The only race of the American Le Mans Series outside the United States takes place on Sunday on the outskirts of Toronto, Canada. On the Mosport International Raceway, Porsche is keen to extend its clear lead in the championship with yet another success LMP2 success after claiming six overall victories and seven class wins in succession.
The 4.102 kilometre circuit with its ten corners is regarded amongst drivers as the fastest and most challenging on the American Le Mans Series calendar. “The track is hugely demanding,” confirms Porsche works driver Romain Dumas (France), who won the LMP2 class here last year with the RS Spyder and together with Timo Bernhard (Germany) is well on the way to claiming this year’s title with four overall wins to their credit. “There is hardly any other race track with so many fast corners back-to-back. But this is good for our RS Spyder. We can really show our strength here.”
A total of four Weissach-developed and built sports prototypes contest the Mosport round. Two RS Spyders are entered by Penske Motorsport, who hold a clear points lead in the LMP2 class: Title defender Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Ryan Briscoe (Australia) share the #6 RS Spyder, with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas competing in the #7 car. The Porsche-supported privateer Dyson Racing team fields two RS Spyders, with Andy Wallace (Great Britain) and Butch Leitzinger (USA) in the #16 vehicle, and Chris Dyson (USA) and Guy Smith (Great Britain) at the wheel of the #20 RS Spyder.
Benefiting from his brilliant overall victory on the legendary Road America race track with Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard tackles the Canadian race with high hopes. “We’ve performed well on this track over the last years,” he said, “and the aerodynamics of the RS Spyder have improved even more since then. The finish straight is relatively short, so we shouldn’t lose too much time against our more powerful opponents. But anyway, in the first instance we will concentrate on our class.” Last year Romain Dumas posted a new lap record here.
Sascha Maassen is anticipating an exciting race, particularly as the weather in Mosport is unpredictable: Last year the qualifying session had to be cancelled due to torrential downpours which flooded many parts of the circuit. “The track shows wear and tear from the last years and the surface has been fixed many times,” he said. “In some of the corners we drive partly on concrete and of course have little grip. You have to have your wits about you so you don’t suddenly land in the gravel.”
Competing in the GT2 class for slightly modified production sportscars, Ralf Kellerners (Germany) and Tom Milner (USA) are eager to continue their top performance from the Road America race: In a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from Rahal Lettermann Racing, they took a well-deserved second and climbed the podium for the second time this season. Title defender Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and his team mate Johannes van Overbeek (USA) are determined to secure their third class victory this season with a Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR.