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FEL SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Sophomore Season Sees Car Counts Grow
Story by J. Wally Nesbitt
TheFEL Sports Car Championship Canada tour entered its second year of operation with a six-date, 12-race calendar with races scheduled for Canadian Tire (4) and Calabogie (4) Motorsports Parks, the Honda Indy Toronto, and the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières.
The May 21 derecho windstorm at CTMP forced the cancellation of the season-opening doubleheader, but the points were made up in the return to the Bowmanville-area track on Labour Day, with each race offering double points.
Boasting two racing classes for 2022, the GT4 division saw eight drivers score points this year while the TCR roster grew with 13 point scorers.
“I’m certainly happy from a Race Director’s point of view, I think we had a great buy-in from the competitors,” stated Rolf Von Engelbrechten. “We definitely had more entries this year, 20-plus fields were very attainable. I believe very strongly that 2023 will be a great show. We had a few bad moments on track, but we will use those as coaching moments, use them as building tools, to be better prepared for unpredictable incidents in the future.”
The 2022 GT4 championship was truly a two-car battle, but several ‘interlopers’ were on hand to keep the primary title protagonists, Zachary Vanier and Charles Robin, on the edges of their seats.
Reviewing the scoring charts, Vanier and his striking gold and white No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 570s held the upper hand this year, rolling up a total of six GT4 race victories and only finishing off of podium once (Toronto) on his way to the 2022 championship. A perennial shadow in Vanier’s mirrors was the No. 56 Mercedes AMG piloted by Charles Robin. The 21-year-old Quebecois driver was never quite able to break into the winner’s column, but his record of eight runner-up results, plus a pair of third place finishes kept the championship alive until the final rounds. Running a partial schedule this year but managing to finish in third place in the final tally was the father and son Polito duo. Father Anthony recorded a trio of third place finishes before handing off the controls of the No. 22 Ford Mustang to son Jack. On the final weekend of the year, the younger Polito notched two race victories, matching the achievements of interlopers Gavin Sanders (Toronto) and European Mercedes Factory Driver Romain Monti (GP3R).
For Vanier, it has been a fast rise to the top of Canadian sports car racing. A F1600 championship runner up in 2019, Vanier shifted focus and raced an Audi RS3 for Pfaff Motorsports in the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship, the sportscar novice earning the TCR class championship. One year, later the Sudbury, ON resident spent time testing a Porsche GT3 Cup car, eventually landing a one-off ride aboard a Multimatic Mustang in the FEL Sports Car Championship before returning to the Pfaff Motorsports banner in 2022, handling the driving duties for the No. 9 McLaren.
“I found the McLaren easier to drive. It simply felt more compact and more manoeuvrable. I really enjoyed my time behind the wheel,” stated the 19-year-old. “It’s funny. When I was racing a formula car, I never even considered sports cars. Now, I can’t see myself racing anything open-wheel.”
Vanier’s ability to adapt to different situations has been an asset in his rise in the sports car ranks. In regards to his 2022 campaign, despite the many challenges thrown his way with visiting drivers and unfamiliar circuits, Vanier’s attitude never changed.
“My mindset never changed, we were always focusing of winning, and extracting the most I could get out of the car. When Romain and Gavin showed up, they were simply more cars to pass. But I am glad that Jack (Polito) didn’t run the entire schedule, he might have been trouble for us. Looking at the big picture, I knew that the guy I had to beat for the championship was Charles. The organizers changed the BOP (Balance of Performance) just before the last weekend, that made it a little more difficult for us, but the entire Pfaff team executed perfectly and ultimately, the big trophy was ours.”
Of the 13 point-scoring drivers in the TCR division, five of them were able to share in victory celebrations, but none as many times as did Jerimy Daniel. In ten races the Chateauguay, QC-based driver stood on the podium on eight occasions, while reaching the top step an amazing five times.
Daniel’s TRC teammate JF Hevey (No. 21 Audi) was a constant threat to the championship leader, but was forced to settle for the runner position in the final tally, with a record of two wins and seven top three finishes.
A former Porsche fanatic, Daniel stayed within the German automotive family and imported his No. 10 Audi RS3 LMS from Germany in 2017. Running selected raced with the Canadian Touring Car Championship, the 29-year-old jumped to the FEL SCCC when the CTCC folded.
“I raced a Porsche GT3 Cup car before this Audi, and what a difference between cars,” admitted Daniel. “The weight balance is different, it is front wheel drive rather than rear wheel drive, I now have to worry about understeer rather than oversteer. And if you get a little sideways, you have to remember to hit the gas and to try to pull yourself out of the spin. But I am adapting.”
He is obviously adapting well as he demonstrated in the season-ending doubleheader when he was able to score back-to-back, overall victories.
