Welcome back, everyone, for race two of the weekend for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The LMP3 and GSX (GT4) cars, are set to go for yet another sprint race, and the sixth round of the championship. Yesterday we saw victories for Jonathan Woolridge in LMP3 and Michael Cooper in the GSX class for GT4 cars. Will we see them repeat today? Will there be two more new race winners? Stay tuned to find out as the race is coming up. The Silver and Bronze ranked drivers in LMP3 and GT4 machines are ready to race again, for another sprint, here at Mosport. It is a glorious morning for racing on this Sunday. Now, this race took place before the WeatherTech Championship event happened.
This is a roller coaster of a track. What will happen in today's race. Good to see Keith McGovern walked away from his crash he had in yesterday's event that we documented for you, here on the blog. Yesterday's race ended under yellow. Will we see a full green flag race today? We have Brian Till and Jeremy Shaw on commentary again today. Bijoy Garg is on pole and Greg Liefooghe starts this race today on the pole in GSX for the GT4 cars. Liefooghe in the #43 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4. Some of these drivers who do not run our whole championship here in VP Racing Sports Car Challenge, like a Michael Cooper or a Greg Liefooghe, they don't race the whole series, but when they are here, they bring a lot to the table and make the competition in GSX take notice to step up their game.
27 cars will start. In VP Sports Car Challenge, this series is an opportunity for drivers to gain experience and move up the IMSA ladder into Michelin Pilot Challenge we saw yesterday and into the WeatherTech Championship we saw run earlier this afternoon. Safety car lights out and in a moment we will get underway. The weather is perfect. Here is your top five qualifiers list in GSX in reverse order. In fifth place, Sebastian Carazo, fourth place, Tim Probert, third place, Michael Cooper, second Greg Liefooghe, and on pole, Francis Selldorff.
Quickly, before the start, we will also check out the top five qualifiers in the LMP3 class. That class will only grow for next year since it is being removed from the WeatherTech Championship and there could be teams who may decide to hold onto their LMP3 cars and race them here in VP Challenge. Brian Thienes starts in fifth place. Ahead of him, Courtney Crone (she had a podium finish yesterday). Third spot goes to Jonathan Woolridge, yesterday's race winner. On the front row, Dan Goldburg, and Bijoy Garg.
Oh dear. We have some bumping, banging, argy bargy, before we even get going. Green flag, and race two for VP Challenge at Mosport is underway! Cars are out of line in LMP3 and Bijoy Garg gets swamped by everybody in LMP3 headed for the first turn! Please tell me you know what to do at the first turn! Dan Goldburg was the lucky luck boy on that deal and he sweeps into the lead of the motor race. Putting my race steward hat on, I will agree with lead commentator and former driver Brian Till to say that there were many cars out of line, out of formation, out of column before crossing the start/finish line, and believe you me, the stewards will not appreciate that.
For some reason, Bijoy Garg was swallowed up in his efforts to accelerate off the starting line even though sports cars use rolling starts, not standing starts like Formula 1 or Porsche Carrera Cup cars do (at least in Europe and the rest of the world). Jonathan Woolridge, winner of the race yesterday is going to argue, he didn't go and I was stuck. What on earth was I supposed to do? What will the marshals decide? Dan Goldburg is checking out already. Bijoy Garg did not accelerate whatsoever. That is really strange. I don't get it.
Was the green flag unfurled at that point? We could have had an aborted or delayed start. But nonetheless we are racing. Did Dan Goldburg jump the start? Did Bijoy Garg not go? Dan Goldburg is checking out already. He is putting daylight between himself and the rast of the LMP3 field. Courtney Crone aboard the #99 "Red Dragon" for Forty7 Motorsports. She is driving a Duqueine chassis. Jonathan Woolridge, yesterday's race winner is driving a Ligier. All LMP3 cars powered by naturally aspirated 5.6 liter Nissan V8 engines and for next year, they will have a new turbo V6 powerplant in use across the globe as these cars race here in VP Challenge and in other championships such as the European and Asian Le Mans Series as well.
The Duqueine has a pointed nose cone and the Ligier has a rounded nose with two posts that attach to the front splitter, much like what we saw on 1990s Formula 1 cars with raised noses. Dan Goldburg is checking out and saying, "thanks, folks" as he whistles off into the distance. Greg Liefooghe leads in GSX while Michael Cooper is being reeled in by Francis Selldorff. Greg Liefooghe leads in class. Courtney Crone has her hands full with both Jonathan Woolridge and Bijoy Garg. Garg probably cannot believe what is going on but is being told, just drive the race car, mate. Don't worry about it.
Billy Glavin, the team boss at JR III Motorsports worked with Hendrick Motorsports for a number of years in NASCAR. Meanwhile, Courtney Crone is just a few tenths slower than Dan Goldburg as we have been racing now for just five minutes. The Michael Cooper and Francis Selldorff story is still being written. All race yesterday, Selldorff was trying his best to get past Michael Cooper. So, he is now writing another chapter to the same novel. Cooper holds the inside line. Selldorff can't quite make it work. Selldorff has a great handling BMW underneath him. But again, he is writing the same story and hoping that if he can get by, the pen won't run out of ink if there is a positive outcome here.
Cooper has to watch when and how many times he moves. The marshals will call it a block if you move too far too many times. You can't move too many times or the stewards will nab you for it. Selldorff has to be patient. Cooper has to push. The start will indeed be under review. False start, column pass, drive through pejnalty for the #38 car, Jonathan Woolridge at the wheel of it. Serve the penalty, get back on the track, and hope for a Full Course Yellow. He knows he did it and serves the penalty. Be smart about it. Don't fight it.
Dan Goldburg is moving away. We also hear that Francis Selldorff, he will cop a penalty too, for lining up on the wrong side of the grid! Boy, oh boy. When it rains, it pours. We had a couple of cars that moved off the gird yesterday after they wrecked and that jumbled the field as those cars obviously did not start today. So, they were on the wrong side. Selldorff was warned yesterday. He is a college student, and should have learned from his mistake. A very talented young man, a computer science and finance double major. Moisey Uretsky in the #44 Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage GT4, looking to the inside of Sebastian Carazo in the #27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche Cayman GT4.
This is through turns eight, nine, and ten as Michael Cooper comes to the pit lane! Say what? What's that all about? Moisey Uretsky giving Sebastian Carazo all he can handle and makes the pass down the hill through turn two. Cooper is in trouble. This isn't just a flat tire. It looks like the team is putting the car on the jack to have a Captain Cook at a possible problem. Well, well, well. This is not an urgent fix either for some reason. In the meantime, Moisey Uretsky and Sebastian Carazo now have company from Adam Adelson in the #47 Nolasport Porsche Cayman as well and the LMP3 cars are working their way through the GSX traffic.
Courtney Cronwe is doing everything she can to separate herself from Bijoy Garg as Dan Goldburg is working through traffic trying to get around Dan Goldburg. Bijoy Garg is making inroads as well, look. Crone looked inside Sebastian Carazo in order to defend from Bijoy Garg. She did the block pass and made her way by Bijoy Garg. Be strategic, plan your moves, and improve your lap time as Francis Selldorff serves his drive through penalty for being out of line at the start of the motor race. Meanwhile, Crone and Garg continue their fight. Crone under pressure and she is handling it through Moss corner and up the Mario Andretti straightaway.
So, a couple parts of this course named after some motor racing legends. Is the Duqueine more slippery through the air? Does it have more downforce? Does it have more top speed? Bijoy Garg has the speed. He is working on his race craft. He has also raced in Europe and has tested in California where he lives and is driving in open wheel racing in U.S. Formula 2000. Half an hour of racing to go. 1/3rd distance. Goldburg now leads by 2.7 seconds. Bijoy Garg is coming in a real big hurry. Brian Thiennes and Alex Kirby also are beginning to close in.
Kirby is aboard the #7, the second Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier. A Full Course Yellow will bring you right back into the picture as we have been racing now for 17 minutes. The LMP3 cars are the same cars we saw in the WeatherTech Championship and the GSX (GT4) cars, the same cars we see in Michelin Pilot Challenge as well. The LMP3 cars sound really cool, have the horsepower and the downforce, and are a hoot to drive. The Crone and Garg battle is still raging and the same is true for the scrap between Brian Thienes and Alex Kirby.
Brian Thienes has raced in Formula Atlantic and in open wheel racing, the native of Huntington Beach, California. Dan Goldburg is the LMP3 class leader in the championship. Crone is closing bacl up on Goldburg. Don't get defensive because that will affect your lap time negatively. Be careful of how defensive you are. Adelson closing in on Carazo and Uretsky in GSX. Jonathan Woolridge is climbing back up towards the tail end of the LMP3 field. Courtney Crone lives in La Quinta, California, and works at the country club track, Thermal Club, in southern California.
Tim Probert, meanwhile, in the copper Mercedes AMG GT4 in the #65 car for Murillo Racing, has his hands full with Patrick Wilmot in the #88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW F82 M4 GT4. Wilmot and his team traveling a long way to get to Canada and to Mosport Park. The two Turner Motorsports BMW's behind him are Francis Selldorff and Vincent Barletta. Selldorff is pressing as Adrian Kunzel spins his LMP3 car in Turn 5A and he got tipped by Jonathan Woolridge.
He was past Lance Willsey. Selldorff now wants to pass Tim Probert. We are at the halfway mark in the race. The older BMW, any time you bring older equipment to battle against new cars, you are on the back foot. Tim Probert is 71 years old and is still driving a race car. Good onya' mate. Wow! Three wide, and a pass in LMP3 past the GSX traffic! Courtney Crone makes her move. Probert slides by Garg and Garg wants a bite of the cherry. Crone gts the best out of that lot. Oy yoy yoy! That was close! He was way outside track limits, Garg was, and he had to escape. Garg is right on Courtney Crone's six now.
Garg goes around the outside of Adam Adelson in the #46 Nolasport Porsche Cayman as Crone gets pinched and now, Alex Kirby is knocking on the door. Brian Thienes was passed by Kirby and we wonder where he is. Is he losing spots? We are past the halfway mark and the lap time for the race leader is 1:19.4 and the rest at 1:20. This has cost Dan Goldburg more than four seconds. The traffic Courtney Crone has been in, she fell four or five seconds down. She had to decide which way to go. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Garg has to put his head down and go for it. He has a fast race car with the Ligier. He can see Dan Goldburg ahead with 18 minutes left on the clock. Do what you have been doing. Keep pushing. Dan Goldburg's aggressiveness in traffic has cost him lap time. We are getting to the point of time almost being of the essence with 17 minutes left on the board and poor old Michael Cooper is back in the pit lane. He is already three laps down, yesterday's GSX winner. Game over, possibly. Sebastian Carazo is now right on Adam Adelson's back door. This is for third and fourth in GSX.
Jonathan Woolridge was assessed and has served the penalty that he had for the contact with Adrian Kunzel. Selldorff gives Carazo a little nudge, and you know the marshals are going to frown upon that. Actually, I think that was Carazo blocking the #95 BMW. Selldorff trying to pass Carazzo and Carazzo is having none of it. He moves to block and Selldorff says I am going to make my move anyway. I don't think Carazo was blocking. He was starting to make a late lunge. 1:14.6 for Dan Goldburg who's fastest lap is 1:14.5 and Bijoy Garg is coming in a hurry.
Garg is side by side with Goldburg! Goldburg shuts the door and says, "not now, sunshine. Not now." Goldburg has only a 20 point lead in the LMP3 points championship. Goldburg made a mistake and Garg had the preferred line on the Mario Andretti straightaway. Focus forward. Hit your marks. Put your laps in. Just over 13 minutes to go. This race has flown by. Dan Goldburg has a second life now, a second wind. These two will put another lap on the GSX leaders. Keep your powder dry and get set to work through the traffic and keep Bijoy Garg behind.
This is race six of the 2023 season, the third race weekend. This is also the championship scrap. Bijoy Garg and Dan Goldburg are only 20 points apart coming in. If Bijoy Garg passes Goldburg when this race is over here tonight, we will see Garg as the points leader. Be disiciplined and be smart. Take risk, but not too much risk, as Lance Willsey spins out of Moss corner and thankfully continues. Mosport demands commitment especially in traffic. Garg drops a wheel! Ugh! This is scary bsuiness. We saw that same scenario with Keith McGovern's accident yesterday.
Goldburg in the right place at the right time. Watch the GSX traffic and he almost gets the nose chopped off. Goldburg clears the traffic with Garg getting stymied, sweeping to turn two. So, Goldburg gains some space out front. Bijoy Garg has time. Hit your marks. Do your job. Drive the race car. Less than ten minutes to go. Multiclass racing is what you will experience at this level and as you move up into Michelin Pilot Challenge and the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Goldburg has caught traffic at the right time compared to BijoyGarg.
Inside nine minutes of racing to go. Garg goes inside of Sebastian Carazo and Sebastian Carazo tips Alex Kirby into a spin! Carazo has put Kirby on the whirligig! Carazo had Selldorff right on his six. Kirby was an innocent bystander and got the worst of it. Sebastian Carazo hit Kirby. He never hit the apex. I don't think Kirby got tot he apex either and Carazo was way too fast into the turn and so the stewards are going to be having a Captain Cook at that one. Carazo is the GSX championship leader and if he is pinged for that incident, he will lose points hand over fist and the championship lead to Moisey Uretsky.
Courtney Crone has taken third spot and will feel the heat from Alex Kirby. Dan Goldburg has his head down and is motoring and Bijoy Garg wants to make inroads but I don't believe he is closing in fast enough with now just six minutes and forty seconds left on the board. Duqueine vs. Ligier in LMP3. The Ligier has the advantage through high speed corners whereas the Duqueine can get a good corner exit and gets a run on the Mario Andretti straightaway. These cars making their lap times in different parts of the track.
Bijoy Garg cuts a 1:14.760 which is a gnat's whisker away from his fastest lap and the same is rue with Godlburg who is trying to negotiate the traffic. That is Greg Liefooghe in the Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4. Goldburg has the advantage out of Moss corner. Bijoy Garg has to be spitting feathers right now trying to make a move. Another GSX car chops the leaders. Goldburg has to be defensive as he got checked up by the #17 Porsche Cayman of Will Wachs driving for BGB Motorsports. Goldburg had to back off and that allowed Garg to pounce.
High risk, low reward, as Garg loses ground. No worries at Moss corner. Up the Mario Andretti straightaway another time. There could be more traffic. Indeed there is. We are coming to the end of race six for VP Sports Car Challenge. Bijoy Garg has a head of steam! What is Garg thinking? I'll try playing a different hand, and now, Adrian Kunzel is ahead at the tail end of the lead lap in LMP3. Kunzel aboard the #54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320. Goldburg might get stymied here. Kunzel has to realize discretion is the better part of valor and let the leaders go.
Kunzel parks it right in the middle of the track at Moss corner. Again, he is the cork in the bottle and Goldburg, you know he is going to be fuming inside his helmet! Move out of the way, you clown! Garg is coming in a hurry. Kunzel is a pain in the fanny for Dan Goldburg. Get out of the way, goofball! Finally, the team was probably on the phone to Kunzel and saying, "OK, mate, move over for the leaders." Kunzel of course was punted into a spin earlier on. Two laps to go for the leaders. Goldburg and Garg, mano e mano. Goldburg could have smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Garg has a great run into turn three. Off of three he does not have the same drive. Has he used up his tires? There is more traffic ahead! GSX and LMP3 traffic. Lance Willsey is one of them. He won't catch him but he will catch a couple more GSX cars. White flag for Dan Goldburg this time by. One lap to go. Goldburg has to pass Tim Probert and does so. Bijoy Garg follows him through. They are glued together. More traffic ahead. This is tremendous racing. Goldburg ran well here at Mosport in the old Prototype Challenge series which is now melded into this championship in VP Challenge with the LMP3 cars racing alongside GT4.
Goldburg finished second to a talented young driver at the time named Sean Rayhall, almost a decade ago now. Garg slides sideways! That's a rallycross moment! Garg will lose time. Lapped traffic ahead for Goldburg. Dan Goldburg has the space. He goes past Todd Coleman and one of the Turner BMW's. Dan Goldburg leads. Bijoy Garg pushing hard but it is too late. Dan Goldburg is the winner of VP Sports Car Challenge race two at Mosport, his third win of the 2023 season! Now we know why Goldburg loves racing at Mosport!
Flag to flag dominance in GSX for Greg Liefooghe! That is the second win of the year for Liefooghe and his team, who also won at Sebring. Mosiey Uretsky in second place and leading the Bronze Cup in GSX. So, your podium finishers, in LMP3 it is Goldburg, Garg, and Kirby, and in GSX it is Liefooghe, Uretsky, and Adelson. Wow! That was a wicked motor race! That was fantastic! Dan Goldburg will be delighted. Dan Goldburg extends his points lead after this race with a 50 point lead on Bijoy Garg as Sebastian Carazo's lead in GSX is trimmed to only 30 over Moisey Uretsky.
Uretsky extends his points lead as well.
Overall/LMP3: #73 Dan Goldburg JDC Motorsports Duqueine D08 Nissan
GSX: #43 Gregory Liefooghe Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
The next races for VP Sports Car Challenge will be run in a couple weekend's time at Lime Rock Park, the bull ring in Lakeville, Connecticut, supporting botht he Michelin Pilot Challenge and the GT Daytona classes (Pro and regular) in the WeatherTech Championship. We will finish VP Challenge at Road Atlanta in the fall. Fans loved it. We loved it. So, thanks for being with us, and we'll see you at Lime Rock Park.
So long, everyone. Take care.
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