The 2023 Chevrolet Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on July 9, 2023. The race was the sixth round of the

2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship The 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) is the 53rd racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 19 ...

, and the third round of the 2023 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the

(IMSA SCC) in August 2022. It was the eighth year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the fortieth annual running of the race. The 2023 Chevrolet Grand Prix was the sixth of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 by IMSA, and the third of seven races of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the ten-turn Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on July 9, 2023. After the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen two weeks earlier,

Pipo Derani Pipo is a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Pipo (actor) (1933-1998), Mexican actor * Pipo Nguyen-duy (born 1962), Vietnamese photographer * Pipo of Ozora (1369–1426), Italian soldier * Pipo (footballer, born 1992), P ...

and Alexander Sims led the GTP Drivers' Championship with 1602 points, ahead of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly with 1583 points followed by Nick Tandy and

Mathieu Jaminet Mathieu Jaminet (born 24 October 1994) is a French racing driver. He is currently employed by Porsche as a Factory-backed, factory driver and participates primarily in Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, including the Intercontinenta ...

with 1527 points. With 730 points,

Josh Burdon Josh Burdon (born 5 September 1992) is an Australian professional racing driver and 2016 Asian Formula Renault Series champion.He is currently driving for Hong Kong-based KC Motorgroup in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, Nürburgring Langstr ...

, Felipe Fraga, and Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship ahead of

Wayne Boyd Wayne Boyd (born 25 October 1990) is a British racing driver from County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Boyd won the British Formula Ford Championship in 2008 with Jamun Racing. He won 13 out of 25 championship races. Sat on the pole for 15 races ...

, Anthony Mantella, and Nicolás Varrone with 606 points.

Ben Barnicoat Ben Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver who currently serves as a McLaren factory racing driver, while also competing in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship for Project 1 Motorsport. He has previously raced in the ...

and Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 1795 points ahead of

Jules Gounon Jules Gounon (born 31 December 1994 in Aubenas) is an Andorran-based French professional racing driver. He is best known for his victories in the 24 Hours of Spa in 2017 and 2022 and Bathurst 12 Hour in 2020 and 2022. Career 1994-2015: Youth i ...

and

Daniel Juncadella Daniel Juncadella Pérez-Sala (born 7 May 1991) is a Spanish racing driver who currently competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He is son of Xavier Juncadella and nephew of José María Juncadella, Alex Soler-Roig and Luis Pérez-Sala, als ...

with 1682 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by

Bryan Sellers Bryan Sellers (born August 19, 1982 in Daytona Beach, Florida, Dayton, Ohio) is an American racing driver. Sellers won the title in the U.S. F2000 National Championship, U.S. F2000 in 2002 and later competed in the Atlantic Championship and in r ...

and

Madison Snow Madison Snow (born December 26, 1995) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In 2018 Snow became only the second driver in IMSA history to win two championships in the same year, winning both the W ...

with 1592 points, ahead of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz with 1488 points.

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, Lexus, and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing, Riley Motorsports, Vasser Sullivan Racing, and

Paul Miller Racing Paul Miller Racing is an American auto racing team that is part of Paul Miller Auto Group and associated with former racing driver . The team has operations that are headquartered in Buford, Georgia; the Racing team also has operations in Par ...

each led their own Teams' Championships. On July 4, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining

Balance of Performance In sports car racing, balance of performance (BoP) is a regulation and mechanism that maintains parity between competing vehicles by adjusting limits on a car's parameters, such as horsepower, weight, engine management, and aerodynamics to preven ...

for the GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD classes. In GTP, all of the cars received weight breaks. The Acura ran at 1046 kg, the BMW ran at 1031 kg, the Cadillac ran at 1030 kg, and the Porsche ran at 1037 kg. Maximum stint energy figures were also adjusted. In GTD Pro and GTD, the Acura, Corvette, McLaren, Mercedes, and Porsche received power increases as well as fuel capacity increases.

Entries

A total of 34 cars took part in the event split across four classes. 9 cars were entered in GTP, 6 in LMP3, 5 in GTD Pro, and 14 in GTD. In LMP3, Andretti Autosport, Performance Tech Motorsports, MLT Motorsports, and JDC-Miller MotorSports were absent. Antoine Comeau and George Staikos shared the Ave Motorsports entry. In GTD Pro,

AF Corse AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Chal ...

, Risi Competizione and

Iron Lynx Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab is an Italian auto racing team founded by Andrea Piccini, Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola. The team is based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. They currently operate Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 spor ...

were absent. In GTD, Triarsi Competizione, NTE Sport, Magnus Racing, Cetilar Racing,

Iron Dames Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab is an Italian auto racing team founded by Andrea Piccini, Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola. The team is based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. They currently operate Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 spor ...

, and Racer's Edge Motorsports with WTR Andretti skipped.

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes on Friday while the second session on Saturday lasted 105 minutes.

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 2:50 pm ET on Friday and ended with

Colin Braun Colin Braun (; born September 22, 1988) is an American racing driver. He is the 2014 and 2015 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge Champion and currently drives the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier LMP3 for CORE autosport in the IMSA ...

topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:07.341. The LMP3 class was topped by the #30 Jr III Motorsports Ligier JS P320 of Garett Grist with a time of 1:12.270. Antonio García was fastest in GTD Pro while Frankie Montecalvo set the fastest time amongst all GTD cars.

Final Practice

The second and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, with a lap time of 1:05.870. Garett Grist set the fastest time in LMP3. The GTD Pro class was topped by the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing

Lexus RC F GT3 The Lexus RC (Japanese: レクサス・RC, ''Rekusasu RC'') is a Compact executive car, compact executive two-door coupé manufactured by Lexus, Toyota's luxury division. The RC which according to Lexus stands for "Radical Coupe" is a two-door co ...

of Jack Hawksworth while

Loris Spinelli Loris Spinelli (born 30 December 1995) is an Italian racing driver. He currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Forte Racing. Since 2024, Spinelli has been employed as a factory driver for Lamborghini's GT3 program. Career Sp ...

was fastest in GTD.

Qualifying

Saturday’s afternoon qualifying was broken into three sessions, with one session for the GTP, LMP3, and GTD Pro and GTD classes, which lasted for 20 minutes for the GTP session, and 15 minutes for the LMP3, and GTD Pro/GTD sessions. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am LMP3 class requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put GTPs ahead of the LMP3, GTD Pro, and GTD cars. The first was cars in the GTD Pro and GTD classes. Jack Hawksworth qualified on pole in GTD Pro driving the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry. Roman De Angelis qualified on pole in GTD driving the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team, besting Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry. The second session of qualifying was for cars in the LMP3 class. Gar Robinson qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 74 car for Riley Motorsports, besting Orey Fidani in the No. 13 AWA entry. The final session of qualifying was for the GTP class. Tom Blomqvist qualified on pole driving the No. 60 car for Meyer Shank Racing, beating Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport entry by less than one tenth of a second.

Qualifying results

Pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

s in each class are indicated in bold and by . * The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry initially qualified second for the GTD class. However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the GTD field on the starting grid.

Race

Post-race

The result kept Derani and Sims atop the GTP Drivers' Championship, 20 points ahead of third-place finishers De Phillippi and Yelloly. Albuquerque and Taylor advanced from fifth to third. Fraga, and Robinson extended their advantage in the LMP3 Drivers' Championship over Boyd, and Mantella to 181 points. The result kept Barnicoat and Hawksworth atop the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship. In the GTD Drivers' Championship, Sellers and Snow extended their points lead to 212 points while Grenier and Skeen advanced from eleventh to fifth. Cadillac, Lexus, and BMW continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing, Riley Motorsports, Vasser Sullivan Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships with five races left in the season. Class winners are in bold and .

Standings after the race

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

{{Grand Prix of Mosport Chevrolet Grand Prix Chevrolet Grand Prix 2023 in Canadian motorsport Chevrolet Grand Prix Grand Prix of Mosport