International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2021.[5] It was the seventh year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2022 Chevrolet Grand Prix was the eighth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2022 by IMSA, and it was the fifth of eight rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[6] The race was held at the ten-turn 2.459 mi (3.957 km)Canadian Tire Motorsports Park inBowmanville,Ontario,Canada on July 3, 2022.[7] The race marked IMSA's return toCanadian Tire Motorsports Park after the previous 2 years editions were cancelled as a result of theCOVID-19 Pandemic in Canada.[8] Competitors were required to be vaccinated prior to traveling.[9]
A total of 24 cars took part in the event, split across four classes. 6 were entered inDPi, 6 inLMP3, 6 inGT Daytona Pro, and 6 inGTD.[12][13] The only changed from the previous round in DPi was the absence ofAlly Cadillac Racing.Risi Competizione's absence saw 6 cars competing in GTD Pro.Kamui Kobayashi substituted forJack Hawsworth in theVasser Sullivan Racing #14.[14] Scott Andrews substituted forFelipe Fraga in theRiley Motorsports entry due to a clash with theDTM round at theNorisring. In GTD, CarBahn with Peregrine Racing were forced to skip after their primary car was destroyed in a crash atWatkins Glen.[15] Wright Motorsports, Team Korthoff Motorsports, and Inception Racing elected to forego the round due to its championship point output only counting for the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[16]
There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday; one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday afternoon ran for 90 minutes while the second session on Saturday morning lasted 105 minutes.[17]
Saturday's afternoon qualifying was broken into three sessions, with one session for the DPi LMP3, GTD Pro and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions.[17] The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (LMP3/GTD) classes requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put DPis ahead of the LMP3, GTD Pro, and GTD cars.[18]
Blomqvist and Jarvis retook the lead of the DPi Drivers' Championship while Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor dropped to second. Bourdais and van der Zande advanced from fourth to third while Bamber and Lynn dropped from third to fourth.[21] In The LMP3 Drivers' Championship, Bennett and Braun extended their lead to 98 points over Grist and Balogh, while Andretti and Chaves moved to fifth after being eighth coming into Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.[21] With a total of 2056 points, Campbell and Jaminet's victory increase their advantage to 138 points as Antonio García and Jordan Taylor took over second position in the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship.[21] GTD drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Acura and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while CORE Autosport and Pfaff Motorsports kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships. Meyer Shank Racing took the lead of the DPi Teams' Championship with four rounds remaining.[21]
Meyer Shank Racing withCurb-Agajanian
Tom Blomqvist
Tristan Vautier
AWA
Alex Riberas
RWREurasia Motorsport
Aidan Read
