Hello, and welcome to Canada, eh? We are north of the border at the legendary Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, once known by its original name (that many fans, including yours truly still refer to it as), Mosport Park. I have a friend from Canada, who saw some of the classic races at Mosport, when they happened. This is a great old circuit. This is the first of two, 45-minute races for the weekend, for VP Challenge at CTMP. Coming into this event, Jagger Jones, grandson of the late, great Parnelli Jones, son of former IMSA GTP champion, P.J. Jones, has been on a hot streak, and has won every race in the LMP3 class to this point. Will he continue his streak this weekend? Will there be a new winner? Stay tuned to find out.
We are entering the second half of the season with stiff competition but also one of the fastest, and most challenging circuits in North America. This is round seven of the championship. Since 1961, racing has taken place here at CTMP, Mosport. It is fast and like a rollercoaster. Pay particular attention to turns one and two, and turn five at Moss corner, and the final three corners on the circuit, turns eight, nine, and ten to complete the lap. To a stalwart sports car racing fan like me, this place will be forever known as Mosport Park. The weather is gorgeous, as we are in a gorgeous, wooded setting with plenty of greenery. We are starting the second half of the championship chase in VP Challenge, today.
The LMP3 championship sees Steven Aghakhani with a fair-sized lead over Miguel Villagomez, and the Ecuadorian racer is not competing this weekend in Canada. Aghakhani is on the pole and outside the front row is Jagger Jones who did not race in the doubleheader at Daytona International Speedway to open the season. But, since then, he has been perfect. He has scored four poles, and four races wins in subsequent events on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, last time out. He was fastest in Free Practice, but had understeering issues in qualifying and has qualified in second place. Jagger Jones wants to get his win streak back on track.
In the GSX class for GT4 production cars, it is Jesse Lazare at the top of the shop aboard the #21 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4. Our current GSX points leader, Lucas Mars, has his #59 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 fourth on the starting grid. Local young driver, Jack Polito, out of Lindsay, Ontario, Canada, has his Ford Mustang GT4 on pole position. He drives the #98 car for Polito Racing sponsored by his family's Ford dealership, Polito Ford Lincoln. He qualified second on the outside of Jesse Lazare. Lazare is only 120 points out of the GSX lead currently held by Luca Mars.
Mars will not like the fact that his new rival is also in another Ford Mustang. This is a classic racetrack. Jack Polito has much experience around CTMP in sports cars, a champion of the Canadian FEL series. They run on Michelin tires like IMSA and also like IMSA, their top classes include GT4 and TCR cars. CTMP is such a fast, flowing track. It is very much like a short oval for an IndyCar. He must have the car underneath him. Here comes the field. We have 45 minutes on the clock, ready to race. Can Jagger Jones hold the outside line around the first turn? Please, tell me you know what to do at the first turn! Green flag! Away we go!
Wow! Jones wasting no time around the outside of Steven Aghakhani right off the start! A fantastic move by the youngster out of Scottsdale, Arizona. Steven Aghakhani believes he is in a good place to win the war, not just the battles. Aghakhani is very confident. Jagger Jones is 510 points down in the championship after missing Daytona. He was surprised by the understeer symptoms he felt in qualifying. One ap in the bag. It is all or nothing for Jagger Jones with that move he made. If Jagger Jones wins all the rest of the races, Steven Aghakhani would need to finish sixth or worse in all the remaining races. After this weekend at CTMP, there will be just two rounds, and four races remaining.
A doubleheader at Virginia International Raceway at the end of August, and then, the final doubleheader, the championship decider, at Road Atlanta, in Georgia, outside of Atlanta, in October. Aghakhani is going for it and wants to win. Racing drivers like Aghakhani, going for titles, must temper their enthusiasm to win races even though the race wins are truly what they desire. For Jagger Jones, it is all or nothing. Through turn eight, hometown hero Jonathan Woolridge holds down third spot aboard the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan. In sixth spot is the #51 car of Ryan Phinny, and he too is running well. Phinny at the wheel of the Rick Ware Racing with Ave Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan.
Woolridge is just down the road here in Ontario, Canada, from Whitby, Ontario, primarily having raced at CTMP/Mosport in Formula Ford open wheel car as well as Formula 1600 cars and has also succeeded in Radical prototypes and in Porsche GT3 Cup cars. Woolridge is currently ahead of his more experienced teammate Alex Kirby aboard car #7, the second Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier. Kirby hailing from Newport Beach, California. Into Moss corner they go, onto the backstretch. Use the draft and fly down the straightaway as the Michelin tires come up to temperature and pressure. This is a very different racetrack compared to the cool of the morning.
Kirby, who we mentioned, he has had a decent season. He started the 2024 season with his best result finishing second in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. That was a second spot to Steven Aghakhani as Alex Kirby finished fifth at Mid-Ohio last month. Jones leading Aghakhani, Woolridge, and Kirby, and then, rounding out the top five is Brian Thienes in the #77 Forte Racing Ligier IS P320 Nissan. Now, we return to the battle in GSX. Moments ago, the bump and run, applied in a pass for third place. Mercedes-AMG vs. Ford Mustang. Josh Green in the #78 Thaze Competition Mercedes-AMG GT4 tags Luca Mars in the #59 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4. Mars has now swapped the position. Was it taken back or given back?
Green was ahead of Mars for a moment, but they are battling. Moving in behind them we have Moisey Uretsky, Patrick Wilmot, and Scott Blind. Mercedes, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin. Five manufacturers in the top six places in class which shows the competitiveness of the GT4 platform. Mars is the championship leader. Green made his VP Challenge debut at Mid-Ohio with two second place finishes for the young driver from Long Island, New York. Green is closing in on Mars because Mars has an ill handling race car. Over the hill and down into turn two, now we see Lazare and Polito running as a duo stretching their margin. Mars ekes out an advantage over Green.
Moisey Uretsky too is in a battle and in replay, we see Mars making the move back on Green, retaking the place. The #59 Mustang looks unsettled to me. The tires are not turning on. So, the car is moving around on the sidewalls of the tires. In the meantime, Jagger Jones is on a Saturday drive currently and he is confident with the car running very well currently. He has potential to become a star, and is the grandson of Parnelli Jones, the late, great racing legend. Parnelli Jones, 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner, SCCA Trans Am champion, off road racing champion, and more. Of course, Parnelli Jones passed away a month ago. Jagger Jones is a chip off the old block. His father P.J. was a successful driver particularly in sports cars.
P.J. Jones had a ton of success with Toyota, with Dan Gurney and the All-American Racers team in the original IMSA GTP in the early 1990s.
https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/P.%20J._-Jones-USA.html
Jagger Jones is following in large footsteps at age 21 of both his dad and his grandfather. Jagger Jones has the speed and the ability to carve through traffic decisively. He can read the traffic and is mature beyond his years in spite of not racing too often in multi-class racing. He started in stock cars, and was on the Road to Indy ladder. He ran an Indy Lights race at Mid-Ohio. He has worked hard to gain his oppoirtunity. He has grabbed the opportunity with both hands to race this FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08 Nissan.
Steve Aghakhani has been racing now for a few years, first in GT cars and now in LMP3 prototypes. Aghakhani is another fast, smart driver who is maturing and doing what he needs to do being fast on the track. Aghakhani was cool under pressure in some of these recent races and wants a championship. Aghakhani did win a title in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America as well. At that point he was racing in the Am class. He has raced in Italy in the Italian GT Championship and throughout Europe. He is still only 21 years of age. Over the last five years he has gained a lot of experience.
Moments ago, coming into turn five at Moss corner, Jagger Jones has a very close call and he almost spun completely off the road. Meanwhile, after that save and a half by Jones, we have one of the GSX cars off the road. That is the black and white zebra striped entry of Frank DePew for Rebel Rock Racing in their Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo. DePew out of Richmond, Virginia. DePew runs wide through turn three trying to leave space for Jagger Jones, goes off in the grass and does a lazy half spin. Jones was committed and a lucky boy to keep the car out of the wall.
Amazingly, Jones still leads Aghakhani to the tune of nearly ten seconds. Nine and a half, the last time yours truly checked the scoring pylon on the left-hand side of the iPad screen. Jagger Jones is doing all he needs to do and at some point, he must understand that a win is a win, and he can't press too hard. Only you can drive your car. Don't make mistakes. Another driver who is pressing you, you cannot let them be the backseat driver, the mother-in-law in the back seat telling you where to go and sarcastically saying, "hey, sonny! Can't you drive this tug any faster?" Jones is pushing hard. He is creating the best possible impressions.
In the meantime, we are watching the battle for fifth place in LMP3 as Ryan Phinny has it, and Brian Thienes wants it. You've heard of the Dale and Dale Show in NASCAR with Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jarrett. Well, in sports cars, in VP Challenge at this moment, welcome to the Ryan and Brian Show! Aye yaye yaye yaye yaye! Brian Thienes gets trapped at Moss corner right behind Luca Mars in the Mustang! That was close! That opens the door for Ryan Phinny who says, "thanks, mate. I'll play through. No worries." Brian Thienes' response. "Ugh! Now I must keep chasing this guy!" Phinny up to fifth. More downforce in the prototype vs. less in the GT4 car. The prototype is going to have gobs more downforce than the GT car. Brian Thienes has been around this sport a long time.
Thienes is a candidate for old age and treachery. He raced in the Toyota Atlantic open wheel series 20 or so years ago. Thienses qualified well and now he must pass Ryan Phinny, a rookie. Thienes comes by to lap past the GSX leader Jesse Lazare in the MIA McLaren Artura GT4 who is just two seconds ahead of Jack Polito in second spot in the #98 Ford Mustang GT4 for Polito Racing. Jagger Jones working through GSX traffic up through Moss corner. Jack Polito having a great run and now, Luca Mars is coming back into the picture as his tires have found their sweet spot.
Mars is the championship leader and needs to gain on Jesse Lazare. So, if Lazare ends up winning this race, Mars knows he has a mountain to climb. If he wins it, he will be standing at the summit, or almost to the summit. Coming into the weekend, Mars had a 120-point lead of Lazare. With that said, with 350 points for a win, 320 for second, 300 for third, that will halve the deficit for Jesse Lazare. Lazare has won three of the last four VP Challenge races in the GSX class and finished third the other time, while Luca Mars has had but one win this season in 2024.
Jack Polito in the other Ford Mustang is hanging right with Jesse Lazare. I really believe that Lazare was caught out in the traffic. Jordan Menzin works through the traffic as well. Again, traffic giveth and traffic taketh away. It will sometimes be a benefit and other times it will affect your lap time negatively. Menzin looks inside of Lazare, Lazare slams the door in his face. Not now, sunbeam. Not now. Into Moss Corner at turn five they go, again. The Ford Mustang has looked good all weekend long. Jack Polito is a young driver but knows this track. He is very excited about debuting in VP Challenge.
They have a Ford, Lincoln dealer in Lindsay, Ontario, and races in the Canadian FEL endurance championship and also a multiple champion in Snocross, motocross racing with snowmobiles. The GSX lead battle continues. Heavy braking at the end, over the bump. Polito is using more of his Michelin tires with 25 minutes on the board, so closing in on the halfway mark. Luca Mars in third, the championship leader in GSX is getting stymied. Tire degradation is an issue. Oh man! I missed something. Mars just slid that Mustang way over the curbs off turn eight! Yikes! He is right on the limit! \
14 laps already n the bag, equating to 34 miles. In this replay, he really goes for it. That was a big catch! Egad! Mars is now motoring on. Just over 24 minutes on the board as we said. Jagger Jones working through the GSX traffic catching one or two cars per lap and he knows which driver he is dealing with. There is no driver change in a sprint event like this. One driver in each car. Jagger Jones, of course, is in the only Duqueine built LMP3 chassis in the field while all the rest of the LMP3 cars in the motor race today are Ligier's. Both of them are French made cars.
Now we move back to GSX racing to ave a Captain Cook at the battle for seventh place. This is Scott Blind in the #45 Ruckus Racing Aston Martin being harried by Angus Rogers aboard the #5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Porsche Cayman. This is the same team that runs the lone Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR in the TCR class in Michelin Pilot Challenge which we will be watching later on this afternoon. This is of course year two of the VP Sports Car Challenge. This is the Bronze category battle in GSX. Blind in the highlighter yellow Aston Martin with Rogers in the Porsche with a striped, black, white, and gold livery on it. Mark Brummond is not racing this weekend here in Canada. The Bronze category drivers have more life experience.
The yellow Aston Martin does have purple flashes on it. Blind is gunning for the title. Michael Dayton is the Bronze Cup points leader in GSX, and he is only a handful of second down on Angus Rogers, running eighth in class aboard the #12 Swish Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. Dear, oh dear! We have a massive issue here, look, for Jesse Lazare! He is stopped, pulled off to the side of the road as have reached the second half of race one! The GSX leader is in trouble, dropping like a stone. Let's see if we can find out what happened to Jesse Lazare. He was scrapping with Jack Polito just a wee while ago. Ah. No incident. The car just slowed down and stopped.
He came out of turn three and something mechanical has gone wrong with that McLaren Artura. We are under Full Course Yellow. Hopefully your tires are safe and sound to the end. This is terrible for Jesse Lazare's championship aspirations, chasing down Luca Mars. He will be in a hole, in a bind, when it comes to the title. Full Course Yellow. Jagger Jones' 17 second lead evaporates and now Steve Aghakhani must be smart, and Jagger Jones will be pushing hard. His grandfather, his father, are champions. He will be using that wisdom now. You never wish ill fortune on your competitors, except for when you are going for a title. Then you start htinking, "hey, if the other blokes have problems, we can and will be in this thing."
Mars has been doing well. He was behind Jack Polito in the other Ford Mustang and now he will be right on it and Josh Green in the Mercedes will be in the picture again, too. As a generalization about the production car platforms, the Mercedes-AMG is easier on its tires than the Ford Mustangs are. The tires are beginning to fall off. Back at the top of the shop in LMP3, Aghakhani was far behind, and Jones has been cutting consistent laps in the 1:13 range. We were wondering about a wave around for cars in front of the GSX class leader and they have been waved around. So, Steven Aghakhani will have a clear shot to run again Jagger Jones.
Ford wants to win this championship. Will there be conversation down the pit lane between KOHR Motorsports and Polito Racing to see if one Ford team will cooperate with the other? Are they going for what Ford wants? Are the teams going for themselves? I don't know if Jack Polito is going to be keen on that because he has family and friends and all the representatives of his family's Ford and Lincoln car dealership here. Great question. Polito of course is on debut looking to win his home race and he is a young pup yet. He has done so well on debut. If I were in that seat, I would probably ignore the message and then claim, when asked, "why didn't you hear us on the radio?" "Well, the radio failed. All I heard was static, or I heard the voice of Charlie Brown's teacher in the background... wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh."
If you want it, you come and get it. Ford wants to win and stretch their margin in the manufacturer's cup. Polito wants to win on debut at home in front of friends and family. That is what he gives a flip about. 15 minutes to go. Ford holds a 60-point edge in the manufacturer's championship over McLaren. I believe the MIA McLaren of Jesse Lazare is the sole representative in this race. Lazare is out of this one. They will get sixth place points. Not what McLaren wanted. OK. It is crunch time. Green flag. Aghakhani has the better run, a head of steam, and now he is right on Jones' back bumper. Jones leads. Now, Aghakhani wiggles at the top of the hill diving down the hill.
So, Aghakhani regroups, and Jones is focusing forward and not worrying about his mirrors up the Mario Andretti straightaway, which does have a curve in it. We only had a lap worth of safety car running. The Duqueine has the straight line speed edge over the Ligier. Aghakhani tried going for the lead and Jagger Jones was having none of it. 13 minutes to go and they will be hitting GSX traffic atleast one more time. Some debris on the road and there is more damage to that zebra striped Aston Martin #72 for Rebel Rock Racing, Frank DePew at the wheel of it. That left front fender is bent back towards the driver's side door.
If the debris isn't sharp, it shouldn't cause any trouble. It won't be at risk for puncturing a tire, the debris on the course. Jones stretching his lead to 13.6 seconds and his fastest lap was 1:30.192. He is faster than Steven Aghakhani's best lap. Now, in GSX, Polito is being monstered by an LMP3 car. That is the #18 LMP3 car of Jordan Menzin. That dimensional debris is carbon fiber which shattered when he hit it. Know when you can pass and when you cannot. Polito knows Luca Mars is right on his six. We should have about seven laps to run in the final ten minutes. Josh Green is now third, but he is 3.7 seconds behind. We have a massive crash! The multicolored #37 Mercedes-AMG GT4, Eddie Killeen from Buffalo, New York, has clobbered the barrier!
The bonnet is all the way up. He is 11th and this contact on driver's right is into turn ten and the skid marks go all the way back between turns nine and ten. He lost oil out of the left side of the exhaust. A massive debris field. That car has huge left front damage. I wonder if the oil pan fell off or if he blew the oil sump out of the bottom of the engine. I didn't see a noxious cloud of impenetrable smoke. But obviously oil has drained its way out of the motor on impact. That is the sister car for Thaze Competition to Josh Green. He had enough momentum to cannon into both walls. Thank heavens the AMR safety workers are there to rescue Eddie Kileen who got wide, hooked the car back to the left and smashed the barrier in turn ten.
He probably oversteered right into the fence. Hard to know. That concrete wall is so unforgiving and there is a debris field all the way across the track. Hopefully Eddie Killeen is OK. Eddie Killeen should be OK. Jagger Jones must be on the radio asking if this rae will restart. Will the race be getting back underway? At MLT Motorsports, Steven Aghakhani probably wants to get back after it so he can go after Jagger Jones to the end of this motor race. Keep your focus all the time and stay with the program. You have to assume you will go back to green.
Drivers will be told if they are going back to green or not. Full Course Yellows provide for a bit of a mind break but stay alert. This is round seven of the championship with time of the essence. I doubt we are going to restart this race as the marshals continue cleaning up Eddie Kileen's accident and helping him out. Scott Blind of Fenton, Missouri, in the Ruckus Racing Aston Martin is still leading the Bronze section of the GSX class. Excuse me. He is second. Moisey Uretsky is ahead aboard the #44 Baby Bull Racing Porsche Cayman, Uretsky out of Miami, Florida. Michael Dayton is the championship leader in the #12 Swish Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 out of Culpepper, Virginia.
Scott Blind can take a ten-point lead in GSX Bronze Cup going into race two tomorrow. We should see the white flag this time by. Ah yes. One lap to go. Jagger Jones is aiming for maximum points and going for maximum attack. Jones is going to win this race, but he knows Aghakhani is continuing to make inroads as we are into the second half of the season. Jones is continuing to try winning every race as he has done with five wins on the trot already. Jonathan Woolrdige, the Canadian, in his home event, is set to score his second podium of the 2024 season aboard the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier.
For Jack Polito and Polito Racing, today will be memorable and they will win GSX on debut with a Ford Mustang 1-2. In the LMP3 championship, Brian Thienes will move up in the championship at the wheel of the #77 Forte Racing Ligier because his closest rival, Miguel Villagomez is not competing here in Canada this weekend. The checkered flag waves! Jagger Jones continues his perfect season here at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Jack Polito and his family team will win in the GSX class. Five wins in five races for Jagger Jones. The streak continues.
Overall/LMP3: #87 Jagger Jones FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08 Nissan
GSX: #98 Jack Polito Polito Racing Ford Mustang GT4
We will have race two for VP Sports Car Challenge tomorrow morning here at CTMP. So, do join us for that. Thoughts for Eddie Killeen. Hope he is OK. We'll see you back here at Mosport for race two, tomorrow. Bye bye for now. Michelin Pilot Challenge action, coming your way, very soon, too. Stay tuned for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment