2019 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Pirelli GT4 America

2019 was the thirtieth consecutive year for the World Challenge series. In the offseason, the Grand Touring Sport category was renamed, Pirelli GT4 America. The new title did a better job of describing this category as the cars were prepared to the FIA GT4 rulebook. Due to the popularity of this class, series officials offered are two regional championships for SprintX competitors - East and West.

As a result of the announcements, there are four different event schedules:

Sprint Schedule - The calendar starts with races at St. Petersburg, Florida in March followed by Long Beach, California. Teams return to the east coast where they will compete at Virginia International Raceway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Then they travel to California for races at Sonoma Raceway. On the Labour Day weekend, drivers will compete at Watkins Glen International. The penultimate rounds are at Road America with the season concluding at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.
SprintX Schedule - This season starts at Circuit of the Americas and then shares weekends with the Sprint group at Virginia International Raceway, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Sonoma Raceway. The division remains on the west coast for an event at Portland International Raceway. The SprintX teams then rejoin the Sprint category for the final three weekends - Watkins Glen International, Road America and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
GT4 West Schedule - This schedule kicks-off at Circuit of the Americas. Then teams travel to the west coast with race weekends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway, Portland International and Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the finale.
GT4 East Schedule - The eastern division also debuts at Circuit of the Americas. This weekend is followed by Virginia International Raceway, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Watkins Glen with the season ending at Road America.

Cars competing in the Pirelli GT4 America category are similar to those the Blancpain GT World Challenge America class but have more preparation restrictions and are governed by FIA GT4 rules. The vehicles can be powered by forced induction or normally aspirated motors. Examples of car competing in this category include: Chevrolet Camaro GT4, McLaren 570S GT4, Porsche Cayman GT4 CS-MR, Porsche 718 Cayman CS-MR, Audi R8 LMS GT4, Ginetta G55 GT4, BMW M4 GT4 Mercedes-AMG GT4, Panoz Avezzano GT4 and SIN R1 GT4.

Rounds six and seven of the 2019 GT4 America Sprint season were contested at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Seventeen drivers competed in the two fifty-minutes races around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

Marco Polo Motorsports driver, Nicolai Elghanayan driving the No. 71 KTM X-bow leads the field of seventeen starters during the first lap of round six at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Beside Elghanayan is the other front row starter, Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 66 Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR. To Pumpelly’s right is the McLaren 570S GT4 of Michael Cooper and the third fastest qualifier, Shane Lewis in a Chevrolet Camaro.

Nicolai Elghanayan started on the GT4 America Sprint pole for the weekend’s first event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. During the race, he was challenged by the Porsche of the second fastest qualifier, Spencer Pumpelly. The two drivers exchanged the lead a number of times before Elghanayan earned his first victory of the season. The following day, he started second and moved into the lead before fading to a seven-place finish.

The Racers Group, Spencer Pumpelly was seeking some redemption after his results at Virginia International Raceway. He was taken out of contention by two flat tires on Saturday and another one on Sunday. Pumpelly started his weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park by qualifying second and after fighting with the pole-sitter, Nicolai Elghanayan finished second. On Sunday, he qualified on the pole and won his second race of 2019.

Nate Stacy is having a character-building season. At Virginia International Raceway, Stacy was entered in the SprintX event with Rich Golinello. Golinello took a big hit during the first race which severely damaged the car and injured him. Stacy’s team put their IMSA Ford Mustang into service for the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park rounds. The Mustang failed the post qualifying inspection but was ready for round seven - Stacy finished fourth.

For the second consecutive day, Nicolai Elghanayan driving the No. 71 KTM X-bow leads the opening lap of the GT4 America Sprint contest. Following Elghanayan through Moss corner is the pole-sitter, Spencer Pumpelly in The Racers Group Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR. Behind Pumpelly is the Chevrolet Camaro of Gar Robinson, Ian James driving a Panoz Avezzano GT4 and Drew Staveley leading the Amateur class in a Ford Mustang.

Blackdog Speed Shop’s, Michael Cooper knows how to win championships – he has three World Challenge titles to his credit. Driving the No. 10 McLaren 570S, Cooper started Saturday’s contest fourth and was in was third place at the checkered flag. In the weekend’s second contest, Cooper had his work cut out for himself. He moved from eighth on the grid and battled Ian James in the final minutes of the race to earn a runner-up finish.

Ian James took the championship lead at Virginia International Raceway when Spencer Pumpelly suffered three tire failures and did not score any points. In race one, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, an aggressive pass on Shane Lewis in the final turn gave him a fourth-place finish. On Sunday, James battled Michael Cooper to capture third place. Pumpelly’s results during the weekend were better and James dropped to second in the title chase.

Matthew Fassnacht took advantage of the competition’s tire issues at Virginia International Raceway to win both Sprint rounds. This feat was all the more remarkable as Fassnacht competes in the Amateur class. His weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park did go out as well. In the first race, Fassnacht crashed on the opening lap. On Sunday, he started at the rear of the field and finished thirteenth overall.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was a very productive weekend for Jarrett Andretti in his quest to secure the 2019 GT4 America Sprint – Amateur title. Driving the No. 18 Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4, Andretti ran as high a second overall in both rounds but more importantly, he swept the Amateur class on Saturday and Sunday. The victories were his first two of the season and gave him a seventeen-point lead heading to Sonoma.

Drew Stavely, the driver of the No. 14 Ian Lacy Racing prepared Ford Mustang GT4 did not participate in the first two rounds at St. Petersburg. As a result, Stavely entered the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event third in the standings. During the weekend, he was unable to match the pace of Jarrett Andretti and grabbed a pair of runner-up finishes in the Amateur category. However, the results moved him to second in the title chase.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	PRO	Nicolai Elghanayan	Marco Polo Motorsports / KTM X-bow	32
2	2	PRO	Spencer Pumpelly	TRG - The Racers Group / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR	32
3	10	PRO	Michael Cooper	Blackdog Speed Shop / McLaren 570S GT4	32
4	6	AM	Jarett Andretti	Andretti Autosport / McLaren 570S GT4	32
5	5	PRO	Ian James	Team Panoz Racing / Panoz Avezzano GT4	32
6	3	PRO	Shane Lewis	Robinson Racing / Chevrolet Camaro GT4	32
7	9	PRO	Gar Robinson	Robinson Racing / Chevrolet Camaro GT4	32
8	8	AM	Drew Staveley	Ian Lacy Racing / Ford Mustang GT4	32
9	10	AM	Alan Brynjolsson	Park Place Motorsports / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR	32
10	11	AM	Jason Bell	GMG Racing / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR	32
11	13	AM	Tony Gaples	Blackdog Speed Shop / McLaren 570S GT4	32
12	14	AM	Mark Klenin	KPR / McLaren 570S GT4	32
13	15	AM	Thomas Collingwood	BGB Motorsports / Porsche Cayman GT4 CS-MR	32
14	16	AM	Frank Gannett	Ian Lacy Racing / Ford Mustang GT4	30
DNF	13	AM	Sean Quinlan	Stephen Cameron Racing / BMW M4 GT4	20
DNF	17	PRO	Nate Stacy	Kohr Motorsports / Ford Mustang GT4	5
DNF	7	AM	Matthew Fassnacht	Murillo Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT4	0

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	PRO	Spencer Pumpelly	TRG - The Racers Group / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR	35
2	8	PRO	Michael Cooper	Blackdog Speed Shop / McLaren 570S GT4	35
3	3	PRO	Ian James	Team Panoz Racing / Panoz Avezzano GT4	35
4	16	PRO	Nate Stacy	Kohr Motorsports / Ford Mustang GT4	35
5	7	AM	Jarett Andretti	Andretti Autosport / McLaren 570S GT4	35
6	4	PRO	Gar Robinson	Robinson Racing / Chevrolet Camaro GT4	35
7	2	PRO	Nicolai Elghanayan	Marco Polo Motorsports / KTM X-bow	35
8	6	AM	Drew Staveley	Ian Lacy Racing / Ford Mustang GT4	35
9	9	PRO	Shane Lewis	Robinson Racing / Chevrolet Camaro GT4	35
10	11	AM	Tony Gaples	Blackdog Speed Shop / McLaren 570S GT4	35
11	5	AM	Alan Brynjolsson	Park Place Motorsports / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR	35
12	12	AM	Mark Klenin	KPR / McLaren 570S GT4	35
13	17	AM	Matthew Fassnacht	Murillo Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT4	35
14	13	AM	Frank Gannett	Ian Lacy Racing / Ford Mustang GT4	35
15	14	AM	Sean Quinlan	Stephen Cameron Racing / BMW M4 GT4	35
16	10	AM	Jason Bell	GMG Racing / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR	33
17	15	AM	Thomas Collingwood	BGB Motorsports / Porsche Cayman GT4 CS-MR	29

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