Daijiro Yoshihara Instagram – We got our first podium of the IMPC season! 🥳🏆
The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) 120 was the highly-anticipated home race for Pit Paddock and Montreal Motorsport Group (@mtlmtrsprtgrp), and from the moment the car rolled out of the trailer, the team was at it.
@daiyoshihara assumed qualifying duties, and like many other IMSA Michelin Pilot Cup tracks, it was Yoshihara’s first time driving, so his P6 qualifying effort netted him additional seat time.
This seemed to pay off as Yoshihara climbed from P6 to P3 within the first fives minutes of the race, with his best lap time beating out the current leaders by two full seconds.
The midpoint meant many would dive into the pits for the first time, including Yoshihara and his nearest competitor—the #52 Audi—who’d been challenging for P3 since the start.
@karlwittmer resumed race duties in P6 before the first full course caution came at the 56-minute mark. By the time the green flag waved and the flurry of pit stops had run its course, Wittmer had climbed to P3.
The drama came with 27 minutes to go: the #17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR suddenly pulled off course with a mechanical failure. The #33 Hyundai never surrendered the lead after the Audi’s exit; however, Wittmer applied plenty of pressure all the way up to the checkered flag, even despite losing his anti-lock braking system.
Wittmer and Dai Yoshihara held onto second place, 0.723 seconds behind the winners. 🏁
“Karl, Dai, and all of our MMG crew deserve this podium,” said Sabrina D’Amico, MMG’s co-owner and Logistics Manager.
There’s much more to play for in the upcoming months; the result means that we moved within striking distance of securing P4 in the overall championship.
Thank you to @arpbolts, @eneosusa, @turn14, @mishimoto, @_whiteline, and @dbausa for supporting Pit Paddock’s inaugural IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign with Montreal Motorsport Group.
To hear more from the MMG team and its drivers about our 2nd place finish at the CTMP 120 visit our Linkin.bio! 👆
📸: @theghostofmozart
#PitandPaddock #MontrealMotorsportGroup #IMSA #IMPC #FL5 #Motorsport #DaiYoshihara #KarlWittmer #CTMP | Posted on 17/Jul/2024 01:02:58
