Vasser Sullivan Lexus ticks the Canadian box with CTMP GTD PRO win

It is not often you see a race won in the pits, but that is exactly what the Vasser Sullivan Racing crew pulled off at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In the Chevrolet Grand Prix, the team’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 claimed its second consecutive GTD PRO win, and the secret was a lightning-fast pit stop 42 minutes into the two-hour and 40-minute race. By skipping a full energy top-off, the team clocked a pit lane time of just 46.179 seconds. That efficiency handed Ben Barnicoat the track position he needed to hunt down the RLL Team McLaren No. 59 of Nikita Johnson. Once Barnicoat made the move for the lead, he did not look back, staying out front for 78 of the final 118 laps to cross the line 1.993 seconds ahead of the field.

For Jack Hawksworth, who shared the car with Barnicoat, it was a moment of pure execution. The duo—who famously struggled here in past years when starting from the front—avoided that particular curse by starting sixth, methodically carving their way to the front. They were quick to credit their engineer, Geoff Fickling, whose strategic brilliance turned a tight race into a statement victory. This result marks the 20th win for the Lexus RC F GT3, 18 of which have come under the Vasser Sullivan banner, and it puts the pair just 150 points back of the championship lead.

While the No. 14 team celebrated, the rest of the GTD PRO field was left scrambling. AO Racing’s Nick Tandy and Harry King steered their No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) to a hard-fought second, while the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO—shared by Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi—held on for third despite a mid-race “hip check” from an LMP2 car. Meanwhile, the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R finished fourth, clinging to a 108-point cushion in the standings over the rest of the pack.

Over in the GTD class, the win went to the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3, and it was a proper display of grit from Philip Ellis. After Russell Ward handed the car over in second place, Ellis seized the moment during a chaotic restart with an hour and 47 minutes left on the clock. It was a move reminiscent of his aggressive style at Road America last year, threading the needle while others were preoccupied. He brought it home 1.886 seconds clear of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen, with the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher rounding out the podium.