2025 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Michelin Pilot Challenge

In 2025, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) celebrated its 56th anniversary. IMSA was founded by NASCAR's Bill France, John Bishop (a former executive director of the Sports Car Club of America), and Bishop's wife, Peggy. They succeeded in creating their vision to build a sanctioning body for professional road racing in North America. From its humble roots, IMSA currently sanctions eight different race series: the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup, Mazda MX-5 Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Ferrari Challenge, and the Mustang Challenge.

Introduced in 2022 was a new Bronze Cup award for participants in the Grand Sport (GS) class, available both on an event-by-event basis and on a season-long basis. To be eligible, every driver in a GS car's lineup must hold a Bronze rating.

The Bronze Cup winners will be recognized on the podium at each event, along with recognition and a season-ending award for the highest placing Bronze Cup combination in the championship standings.

The 2025 season features eleven race weekends; each contest is two hours in length. The exceptions are Daytona and Mid-Ohio, which are four hours.

January 22 26 - Daytona International Speedway
March 12 15 - Sebring International Raceway
May 9 11 - WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
June 6 8 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
June 19 22 - Watkins Glen International
July 11 13 - Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
August 1 3 - Road America
August 22 24 - Virginia International Raceway
September 19 21 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway
October 8 11 - Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta

Two race groups compete in the Michelin Pilot Challenge:

Grand Sport (GS): This category underwent some changes in 2017. The new rules accepted cars prepared to GT4 technical requirements. The quicker of the two groups, this class includes cars such as the Ford Mustang GT4, BMW M4 GT4, Mercedes-AMG, Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Vehicles competing in this group produce between 400 and 450 horsepower and are capable of speeds over 175 mph.
Touring Car (TCR): TCR is a global touring car category that was added to the Michelin Pilot Challenge series in 2018. This category includes the Hyundai Elantra N TCR, Honda Civic TCR, Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR and Audi RS3 LMS TCR. They use a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine which will produce between 300 and 350-horsepower.

Close, competitive racing with cars that fans could relate to contributed to the series' popularity. It also provided an environment for automotive manufacturers to test and showcase their products.

Round six of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge was held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park during the Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend. GS and TCR teams competed in a two-hour contest around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

The pole-winning No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4, shared by Nate Ciero and Jenson Altzman, leads the Grand Sport field through Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s corner one. Immediately behind the Mustang is the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo of Matt Plumb and Paul Holton. Beside the Aston Martin is the other front-row starter, Sean McAlister, driving the No. 39 CarBahn BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal drove the No. 39 CarBahn BMW M4 GT4 EVO. McAlister performed the qualifying duties and was the second fastest in the Grand Sport category and overall. In the race, he chased the pole-winning Mustang of Nate Cicero until the pit stops. Westphal drove the final stint and was in the lead when there was a major accident with 20 minutes remaining. The team decided against pitting for fuel, which gave the duo the win.

The winners of the TCR category in the previous round, at Watkins Glen International, were Canadians LP Montour and Karl Wittmer. The duo shared the No. 93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR and started the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 second in class. An incident with 40 minutes remaining in the race took out two of the top TCR contenders. This reduced some of the pressure, allowing them to grab the victory.

Finishing second overall and in the Grand Sport division was the duo of Steven McAleer and Austin Krainz. They shared the No. 27 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO, which Krainz qualified tenth overall and seventh in class. The team gained two positions late in the race when the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG was assessed a penalty for contact with the No. 19 Ford Mustang. The result was their best of the season.

The round six IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport rostrum at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In the center are the winners from CarBahn with Peregine Racing, Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal. This was the duo’s second victory of the season. On the left are the runner-ups, Steven McAleer and Austin Krainz. This was Krainz’s first series podium. The final spot on the rostrum belongs to Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe.

The Grand Sport points leaders heading to round six at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park were Jan Heylen and Luca Mars. Their record included four podiums in the first five events, with two victories. Despite their performances this season, they were not a factor in the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120. Mars qualified the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS eighth in class and they finished ninth. However, the pair are still the championship leaders.

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series grids competitors by class and uses a split start. The TCR drivers received the green flag after the Grand Sport teams. Leading the TCR contingent into corner one is the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR with Bryson Morris behind the wheel. A car length behind the Hyundai is the other front row qualifier, LP Montour driving the No. 93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR.

Finishing 2.149 seconds behind the class-winning TCR Honda was the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR shared by Tyler Gonzalez and Eric Powell. Powell qualified sixteenth overall and fifth in class. They avoided the James Vance and Mark Wilkins accident in the second half of the race to advance two positions. The remainder of their contest was incident-free, and they collected a second consecutive podium result.

Sean Quinlan qualified fifteenth overall and eleventh in Grand Sport driving the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4. Sharing the Mustang with Quinlan was Gregg Liefooghe. Quinlan started the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 with Liefooghe driving the final stint. Liefooghe was in contention when there was contact with the Mercedes-AMG driven by Daniel Morad. Despite the incident, the pair earned a third-place result.

This season, veteran Touring Car competitor Ryan Eversley is paired with the 2025 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship winner, Celso Neto. In qualifying, Neto was the eighteenth fastest overall driving the No. 7 Precision Racing LA Audi RS3 LMS TCR, which was six quickest in TCR. He and Eversley were among the beneficiaries of the Vance / Wilkins incident and finished third in class. This was their first podium result since Daytona.

The top three TCR finishers at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 stand on the podium. In the center are the class winners of round six for the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series, LP Montour and Karl Wittmer. On the left from Victor Gonzalez Racing Team are the runner-ups, Eric Powell and Tyler Gonzalez. Completing the rostrum are the third-place finishers, Celso Neto and Ryan Eversley.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GS	McAlister / Westphal	BMW M4 GT4 EVO	76	-
2	GS	Krainz / McAleer	BMW M4 GT4 EVO	76	-
3	GS	Quinlan / Liefooghe	Ford Mustang GT4	76	-
4	GS	Barletta / Foley	BMW M4 GT4 EVO	76	-
5	GS	Altzman / Cicero	Ford Mustang GT4	76	-
6	GS	Uretsky / Cooper	McLaren Artura GT4	76	-
7	GS	Ward / Morad	Mercedes-AMG GT GT4	76	-
8	GS	Miller / Taylor	Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS	76	-
9	GS	Mars / Heylen	Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS	76	-
10	GS	Plumb / Holton	Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo	76	-
11	TCR	Montour / Wittmer	Honda Civic FL5 TCR	76	-
12	GS	Johnson / Michaelian	Ford Mustang GT4	76	-
13	TCR	Powell / Gonzalez	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	76	-
14	TCR	Neto / Eversley	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	76	-
15	TCR	Baker / Junqueira	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	76	-
16	TCR	Brown / Dupont	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	76	-
17	TCR	Rockwell / Colombo	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	76	-
18	TCR	Aust / Almeida	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	76	-
19	GS	Hampton / Merrill	Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS	76	-
20	TCR	Gottsacker / Filippi	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	75	-
21	GS	Megennis / Lastochkin	Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS	75	-
22	GS	Scully / Burkhard	Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS	75	-
23	TCR	Tomlinson / Tomlinson	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	75	-
24	TCR	Lewis / Tally	Honda Civic FL5 TCR	75	-
25	TCR	Pegram / Pegram	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	75	-
26	GS	Sloss / McGee	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo	74	-
27	GS	Giovanis / Plumb	Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo	73	-
28	GS	Martinez / Jonsin	Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO	73	-
29	TCR	Baker / Vance	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	54	Not Running
30	GS	Selldorff / Machavern	BMW M4 GT4 EVO	54	Not Running
31	GS	DePew / Liddell	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo	54	Not Running
32	TCR	Wilkins / Morris	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	54	Not Running
-	GS	Veach / Goodman	Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS	-	Did Not Start
-	TCR	Bergstein / Miller	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	-	Did Not Start

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