Seguridad Mania.com - España y América Latina

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/08/15 -- Many things can be expected from 2015 season of the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin and one of them is the return of some incredible competition.

This will be further enhanced with last year's Gold Cup champion, Tim Sanderson, planning to climb to Platinum Cup this season.

The thrones in two of the three classes of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned series are projected to be filled in the 10-round season that stretches from mid-May to late August at four Canadian venues. The season starts May 15-17 with Rounds 1 and 2 during the Castrol presents the Victoria Day Speedfest Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin enters its fifth season in 2015 ready to produce more intense, exciting competition for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world's most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The championship is one of 20 global Porsche single-make Cup Racing series and is the perfect platform for aspiring drivers to ascend to the highest levels of GT competition, such as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Racing is divided into two classes - Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014 and 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the seventh, and current, generation of the street car; and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in the Platinum class. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.

Porsche Cars Canada also will present a Porsche 911 road car to the Platinum Cup champion to drive for a year, further incentivizing the field.

OpenRoad Racing won the Platinum Cup Team Championship last season, as Vancouver-area resident Scott Hargrove won six of 10 starts for the team en route to the Drivers Championship. Team owner Christian Chia will return to the cockpit to replace Hargrove, in a partial schedule in Platinum Cup due to other commitments and his participation in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.

Veteran Chris Green could seize the opportunity to earn his first Platinum Cup championship, with Toronto-area team Pfaff Motorsports. Green, from Montreal, finished second in the Platinum Cup standings in 2013 and 2014. He won two races last year in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, which he also will drive this season.

Two-time reigning Platinum Masters champion Marco Cirone could be Green's top rival. Cirone, from Toronto, returns to Ottawa-based Mark Motors Racing for the third consecutive season. He will be joined this season in Platinum Cup by rookie Harry Steenbakkers, from Ottawa, who replaces veteran Perry Bortolotti in the Mark Motors team.

Sanderson held off a competitive field to win the Gold Cup championship last season by just two points over Jerimy Daniel. Sanderson, from Pickering, Ontario, is planning to step up to the Platinum Cup in 2015 and will be a strong challenger for overall podium finishes and for Cirone in Platinum Masters.

Etienne Borgeat, from Montreal, returns in Platinum Cup with Quebec-based GT Racing. Series veteran Borgeat scored his only podium finish last season by placing third in Round 1 during the Victoria Day Speedfest.

Alegra Motorsports, based in Tampa, Florida, also will field a strong lineup of at least three cars in the Platinum Masters class.

Team owner and 2012 Gold Cup champion Carlos De Quesada pushed Cirone all the way to the finish in Platinum Masters last season before finishing runner-up and aims for the title this year. Tampa neighbours Chuck Harris and Keith Bass are climbing to the Platinum Masters class this season after finishing 1-2, respectively, in the Silver Cup championship in 2014.

A new generation for Alegra also will arrive in the series. Michael De Quesada, the teenage son of Carlos De Quesada, will compete in the Gold Cup class as a rookie.

Other standout Gold Cup competitors include 2011 class champion Shaun McKaigue of Gilford, Ontario, and Martin Harvey of Berthierville, Quebec. McKaigue and Harvey have been mainstays of the championship since its inception, having competed in the inaugural race in May 2011 at Calabogie Motorsports Park.

For updates on the series, follow @IMSA on Twitter with the hashtag #GT3CAN and on Facebook. The latest news can be found by visiting IMSA.com.