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Motorsport in Canada
Motorsports are a popular non-physical sport competed in many countries worldwide, including in Canada. One of the most internationally significant Canadian events is the Montreal Grand Prix, a race for the Formula One World Championship. Ongoing since 1967, drivers Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi are the only Canadians to compete in the series as of present.

Other prominent national competitions of today include the NASCAR Pinty's Series, which began in 2007 and is a remake of the 1981 stock-car racing CASCAR Super Series, and the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge, which started in 2011 for semi-professional drivers to race their Porsche 911 GT3s. Aside from this, series such as the Atlantic Championship, Indy Lights, and Indy Pro Mazda Championship have also held races in Canada.

History
Since the invention of the contemporary automobile, the first recorded instance of motorsport in Canada was a sixty-kilometer race dubbed as a ‘speed trial’ from the cities of Toronto to Hamilton in 1900. Proceeding that, the first official race was held in Fort Erie, by the American Buffalo Auto Club. Other smaller races would be held throughout the early twentieth century, such as the Canadian National Exhibition championship in the 1920’s. Throughout this, smaller, unofficial clubs were formed from locals who were interested in the auto racing industry that was developing in Canada.

In hopes of running an event of a larger scale than what Canada currently had and be internationally recognized, several members of indie automobile clubs, the St Lawrence Automobile Club, Sports Car Club, and Sport Motor Car Club gathered to form the Canadian Automobile Sport Committee (CASC) in 1951. It grew to be a larger and more professional club that catered toward motorsport in the country, where other smaller clubs amalgamated to it. Jim Gunn, one of the CASC’s founders, played a vital role in its early development, through promoting the club and working to have it involved in the first Trans-Canada Rally. Within the next few years, more motorsport events debuted, and the CASC was eventually recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as a national authority of Canada’s motorsports. Through this official approval, Canada was able to host its first international motorsport event, the Formula One World Championship.

Formula One
After several years of contingency, Canada was finally recognized by the FIA in 1967. From its involvement in founding the Can-Am series to continuous years of hosting professional races and the like, it was decided that Canada would become the home of the newest Formula One Grand Prix. Its debut location would be at the Mosport Park circuit, with a portion of the costs required covered by Imperial Tobacco as a first-time sponsor of the event. Over the next few years, the Grand Prix locations would switch from Mosport Park and Mont-Tremblant until in 1977, where the grand prix would be held at Mosport Park for the last time due to track safety concerns of dangerous turns.

The following year, the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix was held at the Circuit Île Notre-Dame in Montreal, a newly constructed track built that year, where Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve became the first victor. Although he did not win again, Villeneuve continued to be a participant in the following Canadian Grand Prix races and Formula One World Championships, until his death in 1982, after a qualifying accident for the Belgium Grand Prix. In response, the Circuit Île Notre-Dame was renamed to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, in honor of his participance and impact on the Canadian Formula One scene.

Although the Canadian Grand Prix takes place each year, there have been three recorded years where it did not occur.

1975 – reason(s) unconfirmed

1985 – legal issues of sponsors

2009 – dispute between the circuit officials and commercial holders of Formula One

As of today, the Montreal Grand Prix remains active. Canadian drivers who currently participate in the Formula One World Championship are Lance Stroll of the Racing Point team, and Nicholas Latifi of the Williams team.

NASCAR
Beginning in 1981, the Canadian Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (CASCAR) started the CASCAR EMCO Western Series, the CASCAR CARQUEST Sportsman Series, and its more prominent championship, the CASCAR Super Series, where stock cars would race across a mix of twelve different tracks and speedways across various regions of Canada each year. In 2004, the American-based National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and CASCAR collaborated, in an effort to increase interest of the sport. The agreement between the two groups would span for the next few years, leading to the revival and remake of the CASCAR Super Series.

As a result, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) was formed and debut in 2007, with the Canadian Tire company as the primary sponsor. However, after nine years of partnership, Canadian Tire eventually pulled out in 2015, with the reason due to the little change and low coverage of the event. The series continued the proceeding year in 2016, and the Pinty’s Delicious Foods company became the top sponsor, leading to the series’ name change to the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.

After being held in different tracks in Canada only, in 2018 the series added a race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the United States, the first location outside of Canada.