Round 6 of the 2025 VSCA SportsCar Championship delivered an intense return to racing for the GTP class, as the series arrived at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on a rainy Saturday for the Canadian Sports Car Grand Prix. Marking the fourth race of the Sprint Cup season, the 2.45-mile, 10-turn Bowmanville circuit tested the field of GTP, LMP2, and GT PRO entries with rapidly changing weather and unpredictable grip. With the GT AM class not participating, all eyes were on the premier prototypes, making their first appearance since Laguna Seca in April.
Rising Panda Racing’s Ryan Ware set the tone early in qualifying, earning pole position with a time of 1:07.031 in the #46 Acura ARX-06. At the start, Ware held his lead, though a scare came almost immediately when Selena Ward in the #32 Wastegate Racing Cadillac went off at Turn 2, narrowly missing the front runners. Dani Fonte in the #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac also dodged disaster, barely avoiding the spun car.
Strategy and Storms Shape the Middle Hour
The race settled into a rhythm until 40 minutes in, when Lorenzo Bonder lost control of the #37 W2 e-ProGP Ferrari 499P just after a pit stop. The car struck the wall in Turn 3, and further trouble followed in Turn 4, forcing the Brazilian team into lengthy repairs and a steep drop down the order.
As intermittent showers began to pepper the circuit, conditions deteriorated and the first full-course yellow was triggered 52 minutes into the race. Ryan Ware had established a six-second lead over the recovering #32 Cadillac of Ward, with Fonte running third in the #51. During the caution, teams swapped drivers: Christian Campregher took over the #46, Niclas Pedersen stepped into the #32, and Álvaro Martínez climbed into the #51.
The #46 team lost time in the pits, falling to third as the race resumed after an extended yellow flag period. On the restart, Martínez made a bold move around the outside of Turn 2 to pass Pedersen and claim the lead. As rain began falling harder, visibility dropped and standing water increased, turning the track into a perilous gauntlet.
World Of SimRacing Team Climbs, Rising Panda Racing Falters
The #32 Cadillac struggled in the worsening conditions, gradually slipping to third as Campregher pushed the #46 Acura back into second. But Martínez proved untouchable in the wet, pulling out a three-second gap before the second full-course yellow came with 78 minutes left.
Once again, pit strategy came into play as the top three GTP teams entered pit lane together. The crews of the #51, #46, and #32—stationed side by side—battled to complete service fastest. World Of SimRacing’s crew prevailed, and Martínez rejoined with the lead intact.
On the restart, Pedersen nearly lost control in Turn 1, narrowly avoiding a trailing LMP2 car. Campregher pushed hard in the next phase, drawing close to the rear wing of Martínez through the mist. But while the Austrian showed speed, it was Martínez’s composure that shone. The Spaniard pulled away again, building a five-second cushion heading into the final 30 minutes.
Turn 5 Takes Its Toll
With 25 minutes to go, Turn 5 became the scene of heartbreak once again. As Campregher tried to close the gap to the leader, his Acura hydroplaned off into the tire barriers. The resulting damage and repairs cost the Rising Panda squad any chance of a podium.
Ironically, as Pedersen approached the same corner moments later, he too lost control in the standing water. In a fortunate twist, the Dane avoided hitting anything and rejoined the race, though with a significant deficit to the lead.
Unchallenged in the final stretch, Martínez cruised to the team’s third win of the season in the #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac. The win marked a 16.476-second margin over second-placed Wastegate Racing and a commanding wet-weather performance.
Post-Race Reactions
Álvaro Martínez, #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac: "Wow! We're really incredibly happy! I can't believe it! It's fantastic to be back here at the top! I remember the whole team and their fantastic work at the factory; it's because of them that we're here in victory lane!"
"We performed better the more water there was on the track. In dry conditions and until it got wet, Dani did an excellent job leaving me with the car in perfect condition for the second half of the race."
"After the second caution period, we had a problem on the restart and it was really hard to keep the 32 and 46 behind. Our battery got stuck and stopped giving us power, which was a real drama on the radio until it was fixed. At that point, we were losing more than one second on the back straight! I had to make up as much distance as possible in the first half of the circuit to be able to hold on, and we did! I was just waiting to be overtaken by the 46 until suddenly the battery came back just in time!"
On the Acura's performance in the rain: "They had very good cornering and traction in slow corners, especially turn five, but we had a very safe car in everything else, which was the key. Being able to take those long corners and having the stability of the car is the most important thing for us, which we achieved, so I'm very, very happy with our Caddy in the wet!"
Dani Fonte, #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac: "We're very happy, because with the possibility of rain, which finally arrived, it was going to be a difficult and delicate race, in which finishing with no points was very easy."
"Luckily, it wasn't a very intense rain, so the adaptation was quite progressive and "easy", and the FCY made sure that no one had to interpret the exact moment to change to rain tires. I had more pace in the dry than in the wet, probably because our rivals opted for a setup more for the rain than the dry."
"There were doubts about how fast both drivers would perform in the rain, but I had complete confidence in Álvaro in wet conditions. Even so, the Acura had much more pace in the rain, but he had a pretty serious crash, probably because of the puddles on the descent; it was a tricky spot."
"The key to this victory is Álvaro dancing in the rain. He had more rhythm than me in the rain, and given the weather, the strategy of me starting in the dry and him finishing in the wet suited us. It was the optimal strategy for the best possible result."
Selena Ward, #32 Wastegate Racing Cadillac: On the spin on lap one: "I think I just underestimated how quickly the leader intended to take that corner and tried my best with my reaction to not take them out and yet also keep our car from sliding all the way into the wall. It's unfortunate, because we had such great pace in the dry conditions, although in hindsight the cautions and rain equalized it all anyways, so no regrets on performance as I was able to hand the car off to our resident alien right where it started."
"P2 is something to typically be happy with but given the winners are the ones we're chasing in the points, it makes it tougher to be so close but not get the job done. I'm not sure we could've done much differently as Nic drove an absolute stunner of a stint in very poor conditions, but clearly the 51 executed where they needed to and made no mistakes, literally 0 incidents. Some days you're better than the rest and others somebody else is, so we'll try to have more of those days over the rest of the season than the competition."
Niclas Pedersen, #32 Wastegate Racing Cadillac: On his scare in turn five: "Yea that was a bit of a moment, it was really tricky conditions, and difficult trying to keep the car on the road."
"Not really sure what went wrong there but maybe got caught in a puddle when pushing the brake and spun, luckily managed to keep it out of the wall."
Lorenzo Bonder, #37 W2 e-Pro GP Ferrari: "We are relieved with that result actually. We had great pace at the start, but we made a mistake that set us back and on top of that we had damage but we kept our focus on the race. We're very pleased that the effort paid off."
"It is very good to be on podium again. Like I said - relief and happiness. I think we needed a clean race after a great start in January at Daytona, in the Roar. We missed so many opportunities, so we're very satisfied with this result."
On finishing five laps down after a car contact under FCY: "Yes, sadly we had that incident during the yellow flag, I guess the driver of the car [#183 Blocco Motore, Marco Silva] behind was catching up the field and was unable to react on time when he catch up the field. We lost a lot of time not only with the repairs but also the black flags."
Championship Standings
With the result, World Of SimRacing Team extends their lead in both the GTP Championship and Sprint Cup standings. The #51 Cadillac now holds a 302-point advantage over the #32 of Wastegate Racing in the SportsCar Championship GTP standings, and a 205-point lead in the Sprint Cup.
Despite the late crash, the #46 Rising Panda Racing Acura secured fourth place and moved up to third in both standings. The #37 Ferrari, after early trouble, recovered to claim third on the day, thanks to a resilient drive by Brazilian duo Marcos Eberhardt and Lorenzo Bonder.
Looking Ahead to Detroit
While the series now travels to Detroit, GTP teams will take a break before returning to action at Watkins Glen on June 21, for the fourth annual Six Hours of the Glen. The six-hour race marks the beginning of the VSCA summer break and Round 4 of the 2025 VSCA Endurance Cup. With World Of SimRacing Team dominating the GTP championship so far, the question will be, who can step it up and challenge the Spaniards for the title in the second half of the 2025 season.
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