After scoring a pair of podium finishes at LimeRock Park just two weeks ago, TPC Racing headed to Mosport for both the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge byYokohama and the IMSA GT3 Cup Canadian Series races. While at Lime Rock, TPC Racing really found the chassis of the 997 GT3 Cup which is new to TPC Racing this season. Team owner, driver and engineer, Michael Levitas made a few big changes to the car at Lime Rock and the car was faster than it has ever been.
Just one day before departing the TPC Racing headquarters in Jessup, MD, our crew chief had a family emergency to attend to and other crew members had expired passports. With such short notice, it was just Michael and his son Harris to drive the teams’ transporter and take care of all of the tasks necessary during a race weekend which was not easy.
When arriving at Mosport, Michael ran the promoter test day and was quick right out of the box. While being quick, there were changes to be made to make the car even better. Michael reported that the car was too tight in the front and it just did not feel like the front grip was there. Between sessions the car went back to the setup pad for changes to be made.
After throwing a big change at the car, Michael went out for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge byYokohama practice session and brought his fast time from the promoter session down by over a second. The car was handling great so the team changed over to the Michelin tires for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Canadian Series practice. During this session, Michael came in for a minor change and then went back out and set the fastest time in Gold Cup.
About two hours after the first practice for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Canadian Series, it was time for qualifying. Michael went out and ran a few laps and then had enough of a gap to put in a good flyer. On his fast lap, Michael had to slow down due to a car leaking fluid onto the track. Even with having to slow down, Levitas ran his fastest lap time of the weekend and put the car on pole. This would be TPC Racing’s first pole of the season.
One day later, it was time to race. The first race was for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge byYokohama, which the team normally runs in. Michael started fifth in that race but had a better car for the race than in qualifying. When the race started, Levitas was running the same lap times at the drivers running in the top three so it was just a matter of running clean and running hard to catch up to the field. As Michael caught up to the pack, a very long caution came out to repair a wall. This would make it so the race would finish under a green white checker situation which did not leave much time to gain position.
Later that afternoon, it was time to run the Canadian series race. After getting the command to start the engines, Michael called out over the radio saying that the car would not start. Thankfully, the great officials and grid crew at IMSA gave the 36 TPC Racing / Teamspeed / Porsche of Silver Spring car just enough of a push to get it started.
Once the car got moving, there was no looking back. Lap after lap, Michael was creating more and more of a gap to second place and took the checker with over a twenty second lead! This was TPC Racing’s first win of the season and it was a very well deserved win.
“What a great race!” enthused Levitas. “I love racing inCanada– I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to race at Mosport. I’ve been racing here since 1998 and I love racing here. It was an up and down day for me – I was fighting a tight race car in the US GT3 race. I wasn’t able to get it into the corners so we made a big change before this race and it really improved the car.” “It was great to have my son Harris here with me to celebrate. It was just the two of us doing all of the work this weekend. I had one guy on our team that had a family emergency and then everyone else had expired passports. We worked hard and it really paid off. I could not have done this without Porsche and all of the support they provide with Porsche Motorsport North America. They supply an amazing product with a great staff to help us on race weekends. IMSA puts together a fantastic event and I would like to thank all of the officials for everything they do and also the guys on the grid for giving me a push to get the car going!”
Our next race will be at RoadAmericaand we will begoing in strong fighting for another victory! Thank you to our sponsors Porsche of Silver Spring, Teamspeed, JRZUSAand IBIZ World Class Wax for all of the support.
Source: TPC Racing
Photo: IMSA / Friedrich
