First season podium for Racing to End Alzheimer’s in Canada

A team effort at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, as drivers, crew and strategists performed flawlessly in a wild IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race 

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 14, 2025) – The Racing to End Alzheimer’s with Stephen Cameron Racing team put it all together in Saturday’s two-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race, scoring its first podium finish of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Drivers Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe combined to keep the Racing to End Alzheimer’s colors near the top of the field all weekend. With a flawless pit stop, solid strategy, and impressive instincts to stay out of a plethora of trouble, the team brought home a hard-fought and well deserved third place finish.

And as always, the on-track action was only part of the story. Racing to End Alzheimer’s founder Phil Frengs manned his usual post at the familiar orange and purple tent at the back of the Cameron team transporter, talking to the enthusiastic Canadian fans – many with a story to tell about their loved one who suffered from dementia or Alzheimer’s, hoping to add their name to the loved ones already on the Ford Mustang. In fact, four names were added this weekend, bringing the number to 114.

Canadian fans can choose to have their donation go to the Alzheimer Society of Toronto – the matching funds will also stay in Toronto.

Honor a loved one and join the team: https://r2endalz.org/donate/

The No. 19 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Ford Mustang came out of the gate flying on Friday morning, with Liefooghe and Quinlan setting the third quickest time in morning practice. In the heat of the day, the duo once again combined for a solid P3 in practice two – the top Ford Mustang in both sessions. In Saturday morning qualifying, Quinlan found his attempts at a fast lap time repeatedly thwarted by traffic but placed the car a solid P11 for the afternoon’s race.

At the drop of the green, Quinlan bided his time through the inevitable early chaos until the opportunity presented itself to make a pass late on lap one. He took another position on lap two, then settled into a rhythm, focusing forward and putting down consistent lap times. With an hour remaining, Quinlan headed to pit lane for four Michelin tires, fuel, and a change to Liefooghe.

Carving his way up through the field, Liefooghe set one of the fastest laps of the race with a circuit at 1:24.370. He had captured second position when a four-car incident on the back straight brought out a yellow, with a significant debris field to clean.

Liefooghe took the green with 17 minutes remaining, but with lapped cars ahead and fast cars behind, he was swarmed and hit hard, bouncing off two cars and doing a masterful job of holding the car on track in fourth. The offending driver received a drive through penalty for incident responsibility, putting the No. 19 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Ford Mustang into P3.

In the waning laps, Liefooghe fought to keep the damaged car in third position, making the Mustang as wide as possible to take the checkered flag in third – the team’s first podium of the year.

Liefooghe was thrilled with the team effort, and impressed by his co-driver.

“Sean did an amazing job,” said Liefooghe about his pro-am partner. “He was out there against drivers who race full time as their living, and he did laps just a few tenths off, keeping us close to the front and allowing us to do a two-stop race. And kudos to the crew, they did two perfect stops and called a great race. We were P2, just cruising till the end, but the yellow bunched up everybody and unfortunately for us, there were a lot of lapped cars between us and the leader which made it really tough to battle. All the cars behind us were for position, so it was a tough place to be – we got sandwiched in between two cars and got drilled, but thankfully the car held together. We were really struggling at the end, defending hard to bring it home.

“It’s so important to us to bring this home for Racing to End Alzheimer’s,” continued Liefooghe. “We’re so honored to have all those names on the car every weekend, it makes this moment just that much more special.”

For Frengs, it was great to earn the podium, but the true reason for the program is never far from his mind.

“Being on the podium recognizes not only our two great drivers but our whole team,” said Frengs. “It was an outstanding job all weekend. But most important, we’ve talked to so many people here this weekend that will be so excited because they appreciate what we do.

“We never forget that each one of those 114 names honor someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s,” continued Frengs. “114 people loved someone who made a difference in their life – and we refer to them as their champion. They can honor and remember them, and that’s the most rewarding part of what we do. Awareness is vital, but the most important thing is to give people the chance to acknowledge someone they loved. That’s the best.”