Canadian Tire Motorsport Park proved itself to be another brutal racing affair for the three Aston Martin Racing powered entries with IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge Series despite things beginning very well for some.
On Friday, the #26 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Hannah Greenemeir had snatched the crew and teams second consecutive pole position of the year after Hannah Grisham had done likewise Watkins Glen two weeks earlier.
However, unlike last time out, the domination of the blue #26 car only lasted until the fourth corner when an over ambitious lunge from a car behind spun the Aston Martin around leaving it mid corner and at the full mercy of the chasing GS and TCR classes. Luckily, the car was avoided by all and the crew where then helped by the calling of a quick Full Course Yellow because of this and another incident just a few corners on.
Within that secondary incident, the #66 Car Blanche AMR of Allen Patten found himself making inadvertent contact with another car – all of whom were avoiding the #26 car on track only to spin the championship leading McLaren around, but the #66 car managed to maintain its P5 position within the order.
Just twenty minutes further in, a significant incident involving both a GS and TCR car saw an immediate Safety Car being called as both the drivers and the circuit damage were being attended to. Eventually when the pitlane was opened, both the #66 and #14 Circle H Racing AMR’s pitted only for the #66 to get later pinged for speeding within the pit lane (getting a drive through penalty for their efforts) whilst the #14 would get later spun around at the final corner. That would see the car hobbled with a puncture which would later turn out to be serious suspension/steering issues that would force the Hampton/Thomas Merril driven car behind the wall and into retirement.
Despite their earlier issues on track, the Hannah’s had made progressive moves through the GS class order for Grisham to be running as high as eighth during the earlier parts of her stint, but an untimely black and orange flag for rearward parts of the car hanging off dropped them back down again. Like Watkins Glen, the ladies earlier pace in qualifying was rewarded with a lower placed finish at the end – this time way down in P15.
It was the #66 Car Blanche car of Patten and Trenton Estep who again came off the best out of the three AMR powered runners as despite their earlier contact and later pit lane violation, still came through to claim a P4 finish at the end to keep their championship hopes alive as the crew now find themselves in sixth with just four races to go.
Photo credits – Teams / social media
