The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship traveled north of the border to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) this past weekend of July 12-13, 2025, an old school circuit that’s also one of the fastest on the IMSA calendar. The top-level GTP class sat out this race, with LMP2 prototypes as the top class along with GTD Pro and GTD.
IMSA handed down some balance of performance (BoP) adjustments prior to this race that impacted the M4 GT3 EVO, which had 10kg of additional weight added to it, along with a 1.6% increase in first stage power and a 3.6% decrease in second stage power (based on speed).
Despite the adjustments, Neil Verhagen stormed to the GTD Pro class pole in the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO with a 1:15.046 lap, which was three-tenths faster than the second place Lexus. The pole was his first in IMSA and the first at CTMP for Paul Miller Racing. “They gave me a great car today and it was just one of those laps where I threw everything in and it worked,” said Verhagen. “I don’t think there was really any more left in that and I am very happy with it.” Dan Harper qualified fifth in GTD Pro in the #48 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO, around four-tenths of a second behind Verhagen. In the GTD class, Patrick Gallagher qualified sixth in the Turner Motorsport #96 M4 GT3 EVO.
Neil Verhagen celebrates his pole position in GTD Pro.
Once the race got under way, Verhagen held onto the GTD Pro lead at the start and built a gap to the second place Lexus, while Dan Harper moved up into fourth on the opening lap and held that position during his stint. Patrick Gallagher also had a great start in the Turner BMW, moving up into third in GTD in the opening laps.
The #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Dan Harper and Max Hesse finished ninth after a strong start.
It looked like it would be a good day for Paul Miller Racing and Turner Motorsport, but both teams were caught out by the caution periods that defined the second half of the race. The #48 car also had a slow pit stop that set them back and later in the race went off track on a restart that cost them position. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Verhagen and Madison Snow ended up sixth in GTD Pro, with the win in that class going to the #81 Ferrari. The #48 Paul Miller car ended up ninth in GTD Pro, and the Turner Motorsport #96 car of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher ended up eighth in GTD. The GTD class win went to the #45 Lamborghini.
Turner Motorsport drivers Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher
finished eighth in GTD.
Turner Motorsport had better results in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race on Saturday, with Jake Walker getting a commanding win in the GTDX class in his first time at CTMP. “Since it was my first time at Mosport, I made some slight adjustments with my driving, along with the car after practice one,” said Walker. “From there we had a great car with strong pace to get the win in race one.” The second VP Challenge race on Sunday was canceled due to inclement weather.
Jake Walker won the VP Challenge race in his Turner Motorsport M4 GT3.
The next race on the schedule for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship is at Road America in Wisconsin on August 1st-3rd. The GTP class will return for that race as well. The VP Challenge series will race next at VIR on August 22nd-24th, where the series may hold an additional race to make up for the canceled race at CTMP.
There was some other IMSA GTP class news last week, as it was confirmed by BMW that the partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) in the GTP class with the BMW M Hybrid V8s will end after this season. BMW M Motorsport has been partnered with RLL since 2009 through campaigns with the E92 M3, the Z4 GT3, the M6 GTLM, the M8 GTLM and the M4 GT3 before starting the M Hybrid V8 program. Rumor has it that BMW M Motorsport is considering BMW M Team WRT for the IMSA GTP program in 2026, which seems like a stretch considering WRT is based in Belgium and running the FIA WEC programs for both the M Hybrid V8s and the M4 GT3 EVO. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the IMSA GTP program scaled back to compete in the Michelin Endurance Cup series only in 2026 but will keep you updated.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy LAT Images]