The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Toyo Tires closed out it's season this past weekend at the Le Circuit ICAR just north of Montreal. An action packed pair of 40-minute races that would decide the championship for both Super Touring & Touring car classes. The fans were treated to some of this years most intense battles all through the field as drivers drove with everything they had to finish atop the podium.
In the Super Touring class, Northwest Value Partners, BMW driver Greg Pootmans led the field to the green flag along side his teammate Aldo sponsored Driver David Bensadoun for Saturday's 40-minute heat race. Current championship points leader, Lombardi Honda driver Nick Wittmer & PCO Innovations', Etienne Borgeat (BMW) brought up the second row as they crossed the starting line.
Unfortunately for Wittmer's Lombardi Racing teammate, Jean-Francois Dumoulin suffered an engine failure on the very first lap that would slow the field down for two laps as they cleaned up the track. On lap 3 the race went green again. Pootmans, who would lead the entire race along with Bensadoun, Wittmer and Borgeat were nose to tail the entire 24 laps. Pootmans team mate Paul Dalla Lana was in the mix until lap 10 when his driveshaft failed bringing out the races second and final caution. Borgeat and Bensadoun would round out the remaining spots on the S/T podium.
8 Legs Racing's Eric Hochgeschurz and his teammate Arek Wojciechowski had their hands full with another BMW driver Dean Fantin and rookie Alex Healy in his powerful Acura RSX as they battled for position all race long. Wojciechowski was able to break free of the pack and pass Wittmer on lap 18 to finish 4th just behind Bensadoun.
The extremely competitive Touring Class had drivers Nigel Heron (Acura), Anthony Rapone (Honda Civic), Alain Lauziere (Mini Cooper), and Tom Kwok (Honda Civic) take the green flag along with 11 other class drivers. The battles started early as everyone jockeyed for key positions. Anthony Rapone took the class lead until lap 11 when Heron got by him with a daring pass. Kwok would hold Lauziere at bay for 14 laps when Lauziere made his way by for 3 laps until Kwok would take the position back on lap 18.
With only two laps to go, Andre Rapone driving the Durabond racing Honda Civic Si sedan was able to climb into the 3rd place spot when an on track incident put Lauziere in the pits with extensive front end damage that sidelined him from the finish.
Benjamin Distaulo made an impressive showing when he came from his 28th starting position to finish 5th in class just behind Tom Kwok.
Saturday Sept 5th Heat Race
Super Touring Class
1st Place Greg Pootmans Toronto, ON BMW
2nd Place Etienne Borgeat Montreal, QC BMW
3rd Place David Bensadoun Ste-Annes-desLacs, QC BMW
4th Place Arek Wojciechowski Ashton, ON BMW
5th Place Nick Wittmer Montreal, QC Honda
Touring Class
1st Place Nigel Heron Verdun, QC Acura
2nd Place Anthony Rapone Thornhill, ON Honda
3rd Place Anthony Rapone Thornhill, ON Honda
4th Place Tom Kwok Markham, ON Acura
5th Place Benjamin Distaulo Lorraine, QC Honda
SEPT 5, 2009
Mirabel, Quebec
The overall championship titles would all boil down to Sunday's feature race. It was an all BMW front row as Greg Pootmans & Etienne Borgeat would take the 31-car field to the green flag. Just behind the front row, David Bensadoun, Nick Wittmer & Arek Wojciechowski would battle nose to tail for 21 laps until Borgeat would pass Pootmans to take the lead & the win in the final two laps. On lap 13 Gary Kwok's Honda suffered a catastrophic engine failure & fire that brought out a full course yellow for 6 laps. With 4:34 left in the 40-minute timed race, one of the marshals responding to the fire was injured bringing out a red flag so that emergency crews could attend to him.
For the entire 23 lap race Lombardi Honda's Wittmer drove hard while playing it safe was able to hold on to a top 4 finish, just behind Bensadoun, clinching the championship in Super Touring. Substituting driving duties for Paul Dalla Lana, Marc-Antoine Camirand started the race in 28th position, made an impressive drive as brought the North West Value Partners BMW to 4th place in just 21 laps only to be sidelined just two laps short sending him back to a 13th place finish.
The Touring Class field led by pole sitter Nigel Heron & Anthony Rapone closely followed by Tom Kwok and 2008 Touring Class Champion, Andre Rapone made their way to turn one in the final 40-minute race of the 2009 season in a style every fan is accustomed to, side by side, bumper to bumper. Heron pulled out all the stops in his potent Acura Integra and held the position for the entire race. On lap one Andre's Honda would suffer a fuel pump failure that would force him to retire.
Class points leader Alain Lauziere started his Mini Cooper from the 26th position and used every trick in his book to move through the field and by lap 7 had made his way back into contention right behind the second place Honda Civic of Anthony Rapone. On lap 22 Rapone's car suffered a similar fuel pump failure forcing him to drop back into the field. Kwok who had been battling hard to stay with the top 3 cars was able to take the position and finish just behind the Touring Class Champion Lauziere.
Sunday Sept 6th Feature Race
Super Touring Class
1st Place Etienne Borgeat Montreal, QC BMW
2nd Place Greg Pootmans Toronto, ON BMW
3rd Place David Bensadoun Ste-Annes-desLacs, QC BMW
4th Place Nick Wittmer Montreal, QC Honda
5th Place Arek Wojciechowski Ashton, ON BMW
Touring Class
1st Place Nigel Heron Verdun, QC Acura
2nd Place Alain Lauziere Vaudreuil, QC MINI
3rd Place Tom Kwok Markham, ON Acura
4th Place Benjamin Distaulo Lorraine, QC Honda
5th Place Jocelyn Fecteau Mont St-Gregoire Toyota
Super Touring Class Points
DRIVER PROV CAR# MAKE POINTS
1 Nick Wittmer QC 6 Honda Civic 1516
2 Greg Pootmans ON 16 BMW328 1472
3 Etienne Borgeat QC 2 BMW328 1367
4 Arek Wojciechowski ON 10/9 BMW/Mercury328/Cougar 1295
5 David Bensadoun QC 14 BMW328 1209
6 Eric Hochgeschurz ON 11 BMW328 1190
7 Alex Healy ON 5 AcuraRSX 1144
8 Paul Dalla Lana ON 15 BMW328 1035
9 Dean Fantin ON 13 BMW330i 984
10 Andrew Wojteczko ON 64 LexusIS300 930
11 Richard Boake ON 96 SubaruSti 899
12 Gary Kwok ON 66 AcuraCSX 791
13 Mathieu Audette QC 12 AcuraRSX 750
14 Dave Ciekiewicz ON 36/56 Acura/BMWTSX/328 675
15 P.J. Groenke ON 92 Saab93 656
16 Jean-Francois Dumoulin QC 22 Honda Civic Si 609
17 Nigel Krikorian ON 1 SubaruSti 526
18 Glenn Chaplin QC 74 HyundaiTiburon 470
19 Kuno Wittmer QC 44 Honda Civic Si 452
20 Paul Dargis QC 53 BMW328 409
21 Lee Chaplin QC 75 HyundaiTiburon 406
22 Rob McAuley ON 56 BMW328 315
23 Bob Attrell ON 88 HyundaiGenesis Coupe 302
24 Nicholas Krikorian ON 25 SubaruSti 263
25 Andy Wojteczko ON 65 LexusIS300 231
26 Jacques Gravel QC 43 HyundaiTiburon 219
27 Manuel Bastien QC 60 Honda Civic Si-R 212
28 Pascal Carre QC 24 BMW328 210
29 JC Cote QC 43 HyundaiTiburon 209
30 Ken Baird ON 9 MercuryCougar 178
31 Michael DelleDonne ON 31 BMW330i 172
32 Marc-Antoine Camirand QC 96 BMWM-Coupe 127
33 Gilbert Tomaro QC 40 HyundaiTiburon 75
34 Rocco Marciello ON 30 BMW330i 64
35 Charles Hammer ON 99 PontiacSolstice 54
36 John Lockhart ON 93 SaabAero 10
37 Jonathan Rashleigh ON 87 HyundaiGenesis Coupe 6
Touring Class Points
DRIVER PROV CAR# MAKE POINTS
1 Alain Lauziere QC 47 MiniCooper1 589
2 Anthony Rapone ON 72 Honda Civic Si 1583
3 Nigel Heron QC 90 Acura Type R 1540
4 Patrick Seguin ON 80 Honda Civic Si-R 1221
5 Tom Kwok ON 55 Honda Civic Si 1184
6 Jocelyn Fecteau QC 77 Toyota Corolla XRS 1132
7 Ryan Blanchet ON 84 Nissan Sentra 1005
8 Roger Bowes ON 20 Acura Type R 961
9 Sylvain Laporte QC 50 Honda Civic Si 719
10 Frank Blanchet ON 48 Acura Type R 687
11 Aldo Lombardi ON 4 Honda Civic Si-R 664
12 Pieter van Doorn ON 79 Honda Civic 636
13 Eric Laporte QC 51 Honda Civic Si 498
14 Benjamin Distaulo QC 57 Honda Civic Si 467
15 Brad Young ON 85 Honda Civic 433
16 Scott Nicol ON 73 Acura/Honda Type R/Civic 423
17 Jacques Belanger QC 57 Honda Civic Si 365
18 Jean-Guillaume Shooner QC 3 AcuraRSX 347
19 Andre Rapone ON 73 Honda Civic Si 344
20 Andrew Bearss ON 58 Honda Civic 325
21 Tom Bork NY 26 MazdaProtégé 325
22 Steve Greiner ON 00 AcuraType R 302
23 Kenneth Lau ON 73 Honda Civic Si 244
24 Rejean Vincent QC 89 AcuraType R 217
25 Claude Houde QC 41 MazdaProtégé 196
26 Daniel Blanchette QC 89 AcuraType R 153
27 Simon Dion-Viens QC 44 MazdaProtégé 113
28 Jacques Deshaies QC 43 MazdaProtégé 0
The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship Presented By Toyo Tires is Canada's Premiere Touring Car Series and features Canada's Best Drivers Racing Today's Hottest Touring Cars. The Championship is showcased at eight event weekends in Quebec and Ontario will marquee events at Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres and Honda Indy Toronto.
For further information check out www.touringcar.ca for the latest championship news. For more information on Toyo Tires, please visit www.toyotires.ca. Toyo manufactures and distributes a complete line of replacement tires for high performance cars, luxury vehicles, light trucks and SUVs as well as tires for commercial trucks, buses and off-road and construction applications.
From Perry Iannuzzi // Communications Director - Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship Presented By Toyo Tires
0 comments:
Post a Comment