SAMANTHA TAN STRENGTHENS IMSA CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AFTER STRONG RACE AT HOME IN CANADA

An unexpectedly short weekend at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park saw Samantha Tan secure her fourth Bronze class win in the past five outings and narrowly miss out on her first overall podium in the 2025 IMSA VP SportsCar Challenge.

Samantha, competing at the Canadian venue for the first time in 8 years, was well in the fight for a GTDX overall podium during race one, only for an unfortunately timed full-course caution to drop her off the lead lap. Despite this, a second consecutive ‘Bronze’ win means the Samantha Tan Racing co-founder has now extended her championship advantage with only two rounds of the season left to run.

Samantha Tan, driver/co-owner: “Returning to race at my home track, Mosport, was incredibly special. The last time I raced here was in 2017 with a BMW M235iR—back when ST Racing was just getting started.

 It was a short but productive weekend. I felt like I got up to speed quickly, and in Race 1, I managed to pass the #95 BMW on the opening lap and catch up to the overall leaders. Unfortunately, a safety car procedure put me a lap down, taking us out of contention for the overall podium.

Nevertheless, racing in front of friends and family again meant the world to me—and extending our Bronze Cup championship lead made it even sweeter.”

Kenneth Tan, team co-owner: “It was an exciting race weekend with Samantha finally returning for her first home race in 8 years. She was racing in the BMW M235iR then and it was also raining during the second race. CTMP is the only race where I can drive home from the track every day. It was also very nice to see so many friends, family and local fans come out to support and cheer her and the team on. Many of them came on Sunday for Race 2 but unfortunately, thundershowers red flagged it and it ultimately got cancelled/postponed to the next race weekend. I thought Sam had a very good start during Race 1 with good pace maintaining her distance from the Porsche in P3 right up to the full course yellow. There was some confusion during the pass-through and we went back to green with not a single car changing position, otherwise, I think she would have finished P3 overall, maybe even P2 as the Ferrari in P3 was given a 10-second penalty post-race. Now we know! Overall, a good weekend with Samantha expanding her lead to 80 points in the championship. I can’t wait to go to VIR and go racing again!”

Brutally hot temperatures on Friday meant the #38 BMW M4 GT3 was unable to replicate its pace during Free Practice, qualifying 2nd in-class and 5th overall for race one. A fighting start meant Samantha took the Bronze-class lead and moved up to 4th overall during the opening lap, with the gap to the GTDX frontrunners holding firm. This kept the BMW M brand ambassador in podium contention for much of the 45-minute event.

A full-course caution however, thrown at two-thirds distance, and confusion regarding the series’ pass-around procedure, inadvertently dropped Samantha off the lead lap. The #38 BMW would eventually finish a solid (though unrepresentative) 4th overall, albeit still as the highest-placed Bronze runner.

A second potential run at a maiden overall podium on Sunday was thwarted when several lightning storms in the area caused the second VP SportsCar race to be postponed.

In a nod to ST Racing’s on-going charitable work, at CTMP, the #38 BMW M4 GT3 bore the names of several generous benefactors who pledged $350 CAD or more to a fundraiser in support of Women In Motorsport Canada earlier in the week.

ST Racing’s IMSA VP SportsCar Challenge season continues on 22-24 August at the Virginia International Raceway, a venue at which both the Canadian team and its namesake have secured multiple podium finishes in the GT World Challenge America and GT4 America Series.