Teamwork in full effect at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park set the stage for the 6th round in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

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The team has spent their time since Watkins Glen secluded in Indianapolis at our satellite garage repairing the 37 FL5 of Ryan Eversley & Mat Pombo after the unfortunate incident on track. The support of JAS Motorsport & HPD getting us all the needed parts was no small feat.

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The weekend started off well for both the number 37 and 73 in practice picking up pace from session 1 to 2. In practice 1 Mat Pombo put in a fastest lap time in of 1:24.976, placing him in 5th. The number 37 of LaMarra and Tally pulled out a 1:25.529 taking 9th on the grid.

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Practice 2 took place in the afternoon with warmer temps which lead to more elevated lap times for both Honda FL5s. Pombo and Eversley would climb to the 2nd fastest lap with a 1:24.247, just .121 hundredth of a second from first place.  The sister car of LaMarra and Tally shaved half a second off of their practice 1 finish with a 1:25.027.

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Moving into Qualifying on Saturday morning, the field was in fighting form with Mat Pombo taking P2. Their Civic Type R FL5 was just shy of P1 by .036 of a second. Will Tally brought in the number 37 machine in P9.

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The Canadian Tire Motorsports Park 120 Race started with lightning speed for the team. Within the first 10 minutes of the race Mat Pombo was able to take the lead and create over a 1 second gap to 2nd place.

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After 2 unscheduled pit stops, Ryan Eversley shared “Looks like some damage from the crash at Watkins Glen carried over into this race, picked up a bad vibration while (Mat was) leading and lost a ton of time getting it sorted,” After time in the pits with the techs working diligently Eversley was able to get behind the wheel and finish in P10.

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That phrase “if you didn’t have bad luck you’d have no luck at all” seems to be mentioned a lot lately in regards to our season. Can’t say I disagree! Seems like a little left over damage from our crash at Watkins Glen found its way into our race run yesterday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. We were able to get the car back to about 99% but after losing a ton of laps in the process of repairing it. It’s been an honor to race for Honda & Honda Racing/HPD via the LA HondaWorld team but MAN has this season been a bummer. We’re back on track in a few weeks at Lime Rock Park and hoping Mathew Pombo and I can get back on the podium. Thanks for all of the positive notes and messages, nobody involved in this program is giving up anytime soon, we’ll get there.. Cheers Fam!

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Will Tally and Mike LaMarra had an excellent race, working hard on track to bring the FL5 from P9 to P4 before their driver swap. They would go on to then finish P4 in TCR.

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“It was a hard-fought race, we worked our way up Will did a great job, good strategy. I saved a little fuel staying behind the Honda and hung in there making sure we didn’t run out of gas. Thanks to this great FL5 it was fun, and we finished P4” said an elated LaMarra.

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"Yesterday I had never even seen Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Today Mike Lamarra and I finished p4!! How cool is that- and I had my favorite fan club here with me (Sam and Holly). Love this team and all the people (mechanics, engineers, co-drivers) I get to work with! Huge thanks to Matt Pombo and Ryan Eversley for the coaching and support. But I’m gutted for them and the #37- another tough luck weekend. I’ll say it again - they are the best driver combo on the grid- they are due a break and some race luck." said Will Tally.

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Thank you to the entire Team of Techs who make this possible along with the direction of Team Principal Mario Biundo.

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Thank you to the Fans for all of the messages too!  Up next, Lime Rock Park - July 22nd. We hope to see you there! 

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