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, 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 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (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 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 with 1527 points. With 730 points, Josh Burdon, Felipe Fraga, and Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship ahead of Wayne Boyd, Anthony Mantella, and Nicolás Varrone with 606 points. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 1795 points ahead of Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella with 1682 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 1592 points, ahead of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz with 1488 points. Cadillac, Lexus, and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing, Riley Motorsports, Vasser Sullivan Racing, and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.
On July 4, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance 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, Risi Competizione and Iron Lynx were absent. In GTD, Triarsi Competizione, NTE Sport, Magnus Racing, Cetilar Racing, Iron Dames, 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 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. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTP60Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianColin Braun1:07.341_2GTP31Whelen Engineering RacingPipo Derani1:08.121 +0.7803GTP10Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti AutosportFilipe Albuquerque1:08.138 +0.797Sources:
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 of Jack Hawksworth while Loris Spinelli was fastest in GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTP10Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti AutosportRicky Taylor1:05.870_2GTP60Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianTom Blomqvist1:06.138 +0.2683GTP7Porsche Penske MotorsportFelipe Nasr1:06.738 +0.868Sources:
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 positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTP60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Tom Blomqvist1:05.653_12GTP10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Ricky Taylor1:05.734 +0.07123GTP31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani1:05.829 +0.17634GTP01 Cadillac Racing Sébastien Bourdais1:06.266 +0.61345GTP7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Felipe Nasr1:06.521 +0.86856GTP24 BMW M Team RLL Augusto Farfus1:06.801 +1.14867GTP25 BMW M Team RLL Nick Yelloly1:06.848 +1.19578GTP5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mike Rockenfeller1:06.946 +1.29389GTP6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Mathieu Jaminet1:07.329 +1.676910LMP374 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson1:12.946+7.2931011LMP313 AWA Orey Fidani1:13.355 +7.7021112LMP330 Jr III Motorsports Ari Balogh1:13.593 +7.9401213LMP317 AWA Anthony Mantella1:13.682 +8.0291314LMP34 Ave Motorsports Antoine Comeau1:13.884 +8.2311415LMP333 Sean Creech Motorsport Lance Willsey1:14.751 +9.0981516GTD Pro14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Jack Hawksworth1:15.029+9.3761617GTD Pro79 WeatherTech Racing Jules Gounon1:15.103 +9.4501718GTD Pro23 Heart of Racing Team Alex Riberas1:15.341 +9.6881819GTD27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis1:15.478+9.8251920GTD Pro3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor1:15.494 +9.8412021GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo1:15.508 +9.8553422GTD Pro9 Pfaff Motorsports Klaus Bachler1:15.584 +9.9312123GTD1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:15.595 +9.9412224GTD32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mikaël Grenier1:15.670 +10.0172325GTD96 Turner Motorsport Patrick Gallagher1:15.992 +10.3392426GTD78 Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics Misha Goikhberg1:16.100 +10.4472527GTD57 Winward Racing Russell Ward1:16.165 +10.5122628GTD97 Turner Motorsport Chandler Hull1:16.196 +10.5432729GTD70 Inception Racing Brendan Iribe1:16.360 +10.7072830GTD80 AO Racing Team P.J. Hyett1:16.983 +11.3302931GTD77 Wright Motorsports Alan Brynjolfsson1:17.028 +11.3753032GTD91 Kelly-Moss with Riley Alan Metni1:17.126 +11.4733133GTD66 Gradient Racing Sheena Monk1:17.213 +11.5603234GTD92 Kelly-Moss with Riley David Brule1:20.469 +14.81633Sources:
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 .