News: World Challenge Toronto

[Tuna]

SRT Motorsports (Viper group) plans to bring a GT3-R Viper to Toronto this weekend and take on the GT class - first time since 2010.

Cadillac Racing will have another GT3 car to compete again with their World Challenge rules CTS V.R.

Check out this article from Autoweek - Kuno Wittmer to race Viper SRT GT3-R in Pirelli World Challenge at Toronto - SportsCar news - Autoweek

 

[Tuna]

Cadillac Racing said they thought they would be good on the street circuit in Toronto and the first practice session seems to support that.
Johnny O is fastest with a 1:11.586
Andy is second with a 1:11.709
The Viper of Wittmer is third at 1:11.731 - didnt' take Kuno long to get the GT3R Viper up to speed.
Next is a Prosche GT3R of Tandy, then Palmer in an Audi.

Next practice session is early afternoon. More then.

 

[Tuna]

Second practice. Looks like everyone got better with the others getting a little better than the CTS V.Rs.

Tandy was fastest at 1:10.437 in the GT3 Porsche
Palmer next in the Audi R8
Sofronas third in another Audi R8
Johnny O and Andy are 6th and 9th fastest in this session.

Qualifying is set for 4:30 EDT today. More after that.

 

[Tuna]

As it turned out, the GT3 cars did very well in qualifying and the Cadillac Racing CTS V.Rs qualified 5th and 9th. A Porsche, Viper and a Ferrari are starting up front. Could be a long day for Cadillac Racing.

 

[Tuna]

Spoiler - Toronto race 1

Johnny O picked up 2 places to finish 3rd while Andy picked up 3 places to finish 6th.
Randy in the Porsche and Wittmer in the Viper started and finished 1-2.

 

[Tuna]

Spoiler - Race #2

Johnny and Andy started 8 & 9 for Race 2. Andy managed to advance to 5th overall while Johnny was stuck in 8th.

Wittmer in a Viper took first, Lazzaro in a Ferrari was 2nd, Skeen in an Audi 3rdd and Thorne's McLaren 4th.

 

[Tuna]

Equalizing the competition in World Challenge finally made it hard on Cadillac Racing, it seems.
World Challenge adjusts car weight, rev limiter values and/or restrictor size when needed to equalize the competition between the cars and teams.

Checking the overall standings, I can see why Cadillac Racing was hit with restrictions. In the first 6 races, a CTS V.R finished first second or third with three wins, 2 seconds and 1 third. For the last 4 races, the restrictions on CTS V.R performance is obvious. The highest finishing CTS V.R was fourth, second, third and fifth.

In race 9, Johnny got a great start and was in second by the first turn but was pushed back to third by the third turn with the Viper just blew past him. He mentioned that it's hard to set someone up for a pass if they pull away from you down the straights.

Maybe the powers that be in WC will smile on Cadillac Racing and give them a little something back for the last 7 races.