Versteeg Pads Lead With Fifth Victory Of Season

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Austin Versteeg returned to the top step of the podium while further cementing JDC Motorsports’ monopoly on that spot Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

 
Versteeg, from Sandy, Utah, earned his fifth victory of the 2016 Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires season in the No. 7 JDC Motorsports entry. He beat teammate Clark Toppe by 1.441 seconds.
 
Lites 1 podium finishers (from left): Clark Toppe, Austin Versteeg, Max Hanratty

The victory extended one of the more remarkable streaks in North American sports car racing, as JDC Motorsports has won 25 consecutive Prototype Lites races dating back to August 2014.

 
“I can’t thank everyone involved in this program enough,” Versteeg said. “Not only did I have a good weekend, we had a really good team result, one-two both days, so a good points weekend for the team.”
 
Versteeg also increased his championship lead to 22 points with the victory. That was his gap entering Rounds 6 and 7 of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Official Development Series at CTMP. Toppe, from The Woodlands, Texas, won Round 6 Saturday with Versteeg second, so the weekend ended up as a points stalemate for the JDC duo.
 
Max Hanratty, from Milwaukee, finished third today in the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports entry for his third podium finish of the season. The strong result came a day after Hanratty’s 23rd birthday.
 
Series rookie Nathan Blok, from Pembroke, Ontario, finished fourth in just his second Prototype Lites start in the No. 43 Performance Tech Motorsports car. Michael Whelden, from Sausalito, California, rounded out the top five in the No. 29 Extreme Speed Motorsports Élan DP02 chassis powered by a Mazda engine and racing on Cooper Tires.
 
Joel Janco, from Key Largo, Florida, swept the Lites 1 Masters class with his second victory of the weekend in the No. 25 JDC Motorsports entry. Janco’s victories at this event were the first and second of his four-season career in the series.
 
Max De Angelis, from Windsor, Ontario, was the top finisher in the Lites 2 class in the No. 07 Eurosport Racing entry.
 
Cooper Tires pole winner Austin Versteeg

Versteeg started from the pole and never trailed in the 45-minute race. But three caution periods and their ensuing restarts added drama.

 
Second-year series driver Versteeg was flawless on all three restarts. Toppe applied pressure on the first two restarts, but Versteeg was able to parry him on the first lap under green around the 10-turn, 2.459-mile (3.957 km) circuit. Versteeg pulled away to a lead as large as 5.940 seconds shortly before the second caution period midway through the race.
 
The third and final caution period was triggered with 13 minutes remaining. Kyle Masson went wide at Turn 5 while running third in the No. 18 Performance Tech Motorsports entry and speared into the tire barrier. Masson was unhurt.
 
Versteeg pounced on the ensuing restart with five minutes, 40 seconds remaining. He poured on the power in the restart zone entering Turn 10 and drove away from Toppe and the field, leading by .855 of a second at the end of the first lap after the restart.
 
“We were having some troubles with shifting issues at Watkins Glen, but we definitely worked on restarts and just thought about them over the short break,” Versteeg said. “I think the restarts were the big key for this race, with three yellows.”
 
Toppe rallied to within .639 of a second on the next lap, but Versteeg then found another gear to pull away for the victory.
 
“It was definitely hard getting in a rhythm out there today, and starting second wasn’t ideal,” Toppe said. “It’s hard, especially with a very aero-dependent track like this, to start behind and try to catch up. Austin ran a hell of a race, a really good job to him.”
 
Lites 1 Masters
 
Lites 1 Masters podium finishers (from left): Gary Gibson, Joel Janco, Dave House

Janco completed a weekend to remember with his second victory of the event and of his Prototype Lites career.

 
He started second behind Michal Chlumecky but took the lead when Chlumecky’s car stopped in Turn 4 on the first green-flag lap of the race, which started under caution due to debris in Turn 5.
 
Janco also inherited the lead Saturday when Chlumecky’s No. 31 Eurosport Racing car stopped on track under caution with two minutes remaining, forcing the race to finish under caution.
 
But this race was different, as Janco still had 40 minutes of intense action following Chlumecky’s retirement. And Janco drove flawlessly, holding off Gary Gibson by .416 of a second at the finish.
 
“Today was a fabulous day in racing for me,” Janco said. “We got to the front on the first lap and never looked back. We ran consistent, fast laps, and nobody ever caught us. It was about as good as it could get for an old guy out there.”
 
Gibson, from Libertyville, Illinois, earned his first podium finish of the season in the No. 13 Team Perfect Pedal entry. Dave House, from Saratoga, California, finished third in the No. 86 ONE Motorsports car for his second career podium result and first since June 2015 at Watkins Glen.
 
Rounds 8 and 9 of the Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires are scheduled for Aug. 12-14 at the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivières (GP3R) in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
 
For more information about Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires, visit www.imsa.com, follow hashtags #MazdaLites and #MRT24 @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.
Adam Sinclair
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