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The British Empire Motor Club introduced a three-hour endurance race for Ontario GT Challenge competitors in 2005.
The concept was popular with teams and attracted strong fields. It also drew a healthy contingent from Quebec.
The race was governed by many of the same rules used for the Ontario GT Challenge series, with one major exception. Drivers entered in the three-hour enduro would score double points towards the Ontario GT Challenge championship. Results were posted for the contest at the 90 and 180-minute marks. The classes for this year’s race were set by using a bracket system. Based on lap times, teams would be placed in one of five categories – GT1 and Touring 1 (the fastest) to GT5 and Touring 5 (the slowest).
If a team goes faster than the breakout time they are registered in, they will be penalized a lap. This year’s BEMC three-hour endurance event attracted seventeen teams. It was held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s ten-turn 2.459-mile road course during the BEMC Indian Summer Trophy Races weekend.
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The start of the three-hour endurance race for GT Challenge competitors at the BEMC Indian Summer Trophy Races. On the pole is the No. 169 Sportscarboutique Porsche Cayman GT4 shared by Al Billes, Ilker Starck and Alex Ellis. Sharing the front row with the fastest qualifiers is the No. 38 Porsche Cayman GT4 MR driven by Gunter Schmidt and Andrew Danyliw. A total of sixteen teams started the event and eleven finished. |
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Starting on the outside of the front row and finishing first overall and in the GT1 category was Gunter Schmidt and Andrew Danyliw. Danyliw and Schmidt, a veteran of the Canadian endurance racing scene, shared the No. 38 Porsche Cayman GT4 with backing from the Sportscarboutique. The duo led most of the three-hour contest but traded the top spot on a couple of occasions with the Fareed Ali / Gary Browne Audi. |
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After three hours of competition, Fareed Ali and Gary Browne finished on the same lap as the overall winners. Ali and Browne drove the No. 731 Audi RS3 LMS in Touring 2. After the Billes/Starck/Ellis Porsche retired, they became the primary challenger for the race leading Porsche. They swapped the overall lead a couple of times with Schmidt and Danyliw before finishing second overall and winning their class. |
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Entering their third BEMC Indian Summer Trophy Races three-hour endurance contest were Sam Fellows and Jordan Robinson. Fellows is the son of legendary Canadian racer Ron Fellows and Robinson is the son of renowned GM tuner Kirk Robinson. In their first event, they finished second in the GT4 category driving a Chevrolet Camaro. Last season the pair won their class and did the same this year, finishing third overall. |
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Serge Tousignant regularly competes in endurance events. Not only does Tousignant have many starts in BEMC’s three-hour event, but he has also participated in the Sundown Grand Prix. The usually reliable No. 715 BMW M3 failed to finish last year’s event. The 2018 contest would be an opportunity for Tousignant to redeem himself and he did. After the retirement of the Wittmer team, it was an easy class victory. |
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Craig Daley, Dylan Gibson and Jeff Daley competed in last year’s BEMC three-hour race and finished second in the GT5 category. They returned this season in the familiar No. 183 Nissan NX2000. The trio started sixteenth overall and second in class but moved into the lead early. Mid-race, the team battled with the Laporte Honda Civic. At the end of the contest, Daley, Dylan and Daley were first in GT5. |
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Sharing the No. 169 Sportscarboutique Porsche Cayman GT4 were Al Billes, Ilker Starck and Alex Ellis. The team competed in the Touring 2 category qualified on the overall pole by a margin of 0.902-seconds. The team dropped to second place on the opening lap but remained in contention. They retired on the fifty-second circuit – completing almost ninety minutes of the race. |
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| FINISH | START | CLASS | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GT1 | G Schmidt / A Danyliw | Porsche Cayman GT4 MR | 113 | - |
| 2 | 3 | T2 | F Ali / G Browne | Audi RS3 LMS | 113 | - |
| 3 | 7 | T4 | S Fellows / J Robinson | Chevrolet Camaro | 106 | - |
| 4 | 9 | T2 | Mark Gawronski | Honda Civic | 105 | - |
| 5 | 8 | T3 | Serge Tousignant | BMW M3 | 105 | - |
| 6 | 16 | T5 | C Daley / D Gibson / J Daley | Nissan NX2000 | 102 | - |
| 7 | 9 | T4 | J Gravel / G Moutafis | BMW M3 | 99 | - |
| 8 | 15 | T4 | M Korince / R Burgess | Honda Civic Si | 99 | - |
| 9 | 13 | T4 | Markus Glarner | BMW 330ci | 99 | - |
| 10 | 17 | T5 | E Laporte / S Laporte | Honda Civic | 96 | - |
| 11 | 4 | GT2 | E Caranci / E Scuotto | Chevrolet Pickup | 90 | - |
| 12 | 1 | T2 | A Billes / I Starck / A Ellis | Porsche Cayman GT4 | 52 | Did Not Finish |
| 13 | 10 | T3 | K Wittmer / N Wittmer / K Wittmer | Honda Accord | 42 | Did Not Finish |
| 14 | 19 | T5 | Toka Murphy | Honda Fit | 33 | Did Not Finish |
| 15 | 5 | GT2 | Jonathan Liu | BMW M3 | 33 | Did Not Finish |
| 16 | 6 | GT3 | I Crerar / G Tremblay | Porsche 911 Tubo | 8 | Did Not Finish |
| - | 12 | T3 | M Dolan / P Dolan | Mazda RX-7 | - | Did Not Start |
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