The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) kicked off it’s major events 2018 calendar with the Castrol presents Victoria Day Speedfest.  The Speedfest consisted of an exciting line up of races featuring:

• NASCAR Pinty’s Series,
• Pirelli World Challenge Series,
• Blue Marble Cocktails Radical Cup North American,
• Canadian Touring Car Championship,
• IMSA Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada, and
• Nissan Micra Cup

NASCAR Pinty’s Series

NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES

L.P. Dumoulin-NASCAR Pinty’s Series

The NASCAR PINTY”S 2018 got off to an exciting start on the CTMP track. It had everything the fans could desire, intense bumping action, nose to nose racing and an exciting battle between Kevin Lacroix and Alex Tagliani for the lead over many laps.

It took until the last lap on the white flag to decide that L.P Dumoulin driving the #47 Weather Tech Canada/Bellemare Dodge would take the checkered flag and win the race and erase a 40 race win less streak at the same time.

Marc Antonie Camirand, L.P. Dumoulin, Noah Gragson -NASCAR Pinty’s Series

Marc-Antoine Camirand would take 2nd place and Noah Gragson (after finishing 8th on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Camping Trucks series) took 3rd place at CTMP.

Dumoulin was in the right place at the right time to take the lead on the white flag lap as race leader Kevin Lacroix was spun out in corner 5 by Andrew Ranger, who was penalized for it and took Lacroix out of the lead position. Lacroix lead for 41 exciting laps with Tagliani constantly biting at his heels and eventually taking over the lead from Lacroix only to lose it due to car mechanical failures resulting in Tagliani finishing 14th and a lap down.

#18-Alex Tagliani-Chevrolet-NASCAR Pinty’s Series

#47-L.P. Dumoulin-Dodge-NASCAR Pinty’s Series

#18-Alex Tagliani in pits – NASCAR Pinty’s Series

The starting line up for the race was set by the NASCAR rule book as the qualifying race was cancelled due to rain and intense fog. The teams had only one practice session to test their cars with L.P Dumoulin setting the fastest time in the afternoon session with a 1.23.446 lap.

Pirelli World Challenge Races:

Pirelli World Challenge starting Grid

PWC GT Race #1 (Saturday):

Crowd favorite Daniel Morad from Toronto won Saturday’s rain filled race leading from the starting pole position. Morad driving the #2 CRP Racing/DeVilbiss Mercedes-AMG GT3 car raced to his first win of the season making his entourage of family and friends in attendance very happy. Michael Christensen from Denmark finished 2nd and Daniel Mancinelli in the #31 White TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 finished 3rd rounding out the podium.

PWC GTS Race #1(Saturday):

Lawson Ashenbach won in the #1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R leading all the way from the start. Jade Buford in the #55 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 came in 2nd place and Shane Lewis in the #72 Ranch 74 Robinson Racing Mercedes-AMG Gt4 finished 3rd in a tightly contested battle for the 2nd and 3rd place spots.

#1-Lawson Aschenbach – Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R – Pirelli World Challenge GTS

PWC GT Race #2 (Sunday):

#54-Mark Pavan-SIN R1 GT4-Pirelli World Challenge GTS

The Sunday race was dominated by the two Bentley’s who’s team took the unusual strategy of putting on slicks at the end of the rain filled Saturday race to set the fastest lap times in order to get the pole positions for Sunday’s race and they never looked back. Martin Fuentes took second in both GTA races over the weekend in the #7 Garage Italia/Alpha Prime Ferrari 488 GT3 to lead the GTA Sprint Championship for the season. Toni Vilander came in second in the Pro division in the #61 Red R Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3, and Michael Christensen took 3rd for the second race in the Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (991)

#07 Martin Fuentes – Ferrari 488 GT3 – Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTA

#61-Toni Vilander-Ferrari 488 GT3-Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTA

Alvaro Parente, Rodrigo Baptista – Pirelli World Challenge

PWC GTS Race #2 (Sunday):

#19-Parker Chase – Audi R8 LMS – Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTA

#99-Jeff Courtney-Maserati Grand Turismo CS-MR-Pirelli World Challenge GTS

Lawson Ashenbach went 2 for 2 over the weekend in the #1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R winning by 9 seconds and leading the whole race. Ashenbach is the defending GTS Sprint series champion. Gar Robinson took 2nd in the #74 Robinson Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 and Jade Buford in the #55 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 finished a close 3rd only 2/100th of a second behind Robinson.

#11-Tony Goples-Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R-Pirelli World Challenge GTS

#55 Yuki Harata – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 – Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTA

#62-Mark Klenin-McLaren 570S-Pirelli World Challenge GTS 

Blue Marble Cocktails Radical Cup North American

Success of the Radical Cup Series in 2017 has resulted in the series being elevated to an official support series of the Pirelli World Challenge and is now sanctioned by ACCUS/FIA affiliated United States Auto Club (USAC).

Round 3 which took place at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on May 18-20 was also the first round of the Radical Canada Cup.

The 3 races over the weekend included 3 classes: 1340, 1500 and Master.

Terry Olson made a clean sweep of the weekend winning all 3 races in the Masters class while in the 1500 class, Jeff Green took two races and Gregg Gorski took the rainy race 2.  In the 1340 class, Antoine Comeau also took two races and Gustavo Rafols took the rainy race 2.

Of note was that this was Gustavo Rafols first ever rain race.  Additionally, during practice, Jeff Green lapped the circuit in 1:18:994 eclipsing the previous unofficial record (1:19:597) set by Richard Thomas in qualifying during the 2016 Radical Cup event.

#88-Jeff Green-Radical SR3 RSX 1340 – Ble Marble Cocktails Radical Cup North America

#16-Terry Olson Radical SR8RX2.7L V8-Blue Marble Cocktails Radical Cup North America

Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC)

Canadian Touring Car Championship

The opening of the season for CTCC was filled with challenges for the drivers and teams.  The main challenge being the weather.  Practice was run on the Friday in ideal weather conditions whereas Saturday race day dawned with fog and a wet track for Round 1.  Round 2 on the Sunday was sunny and dry.

Etienne Borgeat who was returning to the series driving the #2 Porsche GT3 Cup car ended up winning both rounds of the season opener.

#2-Etienne Borgeat-Porsche GT3 Cup-Canadian Touring Car Championship

Saturday’s race saw Etienne Borgeat and Gary Kwok trading positions several times with Borgeat ultimately winning overall.  Sunday’s race was less eventful as Borgeat went flag to flag winning over Rob Mekta by 13 seconds.

Round 1 results:

GT CUP: 1. #2 Etienne Borgeat, 2. #88 Bob Attrell, 3. #54 Rob Metka.

GT SPORT: 1. #55 Tom Kwok, 2. #66 Gary Kwok, 3. #84 Damon Sharpe.

SUPER TOURING: 1. #43 Sam Fellows, 2. #27 Marc Raymond, 3. #53 Rocco Marciello.

TOURING: 1. #57 Shawn Little, 2. #12 Paul Joakim, 3. #17 Marlin Langeveldt.

#57 Shawn Little – Honda Civic Si – Canadian Touring Car Championship

Round 2:

GT CUP: 1. #2 Etienne Borgeat, 2. #54 Rob Metka, 3. #88 Bob Attrell.

GT SPORT: 1. #58 Ethan Simioni, 2. #55 Tom Kwok, 3. #66 Gary Kwok.

SUPER TOURING: 1. #27 Marc Raymond, 2. #43 Sam Fellows, 3. #53 Rocco Marciello.

TOURING: 1. #12 Paul Joakim, 2. #57 Shawn Little, 3. #17 Marlin Langeveldt.

IMSA Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada

Zacharie Robichon has dominated the IMSA Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 challenge now having won 3 of the first four races of the season.  At Sebring On March 15, Robichon placed second behind Trenton Estep, but since March 16, Robichon has been the man to beat.  In fact, the Mark Motors Racing teammates, Robichon and 17 year old Roman De Angelis have placed 1,2 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for races 3 and 4 of the season and 2, 3 at Sebring in race 1.

#84-Perry Bortolotti – Porsche 991/2018 – Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada

Nissan Micra Cup

The Nissan Micra Cup season launched at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park over the Victoria Day weekend.

Saturday race day was a mix of hot, humid, rain and fog.  Oliver Bedard lead all the way from pole position to checkered flag.

Sunday’s race under sunny skies saw 5 drivers (King, Bedard, Limoges, Boyer and Mourad) exchange positions with the eventual winner being Kevin King.

#20-Austin Riley-Nissan Micra Cup

#40-Kevin King-Nissan Micra Cup

All in all a great start to the 2018 season for the all drivers and fans. A big Thank You to everyone on the CTMP Media team, you did a wonderful job over the weekend !!!

Brian Goldschmied/Neena Channan

Photo Credits: Brian Goldschmied, Neena Channan