreme-2 (GTS-2) classes were introduced. GTS-1 was for two-wheel drive tube frame cars with engines between 4.0 and 6.0-liters. The GTS-2 class followed similar rules; however, engine displacement was restricted to between 2.0 and 3.8-liter motors. The eleven-weekend schedule kicked off in February with the Rolex 24 at Daytona and was followed a month later by the 12 Hours of Sebring. Next, the teams travelled to Road Atlanta for the Grand Prix of Atlanta. Then the championship made the first of two visits to Canada for the Moosehead Grand Prix in Nova Scotia. Upon returning to the United States, separate races were conducted for the GTS and WSC categories at Lime Rock Park. Round six was a three-hour event at Watkins Glen International. In July, the series headed west to Sears Point Raceway for a GTS-2 race and a combined WSC and GTS-1 contest. Then it is back to Canada and a stop at Mosport Park. The ninth round of the championship is held at Texas World Speedway. The penultimate round takes place at Phoenix International Raceway, with the finale in early October at the New Orleans street course. The final two weekends of the championship will see the GTS-2 drivers competing in their own events while WSC and GTS-1 will race together. The tenth round of the 1995 IMSA Exxon series took place at Mosport Park. The Mosport Chrysler 500 was a 3-hour race held in August. IMSA’s first visit to Mosport was in 1975 and the series did not return until 1980. Even then, the IMSA’s appearances were sporadic - they raced at the track in 1981-83 and 1989-1992. |
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During the 1995 season, the World Sports Car class qualifying had been dominated by the Ferrari 333 SP - until Mosport. James Weaver was able to put the Dyson Riley & Scott MK III on the pole during the last lap of qualifying. Starting second was the Dyson team car driven by John Paul, Jr. |
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The Clayton Cunningham Nissan team chose not to complete at the Mosport round. The team’s lead driver, Johnny O’Connell, was third in the GTS-1 driver’s standings and just one-point ahead of Rob Morgan. Arrangements were made for O’Connell to share the driving duties with Eduardo Dibos in Juan Dibos Ford Mustang. |
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Although Johnny O’Connell qualified second in GTS-1, he led early in the No. 6 Ford Mustang. But he fell down the order when he was forced to pit with a flat tire. The failure of the two Brix Racing cars allowed him to finish second in class and gain valuable points on Irv Hoerr and Darn Brassfield. |
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Fermin Velez shared the No. 3 Scandia Racing Ferrari 333 SP with Mauro Baldi. Baldi was the test and development driver for the Ferrari 333 SP. The two leading cars of Baldi and Weaver made their final pit stops together with the Scandia team leaving first. Baldi and Weaver ran ‘nose to tail’ but some blocking by Baldi resulted in ‘stop and go’ penalty which relegated him to a second place finish. |
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Bill Auberlen posted the fastest time in GTS-2 qualifying and was the early leader. However, problems began with his first pit-stop when the team was penalized 10-seconds for fuel spillage. With less than one-hour to go, he had a brake rotor failure in turn three and spent 10-minutes in the pits for repairs. He finished eleventh in class. |
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The No. 55 GTS-2 Porsche Carrera RSR seen here in Mosport’s corner ten was driven by team owner Jorge Trejos and Joe Varde. This team started fourth in GTS-2 but a late race pass by veteran Varde on Jack Lewis secured the victory for the team. Combined with the class win at Nova Scotia Trejos won the Esso Canadian Cup for scoring the most points in the Canadian rounds. |
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The second Dyson Riley & Scott Mk III was driven by John Paul, Jr. Early in the race Paul Jr. ran a close third to the Velez/Baldi Ferrari and the sister car of Weaver/Wallace. Unfortunately, on lap twenty-three the GTS-1 Oldsmobile of Scott Wallace lost control in corner two and collected Paul Jr. – ending his race on the spot. He finished ninth in the World Sports Car class. |
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The third Ferrari 333SP was entered by Horag-Lista Racing and driven by Didier Theys and Fredy Lienhard. They qualified sixth and finished one lap down to the leaders in fifth place. This result matched their season best. They also finished fifth in the previous round at Sears Point. |
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The GTS-1 pole was won by Irv Hoerr in the Brix Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Hoerr led much of the first half of the race. About midway through the event, while leading, his driveshaft broke leaving him stranded on the course. Despite this setback he would go on to win the final three races of the season and capture the Drivers Championship and Manufacturers title for Oldsmobile. |
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Darren Brassfield qualified the No. 5 Brix Racing Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme third in GTS-1. A pit-stop midway through the race included bleeding the brakes which was a problem during the 1995 season. Brassfield was able to charge through the field and as a result of Irv Hoerr’s retirement took the lead. He looked set to win his second race of the season when his engine failed near the end of the event. |
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With the retirement of the two Brix cars, it was up to the Charles Morgan team to score maximum manufacturer’s points for Oldsmobile and that they did. The father and son team driving a Cutlass Supreme scored their first win and Oldsmobile’s 100th victory in IMSA competition. |
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Driving the No. 30 Momo Ferrari 333 SP was team owner Gianpiero Moretti and Wayne Taylor the 1994 IMSA World Sports Car driving champion. The duo started fourth and finished on the lead lap in third place. Taylor would score victories at Lime Rock and Texas during the 1995 season. |
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Joe Cogbill and John Bourassa shared Cogbill’s No. 96 Porsche 968. They started ninth and finished twelfth in GTS-2. Cogbill was an SCCA National Champion winning the E Production title three times. In 1995, he shared the class winning GTS-2 Porsche 911 at Sebring with Bill Auberlen and Charles Slater. |
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| POS. | CLASS | DRIVERS | CAR | ENTRANT | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WSC | Wallace / Weaver | Riley & Scott Mk III | Dyson Racing | 100 | - |
| 2 | WSC | Velez / Baldi | Ferrari 333 SP | Scandia Racing Team | 100 | - |
| 3 | WSC | Moretti / Taylor | Ferrari 333 SP | Momo | 100 | - |
| 4 | WSC | Bentley / Payne | Riley & Scott Mk III | Payne Racing | 99 | - |
| 5 | WSC | Theys / Lienhard | Ferrari 333 SP | Horag-Lista | 99 | - |
| 6 | GTS-1 | Morgan / Morgan | Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme | Charles Morgan | 97 | - |
| 7 | GTS-1 | O'Connell / Dibos | Ford Mustang | Juan Dibos | 96 | - |
| 8 | WSC | Pace / Wagner / Lockhart | Kudzu DG-2 | Leigh Miller Racing | 95 | - |
| 9 | WSC | Camferdam / Mandeville | Hawk MD3R | Support Net Racing Inc | 95 | - |
| 10 | GTS-2 | Trejos / Varde | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Jorge Trejos | 94 | - |
| 11 | GTS-2 | Jack Lewis | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Jack Lewis Enterprises | 94 | - |
| 12 | GTS-2 | Spenard / Slater | Porsche 911 | Alex Job Racing | 94 | - |
| 13 | GTS-2 | Schumacher / Pilgrim | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Schumacher Racing | 94 | - |
| 14 | GTS-1 | Hayner / Schramm | Chevrolet Camaro | RVO Motorsports | 94 | - |
| 15 | GTS-2 | Jackson / Cooper | Ferrari 348 | Gerry Jackson | 92 | - |
| 16 | GTS-2 | Nathan Ulrich | Porsche 944 Turbo | Nathan Ulrich | 91 | - |
| 17 | GTS-2 | Lewis / Johnson | Mazda MX-6 | Dan Lewis | 90 | - |
| 18 | GTS-2 | Khodkar / Brezinka / Bartling | Porsche 911 | Rudi Bartling | 88 | - |
| 19 | GTS-2 | Scavone / Bartling | Porsche 944 Turbo | Vito Scavone | 88 | - |
| 20 | GTS-2 | Kroczek / Petroskey | Porsche 911 GT2 | Bohdan Kroczek | 86 | - |
| 21 | GTS-2 | Bill Auberlen | Mazda RX-7 | Bill Auberlen | 86 | - |
| 22 | GTS-1 | Darren Brassfield | Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme | Brix Racing | 83 | Engine |
| 23 | WSC | Bieri / Dacco | Alba AR2/6 | Team Le Hollywood | 81 | Mechanical |
| 24 | GTS-2 | Cogbill / Bourassa | Porsche 968 | Joseph Cogbill | 75 | - |
| 25 | GTS-1 | Scott Maxwell | Ford Mustang Cobra | Multimatic Motorsport | 64 | Clutch |
| 26 | GTS-1 | Irv Hoerr | Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme | Brix Racing | 51 | Transmission |
| 27 | GTS-1 | Flip Groggins | Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme | Groggins Plastic | 46 | Axle |
| 28 | WSC | John Paul, Jr. | Riley & Scott Mk III | Dyson Racing | 23 | Accident |
| 29 | GTS-1 | Scott Watkins | Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme | Kreider Racing, Inc. | 21 | Accident |
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