The 2016 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Bowmanville, Ontario on July 10, 2016. The race was the seventh round of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the event marked the 31st IMSA sanctioned sports car race held at the facility.

Background

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, thirty-fifth annual running of the race. The 1 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix was the second of seventh scheduled automobile endurance races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the fourth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the ten-turn Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on July 10, 2016. For 2016, the WeatherTech Championship race featured all four classes, Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge (PC), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and the GT Daytona (GTD) for the first time since the 2013 edition of the Grand Prix. The weekend also included races for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, Mazda Prototype Lites, the Global MX-5 Cup and the Nissan Micra Cup.

Before the race, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 187 points, ahead of Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in second by 7 points, and Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in third 180 points. With 198 points, PC was led by Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 3 points. In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 159 points, 8 points ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 162 points; the duo held a thirteen-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Chevrolet and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon while the third session on Saturday morning lasted one hour.

The first practice session was held in damp weather. Jordan Taylor set the fastest lap in the No. 10 WTR Corvette DP at 1 minute, 11.158 seconds, 0.985 seconds faster than Tristan Nunez's No. 55 Mazda. Ryan Dalziel in VFR's No. 90 vehicle was third, and Oswaldo Negri Jr.'s No. 60 MSR ligier was fourth. The seven-vehicle PC class was led by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports's No. 52 car, driven by Tom Kimber-Smith with a time of 1 minute, 13.154 seconds. The two Corvette Racing team cars of Oliver Gavin (No. 4) and Antonio García (No. 3) led GTLM. Andy Lally's No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 recorded the fastest time in GTD.

Rain continued to affect the track in the second practice session. Jordan Taylor was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 11.206 seconds, followed by the AER cars of Fittipaldi and Cameron in second and third. A 1:12.131 lap saw Renger van der Zande's No. 8 Starworks vehicle lead PC. Bill Auberlen led GTLM in the No. 25 BMW with a 1-minute, 15.961 lap. Tommy Milner's No. 4 Corvette was second. Müller in the No. 66 CGR Ford GT was third in GTLM. Lally's No. 44 Magnus Audi R8 led GTD, and Spencer Pumpelly, in the No.16 Change Racing Lamborghini, was second in class.

The final practice was held on a dry race track which allowed for faster lap times. Negri's MSR Ligier set the fastest overall lap of 1:10.522, 0.002 seconds faster than Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda. van der Zande led the PC class with a 1 minute, 11.884 second lap in Starworks' No. 8 car. Corvette Racing paced GTLM with García's No. 3 car lapping 1:15.233, ahead of the two BMW M6 GTLMs. With a 1:17.888 lap, David led the GTD class in the No. 6 Stevenson Audi R8.

Qualifying In Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona). ClassTeamDriverTime1P 55 Mazda Motorsports Tristan Nunez 1:10.126 _ 1 2P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor1:10.435 +0.30923P70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long1:10.572 +0.44634P5 Action Express Racing Christian Fittipaldi1:10.761 +0.63545P31 Action Express Racing Eric Curran1:11.177 +1.05156P90 VisitFlorida Racing Marc Goossens1:11.296 +1.17067P60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian John Pew1:11.760 +1.63478PC54 CORE Autosport Colin Braun1:11.946 +1.820159PC38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French1:12.372 +2.246810PC85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Stephen Simpson1:12.448 +2.322911PC20 BAR1 Motorsports Matt McMurry1:12.471 +2.3451012PC52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Robert Alon1:12.505 +2.37911113PC8 Starworks Motorsport Alex Popow1:13.197 +3.0711214P0 Panoz DeltaWing Racing Katherine Legge1:14.077 +3.9511315PC88 Starworks Motorsport Mark Kvamme1:15.020 +4.8941416GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García1:15.198 +5.0721617GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Dirk Müller1:15.236 +5.1101718GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Richard Westbrook1:15.430 +5.3041819GTLM100 BMW Team RLL Lucas Luhr1:15.446 +5.3201920GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen1:15.501 +5.3752021GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin1:15.549 +5.4232122GTLM62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella1:15.780 +5.6542223GTLM912 Porsche North America Earl Bamber1:16.230 +6.1042324GTLM911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy1:16.476 +6.3502425GTD23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Alex Riberas1:18.245 +8.1192526GTD6 Stevenson Motorsports Andrew Davis1:18.582 +8.4562627GTD16 Change Racing Spencer Pumpelly1:18.672 +8.5462728GTD96 Turner Motorsport Bret Curtis1:18.673 +8.5472829GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey1:18.745 +8.6192930GTD9 Stevenson Motorsports Matt Bell1:18.832 +8.7063031GTD27 Dream Racing Cédric Sbirrazzuoli1:19.000 +8.8743132GTD33 Riley Motorsports Ben Keating1:19.132 +9.0063233GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:19.151 +9.0253334GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen1:19.332 +9.2063435GTD97 Turner Motorsport Michael Marsal1:20.070 +9.9443536GTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter1:20.197 +10.0713637GTD22 Alex Job Racing Cooper MacNeil1:20.269 +10.14337Sources:

The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the PC field as per Article 43.1 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver). The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Report Race summary The race was won overall by Eric Curran and Dane Cameron, driving a Chevrolet Corvette DP for Action Express Racing. They finished ahead of the Action Express Racing sister car of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, while the podium was completed by Ricky and Jordan Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing. In sixth place overall, CORE Autosport won the Prototype Challenge class with drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, while the GT Le Mans honors were taken by Ford Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook in the Ford GT in fourteenth place overall. The GT Daytona class was won by Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann in the Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.

Post-race With a total of 220 points, Barbosa and Fittipaldi's second-place finished allowed them to keep their advantage in the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Curran and Cameron advanced from third to second. The final results of PC allowed Popow and van der Zande to extend their advantage in the Drivers' Championship to 14 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith. Gavin and Milner's fourth-place finish kept them atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 5 points over race winners Briscoe and Westbrook. Balzan and Nielsen's fourth-place finish allowed them to increase their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 22 points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Davis and Liddell advanced from sixth to fifth while Keen and MacNeil dropped to seventh. Chevrolet and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships with five rounds left in the season.

Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and . P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona). +Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine1P31 Action Express Racing Eric Curran