Home | CTCC | Etienne Borgeat and Tom Kwok Crowned CTCC 2011 Champions

Etienne Borgeat and Tom Kwok Crowned CTCC 2011 Champions

Toronto, September 12th 2011 – The most exciting race of the season was fought in front of a cheering crowd yesterday at Circuit ICAR. From start to finish, competitors of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) battled for the win, leaving it all on the track.

 

Super Class

Round 15 started strong with almost a cut and paste scenario from Saturday’s race. Sasha Anis, in his Hyundai Genesis Coupe took the lead for the most part of the race having, like the day before, a comfortable lead on Etienne Borgeat in his Pontiac Solstice. Bob Attrell in his Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Scott Nicol in his Honda Civic Si and Dean Fantin, in his BMW 330I, were battling for the third position. As the race progressed, the field was separated in two distinct groups, Super and Touring Class.

Attrell worked hard on protecting his position by pushing his Hyundai to its limits, until the car showed some fatigue when his brakes and tires couldn’t respond properly to his commands. Nicol and Fantin were fighting right behind Attrell, waiting for him to run out of breath. When Fantin finally passed Nicol, he went after Attrell and took advantage of his weaknesses and passed him for third position.

 

Touring Class

As the field was separated in two, a remarkable battle was keeping the Touring Class competitors on the edge. MINI Cooper driver Alain Lauzière lead the whole race with a strong lead, running alone in the middle of both groups. Behind him, Gary Kwok in his Honda Civic Si and Michel Sallenbach in his MINI Cooper were constantly on each other’s tail, and trading second place. Kwok gave a hard time to Sallenbach, who was pushed from behind by Luc Lesage in his Scion tC, Jacques Bélanger in his Honda Civic Si and even Paul Dargis. As a matter of fact, Dargis had one of his most extraordinary performances of the season driving a MINI Cooper. Having started in the last position on the grid because he didn`t compete in Round 14, Dargis learned very quickly how to handle the MINI that he was driving for the first time.

With just a few minutes before the end of the 30-minute race, Dargis and Tom Kwok got together which resulted in a broken wheel for Kwok. That caused a full course yellow to he could be towed away.

End of Race

With only three minutes to go, the full course yellow forced the field to tighten up, reducing any distance in between cars. As the green was waved, Borgeat out-braked Anis going into corner one and drove away from him. Anis was not able to climb back and attack since his Hyundai was experiencing difficulties after cooling off during the slower laps. Sallenbach also saw an opportunity to pass Kwok at corner one and squeezed past him to begin the chase for his teammate Lauzière.

“I had the time to study him during the race and the only place I could pass him was from the inside in corner 1 » said Sallenbach. “I waited until I saw a little mistake in his strategy and I went for it “

At the checkered, Super Class leader Etienne Borgeat ended Round 15 with his first victory of the season. He was followed by Anis in second place and Fantin in third. Fourth and Fifth places went to Nicol and Attrell.

In Touring Class, Lauzière finished in first place, a double for him during the weekend, followed by Sallenbach in second place and Kwok in third. Fourth and Fifth places went to Dargis and Bélanger.

Championship Standings

With points obtained during these lasts rounds, the 2011 CTCC Champion titles went to Etienne Borgeat in Super Class with 1,524 points and Tom Kwok in Touring Class with 1,584 points.

“I had a very poor beginning of the season but ending it here at ICAR, I was expecting great results.” Declared Borgeat. “ I was missing a first place on the podium this year and with the Championship title, I am very happy”

The Manufacturers titles went to Hyundai in Super Class with 605 points overall and Honda in Touring Class with 685 points overall.

CTCC would like to thank all the competitors for this wonderful season and is looking forward to see everyone in spring 2012.

Special thanks to our title partner Castrol and our presenting partner Continental Tire. Other important partners were involved in this season, such as: AEM, AlpineStars (SportsCarBoutique), ANZE Suspension, B&G Performance Fuels, Baker Vandertuin, Compass 360, Drift Camera Canada, Inside Track Motorsports News, Phanta Media, Racing Radios International and Sigma Promotions.

For more details on those results, please visit www.touringcar.ca. You can also follow CTCC on Facebook and Twitter.

About CTCC

The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Continental Tire is Canada’s only professional road racing series. Now in its fifth year, CTCC showcases race cars based on their stock street version. In 2011, CTCC will be featured at Circuit ICAR, Mosport International Raceway, Honda Indy Toronto, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières.

 

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