Lally and Bell win Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race

Mired in heavy traffic and with Billy Johnson breathing down his neck, Andy Lally held on to win Saturday’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the No. 9 Stevenson Automotive Group Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.  

Lally co-drove to the victory with Matt Bell, who started third and drove the opening stint of the race.

“The track was the greasiest it was all week,” said Bell of his stint. “It was tempting to light them up, but I had to save the car for Andy (Lally).”

Bell managed to save the car so much that after the switch, the Stevenson team opted for a two-tire stop for Lally as opposed to taking on four like most of his opponents. In the final laps, however, Johnson’s No. 158 Ford Mustang was closing in quickly, especially with the traffic.

“If there is a driver’s track on the (IMSA) circuit, this is it,” commented Lally. “I knew the Mustang would be strong. On the restart, I was just trying to get away and my biggest fear was for them to get to my bumper. We got into lap traffic, and the guys tried to be nice, but we just got to them at the wrong time.”

In the Street Tuner (ST) class, Canadians Adam Isman and Remo Ruscitti charged through the field in their No. 04 Autometrics Motorsports Porsche Cayman. Isman started from the rear of the grid due to repairs following an incident in qualifying, but worked his way forward and handed off to Ruscitti, who made a pass for the lead with three minutes remaining in the two-and-a-half hour race to get the victory.

“It’s nice to win in front of the home crowd,” said Isman. “We had a good qualifying session, but then I put the car in the wall. The team worked very hard on it and now we are in Victory Lane.”

The series will reconvene at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25 for the eighth race of the season.

IMSA