For the final Enduro Elite race weekend of the year, the series travelled east to Shannonville Motorsports Park in Belleville, Ontario. A tight and technical track, it’s the opposite of the high speed, flowing layout of Mosport, where the last two rounds were held.
Up before dawn and at the track by 7:30 am, teams prepared for a morning itinerary including a driver’s meeting followed by morning practice. There were several new drivers in the DriveTeq paddock, as the Ali brothers, who partnered Daniel to a win at Mosport, were racing in Europe.
The first competition of the weekend would be a four-hour endurance race run in the afternoon. Four drivers would each take maximum one hour stints in the race car. Driver’s Ron and Dave, who normally pilot the No. 821 DriveTeq BMW, were conscripted into the No. 822 this weekend. Joining them was Daniel Demaras and K1 Speed alumnus Anthony Popalis.
With multi-class racing action mixing GT1, GT2 and slower GT3 cars on track at the same time, it was critical to find space on track to lay down fast laps. Getting caught in traffic was a killer, as even a fast driver would have to slow to his competitors pace through the twisty infield section.
While 2025 is Daniel Demaras’ first year in Endurance racing his familiarity with Shnnonville from his three years in open-wheel racing helped. In fact, this track was the scene of his last F1200 race win in 2024. Interestingly, Daniel’s old ‘team boss’ Bill Vallis from VMS was at the track wrenching on his son Aaron’s VW.
The No. 822 DriveTeq BMW came home in 2nd place in the GT2 class, It wasn’t the result anyone was expecting, as it was clearly one of the quickest cars with the best driver lineups. n the end, Friday felt like more of a practice sprint race, with the big events still to run over the weekend.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Although this article was originally published on October 4 2025, full video of the race has now become available, and has been added below.