Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen Going for Second-Straight “Mosport” Win in No. 33 ViperExchange.com/ Gas Monkey Garage Dodge Viper GT3-R ViperExchange.com and Ben Keating qualified eighth Saturday for Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park where he and co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen will be looking for their second-consecutive win at the track in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com/ Gas Monkey Garage Dodge Viper GT3-R in today's race.The Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix is the sixth of 11 GT Daytona (GTD) races in this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and can be seen live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), Sunday, July 10, at 11 a.m. EDT.Keating will roll off the GTD starting grid on the outside of row four after his best qualifying lap of 1:19.132 in the ViperExchange.com No. 33.“I, personally, am very excited about the qualifying lap that we did,” Keating said. “Really, in my book, the BoP (Balance of Performance) is not much different than it was at Watkins Glen, so to go from qualifying 11th there to qualifying eighth today is a big improvement.Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a track where Keating can get closer to the lap times set by Bleekemolen, his professional co-driver.
“What’s really the most exciting about it is that I ran a (one-minute) 19.1 lap and Jeroen’s best time in the car was a (one-minute) 18.7,” Keating said. “To be four-tenths off of Jeroen is pretty strong. “The fact is, this is a track that requires a lot of courage. This is a track that can reach out and bite you pretty easily. It’s got some crazy, downhill, off-camber corners, some blind corners, and you have to be willing to take some risks. I love it.”The IMSA GTD class is making its first at appearance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park since 2014, a race that saw Keating, Bleekemolen and the Riley Motorsports-run ViperExchange.com program score its first win with the Dodge Viper GT3-R.“This was our first victory in 2014,” Keating said. “Last time we were here we were able to win. What was so fun then was that I was able to lead the race in my stint, had some good battles, and I like this place. “I race well here and I think that our qualifying effort today shows it. Not necessarily because of the pace of the car but because of how close I am to Jeroen.”Bleekemolen was third fastest in the No. 33 in Friday afternoon practice, which was held in semi-wet conditions, and got in some dry laps in the Viper in this morning’s final practice.
“We have done a lot of good work,” Bleekemolen said. “The car is feeling pretty good actually. We are not far from where we can be, we just have to keep on going like this and hopefully work our way up to the front and stay there.”Race-day Sunday starts with a 20-minute warm-up at 8 a.m. EDT with the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix scheduled to start at 11:05 a.m. EDT. Noteworthy- Keating and Bleekemolen have driven the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper GT3-R to four more IMSA GTD victories since the inaugural Mosport win in 2014. The most recent was two races ago with a victory in Detroit in June.
