Driving for Multimatic Motorsports, based in nearby Markham, Ontario, Scott Maxwell and Billy Johnson combined to lead all but three laps of Saturday’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, scoring the second victory of the season for the No. 15 Ford Shelby GT350R-C.

Maxwell followed up his series record-breaking 13th TOTAL Pole Award by leading all 38 laps of his 57-minute opening stint. Johnson took over where Maxwell left off, only giving up the front during his final fuel stop. The victory followed back-to-back fourth-place finishes for the team that opened the season by winning at Daytona and finishing second at Sebring.

“Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about points today,” said Maxwell, a Toronto resident. “I just wanted to win. We were coming off a couple of mediocre results and I think we both really wanted to win today. It’s really nice to do that in front of my home crowd and my home track; it’s pretty special.”

Marc Miller finished second in the Grand Sport (GS) class, 11.271 seconds behind in the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing ONE Capital Management/MotorOilMatters.org Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport started by Winnipeg’s Danny Burkett. It was their third consecutive podium finish and fourth of the season.

Paul Holton and Pierre Kleinubing took third in the Toronto-based No. 76 C360R AERO Advanced Paint Technology/Children’s Tumor Foundation Ford Shelby.

Unofficially, Maxwell and Johnson increased their lead to 10 points in the GS standings over Miller and Burkett, 158-148.

Cattaneo, Trinkler Capture ST In Nissan Altima Coupe With Late Pass

Owen Trinkler took the lead with less than five minutes remaining and went on to join Sarah Cattaneo in winning the Street Tuner (ST) class in only their second race with the No. 44 CRG-I Do Borrow Nissan Altima Coupe.

Trinkler dove to the inside of Spencer Pumpelly through the tight Turn 5 complex – the famed Moss Corner – and then held on to beat the No. 18 RS1 Porsche Cayman to the checkered flag by 0.439 seconds. It was their second victory of the season, with the pair winning at Sebring in a Honda Civic Si.

“I really struggled at the start of this weekend, and Owen and the team really helped me get through practice,” said Cattaneo, who scored her third career victory. “Qualifying wasn’t much better. So it was really a team effort and I can’t thank them enough for giving me the encouragement to run the race I did. This was only the second race with the new car, and we won.”

Chad Gilsinger and Ryan Eversley led early in the No. 93 HART Honda Civic Si. Gilsinger took the lead 19 minutes into the race, with the pair holding it until Eversley went wide in Moss Corner with only 10 minutes remaining, allowing Pumpelly to slip by. Eversley held on for third, followed by the No. 73 MINI JCW of Derek Jones and Mat Pombo, the No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss, and the No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 of Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer.

Unofficially, Pumpelly and starting driver Nick Galante increased their ST lead to 14 points over McAleer and McCumbee, 145-131, with Gilsinger another nine points back with 122. Cattaneo and Trinkler are fourth with 120 points.

View full results via Al Kamel Systems at Results.IMSA.com

NOTEBOOK

• A pair of pit miscues ended a three-race winning streak for the No. 12 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman of Cameron Cassels and Trent Hindman. The team lost a lap on its first pit stop for improper assistance by a crewman, resulting in a drive-through penalty. While Hindman managed to run pass Johnson to get back on the lead lap, loose lug nuts on the team’s final scheduled pit stop resulted to another stop. They went on to finish fourth.
• Johnson now has 15 career victories and Maxwell eight in Continental Tire Challenge competition. Trinkler is now a seven-time winner in the series.
• The race was slowed by only one caution period. Ari Balogh went off into the Turn 5 gravel trap in the No. 83 Next Level European Red Line Oil Porsche Cayman at the one-hour, eight-minute mark and needed to be towed out.
• Marc Miller, driver of the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport: “Ultimately, all we could do was match the pace of the No. 15 car. Out of the box they were great all week. To be honest, it’s great to leave here with a second. We lost some ground to the leaders, but we are more solidly second in points now and we hope we can take this momentum into the next race at Lime Rock. We had maybe three potential wins taken from us this season. We just have to go and win the next race and hope things swing back our way.”

Round 6 for the Continental Tire Challenge will be at Lime Rock Park during the Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday, July 23.