2019 Exhibition Place Toronto - Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup Canada

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada series made its debut in 2011. The championship is one of twenty-three similar GT3 Cup series contested throughout the world. The Canadian GT3 Cup events receive support from Ultra 94 fuel and Yokohama tires.

Drivers compete in one of three classes:

Platinum Class – This is for the 2017 - 2019 models of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. The GT3 Cup Porsche is based on the 911 street version. Within this group, there is the Platinum Masters category for competitors 45-years of age and older.
Gold Class – Older (2014 - 2016) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars compete in this category.
Silver Class - This category is for the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

The current generation Porsche GT3 Cup cars are powered by a 4.0-liter aluminum six-cylinder engine. The motor produces 485-horsepower at 7,500-rpm and is fitted to a six-speed sequential transmission. Stopping the Porsche are aluminum six-piston calipers on the front – while the rear is equipped with four-piston calipers. The GT3 Cup weighs just over 2,600-lbs.

The 2019 season kicks-off in May on the Victoria Day Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The series then participates at the prestigious venue Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as a support event for the Canadian Grand Prix. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will event will also include rounds of the American Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship. Races five and six will see teams return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as part of the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix weekend, which features the WeatherTech Championship. Just a week later, drivers will compete at the Toronto Indy. In early August, teams will join their American counterparts again for a weekend at Road America. The final two races of the season will be held at a venue that the series has not visited since 2012, Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant.

Just four days after the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada was on track at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the series hit the streets of Toronto. Rounds seven and eight were held at the eleven-turn 1.786-mile temporary street circuit at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.

As has become a habit, the championship leader, Roman De Angelis, topped the timesheets in practice and captured the pole for round seven by a margin of 0.491-seconds. Just before the start of the race, a storm moved in, creating a delay and challenging conditions for the drivers. However, that didn’t prevent De Angelis from leading flag-to-flag. On Sunday, he claimed his seventh consecutive victory of the season.

Jeff Kingsley, the winner of round one, spent another weekend chasing the points leader, Roman De Angelis. Kingsley’s performance improved during the two practice sessions and he was the second-fastest qualifier for the weekend’s first contest. After forty-five minutes of racing, he finished behind De Angelis. In the finale, Kingsley went unchallenged and earned another runner-up result.

Parker Thompson was pulling double duty this weekend; he was also competing in the Indy Pro 2000 series. Thompson was seventh fastest in qualifying. During Saturday’s contest, he advanced four positions to finish third and earned the Yokohama Hard Charger Award. He started sixth the next day and inherited two spots when Patrick Dussault and Alan Metni retired to claim a fifth-place result.

Michal Di Meo, the driver of the No. 96 Porsche GT3 Cup, has three top-five finishes in the first six events. However, bad luck has prevented him from appearing on the podium. Di Meo was the sixth fastest in the qualifying session for the weekend’s first contest and finished fifth in the race. On Sunday, he was gridded seventh but charged through the pack to a third-place result and received the Yokohama Hard Charger Award.

Marco Cirone swept both Platinum Masters division contests last weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Cirone continued the trend in race one at Toronto. The driver of the No. 88 Mark Motors Racing Porsche GT3 Cup started the first event in the fifth position and finished sixth overall, but it was enough to win the class. In the finale, Cirone finished fourth, but more importantly, he captured the victory in his category.

Until Toronto, Patrick Dussault was having an excellent season. Dussault entered rounds seven and eight fourth in the title chase. A consistent run on Saturday netted him a fourth-place finish. However, his race the next day ended early. On lap-2, Alan Metni hit the turn nine wall and bounced into Dussault’s No. 77 Lauzon Autosport Porsche GT3 Cup. The race was halted for ten minutes to clear the incident.

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	Platinum	Roman DeAngelis	Mark Motors Racing - Porsche 991 / 2019	35	-
2	Platinum	Jeff Kingsley	Policaro Motorsport - Porsche 991 / 2018	35	-
3	Platinum	Parker Thompson	SCB Racing - Porsche 991 / 2017	35	-
4	Platinum	Patrick Dussault	Lauzon Autosport - Porsche 991 / 2017	35	-
5	Platinum	Michael Di Meo	OpenRoad Racing - Porsche 991 / 2017	35	-
6	Platinum	Marco Cirone	Mark Motors Racing - Porsche 991 / 2019	34	-
7	Platinum	Michael Fantin	Engineered Automotive - Porsche 991 / 2019	34	-
8	Platinum	Perry Bortolotti	Mark Motors Racing - Porsche 991 / 2018	34	-
9	Platinum	Alan Metni	Kelly-Moss/AM Motorsports - Porsche 991 / 2018	34	-
10	Platinum	Martin Harvey	Wingho Racing - Porsche 991 / 2019	34	-
11	Platinum	Ethan Simioni	Policaro Motorsport - Porsche 991 / 2019	33	-
12	Platinum	Shaun McKaigue	Pfaff Motorsports - Porsche 991 / 2017	28	-

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	Platinum	Roman DeAngelis	Mark Motors Racing - Porsche 991 / 2019	31	-
2	Platinum	Jeff Kingsley	Policaro Motorsport - Porsche 991 / 2018	31	-
3	Platinum	Michael Di Meo	OpenRoad Racing - Porsche 991 / 2017	31	-
4	Platinum	Marco Cirone	Mark Motors Racing - Porsche 991 / 2019	31	-
5	Platinum	Parker Thompson	SCB Racing - Porsche 991 / 2017	31	-
6	Platinum	Perry Bortolotti	Mark Motors Racing - Porsche 991 / 2018	31	-
7	Platinum	Michael Fantin	Engineered Automotive - Porsche 991 / 2019	31	-
8	Platinum	Ethan Simioni	Policaro Motorsport - Porsche 991 / 2019	31	-
9	Platinum	Martin Harvey	Wingho Racing - Porsche 991 / 2019	31	-
10	Platinum	Shaun McKaigue	Pfaff Motorsports - Porsche 991 / 2017	31	-
11	Platinum	Patrick Dussault	Lauzon Autosport - Porsche 991 / 2017	2	Did Not Finish
12	Platinum	Alan Metni	Kelly-Moss/AM Motorsports - Porsche 991 / 2018	2	Did Not Finish

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