Solid run to GTD top ten for Sheena Monk at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, second in Bob Akin entries
- RACERS
- Jul 13
- 5 min read
Sheena Monk continued her consistent 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign with another positive performance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where the Myers Riley Motorsports driver secured an eighth-place finish in GTD and second among the Bronze-rated competitors.
Sheena Monk continued her consistent 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign with another positive performance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where the Myers Riley Motorsports driver secured an eighth-place finish in GTD and second among the Bronze-rated competitors.
Sharing the #16 Ford Mustang GT3 with Felipe Fraga, Monk delivered another solid opening stint, leading the Bronze category during the early stages before the duo remained in contention throughout the race for a bronze-class win. A strong strategy, clean execution and competitive pace ultimately earned the team its third GTD top-ten finish of the season, while Monk strengthened her position in the Bob Akin Award standings with another valuable haul of points.
After a challenging 2025 campaign, Monk returned to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD field in 2026 aboard the #16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3. Alongside Felipe Fraga, the pair narrowly missed out on a top-ten finish at Sebring before breaking through with seventh place at Long Beach and another top-ten result at Laguna Seca, where Monk led the Bronze category during the opening stint and secured her second consecutive runner-up finish in the Bob Akin Award standings.
She carried that momentum into the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, where she produced one of her finest IMSA performances to date with a superb opening stint that saw her charge from the back of the GTD field into Bronze-category contention. Although a technical issue later denied the team a stronger overall result, Monk still collected fifth-place Bronze points, arriving at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park among the leading Bob Akin Award contenders.
The fast and flowing Canadian circuit appeared to suit the Ford Mustang GT3 from the outset. Myers Riley Motorsports immediately showed encouraging pace in practice, ending the opening session fifth fastest overall and quickest among the Bronze entries. The team was then eleventh in the second practice session, remaining less than one second from the outright pace in an exceptionally competitive GTD field.
Monk took qualifying duties for the #16 Ford during the 15-minute GTD session, one of the three Bronze-rated drivers contesting the grid-setting laps. She opened with a 1:20.654 to provisionally sit sixth before the circuit rapidly evolved. As lap times tumbled, Monk responded with a 1:17.938 to remain comfortably inside the top ten before finding almost another full second on her next flying lap.
Her best effort of 1:17.159 briefly placed her at the head of the Bronze runners and tenth overall with five minutes remaining. As tyres began to fade during the closing stages, Brendan Iribe narrowly edged ahead among the Bronze drivers, leaving Monk twelfth overall and second of the Bronze competitors, in a nevertheless encouraging starting position for the 2-hour 40-minute race.
Monk lined up 12th in GTD on Sunday afternoon and immediately made an excellent getaway. A clean launch allowed her to pass Brendan Iribe before Turn 1, promoting the Myers Riley Mustang to eleventh overall and, crucially, into the lead of the Bronze category before the opening lap had been completed.
Settling quickly into a consistent rhythm, Monk immediately began opening a small cushion over Iribe while simultaneously closing on the Wright Motorsport Porsche of Adelson ahead. Within only a handful of laps she had stretched her advantage over the chasing Bronze rival to around two seconds while comfortably controlling the class battle.
The race's first full-course caution however arrived with 2 hours and 25 minutes remaining after Farano's Tower Motorsports LMP2 Oreca spun, erasing Monk's carefully built advantage.
When racing resumed five minutes later, Iribe capitalized on the restart to reclaim the Bronze lead, dropping Monk to 12th overall and second among the Bronze contenders. With Orey Fidani's Corvette now also joining the battle behind, Monk suddenly found herself in a tightly contested group.
As Iribe battled Adelson ahead, Monk however steadily reeled the pair back in, remaining close to the cars ahead.
Around forty minutes into the race, the Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Eduardo Barrichello made an early GTD stop before receiving a drive-through penalty for a pit lane infringement, promoting Monk back to 11th overall. Although Fidani's Corvette continued applying pressure from behind, Monk kept the Mustang confidently ahead.
A second caution followed after the TDS Racing LMP2 Oreca of Lutke crashed into the tyre barriers, arriving at a good moment for the Myers Riley crew. With the Bronze driving time completed, Monk brought the #16 Mustang into the pits on lap 33, handing over to Felipe Fraga while the team retained eleventh position overall and second in the Bronze standings.
It marked another composed and mistake-free opening stint from Monk, once again demonstrating her consistency.
Following the driver change, Fraga briefly returned to pit lane for a short fuel top-up before the green flag resumed with one hour and 47 minutes remaining.
The Brazilian immediately began exploiting the Mustang's pace, climbing to tenth overall and third among the Bronze entries before setting a new fastest lap for the team with a 1:17.6.
After the #81 DragonSpeed Corvette made an additional stop, Fraga found himself directly behind Matt Bell's 13Autosport Corvette. Capitalizing on battles ahead, he avoided contact between rivals and overtook both Bell and Barrichello on lap 45, vaulting the Mustang into seventh overall and second among the Bronze competitors in one decisive sequence.
Running consistently in the 1:17s, Fraga soon closed onto Robby Foley's Turner Motorsport BMW, but despite matching the BMW's pace he found overtaking difficult around the fast, flowing Mosport circuit. Bell also remained close enough behind to ensure the battle stayed tense.
As the second round of GTD pit stops unfolded, Fraga could extend his stint longer than several rivals. He eventually rejoined seventh overall and second in the Bronze standings, now just four seconds behind Frederik Schandorff's Inception Racing Ferrari.
In clear air, Fraga immediately produced some of the team's quickest laps of the weekend, lowering his personal best first to 1:17.353 and then to 1:17.214 while steadily reducing the deficit to the Ferrari.
The closing stages developed into one of the race's most intense battles. Fraga remained glued to the rear of Schandorff's Ferrari for virtually the entire final stint, with Callum Ilott's Wright Motorsports Porsche also joining the queue behind. The trio circulated separated by only a handful of tenths while simultaneously navigating constant LMP2 traffic.
When Roman De Angelis charged through in the recovering Heart of Racing Aston Martin with around 15 minutes remaining, Fraga briefly slipped to eighth overall. However, De Angelis also overtook Schandorff, allowing Fraga to resume his pursuit of the leading Bronze competitor.
Despite relentless pressure during the closing laps, Fraga simply could not find an overtaking opportunity. Canadian Tire Motorsport Park's high-speed nature and lack of heavy braking zones made passing exceptionally difficult, and Schandorff defended expertly to maintain position until the chequered flag.
Fraga crossed the finish line eighth overall in GTD and second among the Bronze competitors, completing nevertheless another highly valuable performance that rewarded Myers Riley Motorsports with its third GTD top-ten finish of the season.
For Monk, the result represented another positive result in her IMSA campaign, alongside another runner-up finish in the Bob Akin Award classification that keep Monk third in the championship standings on 1,750 points, with the top three competitors now separated by only 80 points.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next heads to Road America for another endurance challenge, the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix, on 1-2 August, where Monk will look to close further on the Bob Akin Award leaders.
