CTMP LABOUR DAY SPRINTS

By Bryce Turner

TheNASCAR Pinty’s Series (NPS) and two FEL Motorsports season finales headlined the Labour Day Sprints at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP), the last of five major events on the track’s 2023 calendar.

L.P. Dumoulin started on pole for the 51-lap NPS event, on September 3, with Marc-Antoine Camirand joining him on the front row. Despite having a better statistical season, in most categories, over his 2022 championship campaign, Camirand entered CTMP needing a strong performance to stay in the title hunt.

Camirand took the lead on the opening lap, while Dumoulin kept the margin close. On Lap 11, Dumoulin took the top spot. The various pit strategies synonymous with CTMP soon began, with Alex Tagliani and Andrew Ranger among the early takers, a couple of laps before Camirand and D.J. Kennington.

Dumoulin and Kevin Lacroix both pitted on Lap 16, allowing points leader Treyten Lapcevich to take the lead and a bonus point that came with it. Two circuits later, Lapcevich pitted, with Alex Labbé inheriting the lead. Labbé looked to be staying out as long as he could, after losing spots early.

On Lap 32, caution for Dexter Stacey’s car stalled just off track. Labbé and Larry Jackson pitted under caution, giving Ranger the lead for a restart with 14 to go.

ONTARIO TRACK HOSTS ANNUAL END-OF-SEASON SHOWCASE

One lap after the restart, Tagliani took the top spot. Ranger’s horrible luck then continued, as his motor blew entering turn ten, creating a fireball in the back of his #27 Chevy and sending him spinning. Gary Klutt and Wallace Stacey received heavy damage in the chain reaction, with a line of oil left on the track. Ranger now has a 13.8 average finish, with four DNFs and eight finishes off the lead lap, in 2023.

After a short red flag delay, the race restarted with 8 to go. Tagliani led the field to green before Lacroix took the lead. Dumoulin gained spots behind him, moving into second with 4 to go. Dumoulin made a late charge, going side-by-side through turns eight and nine on the last lap, but Lacroix held on to win by 0.117 seconds.

“We’ve all seen what happens here, I’ve been in the (opposite position) a few times, so I could prepare myself to be the victim,” said Lacroix. “Thinking about moves like this, because it’s always something that happens, getting moved around in the last corner, so I gave him the chance to come side-by-side so he’s not behind me.”

The victory snapped a 14-race winless skid for Lacroix, which included DNFs in the last two road/street races. In creative fashion, Lacroix celebrated by doing a dance on the track, where he got to the ground and circled the checkered flag.

“It was a new way of doing donuts when you have traction control,” said Lacroix. “It happened when (Camirand) won at Chaudière, I made a joke about it but it got a little bit serious…I couldn’t do any donuts so I did the Homer Simpson donuts kind of thing.”

Dumoulin’s runner-up finish extended his winless streak to 31 races, dating back to CTMP in 2021.

“We all want to win but I want to win the proper way,” said Dumoulin. “In the last corner, it would’ve been super easy to just drive into him and get the win, but that’s not the way we are.”

Camirand completed the podium, while Lapcevich finished sixth. Lapcevich is in position to clinch the championship by starting the finale at Delaware Speedway.

SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP CANADA (SCCC)

The SCCC presented by Michelin concluded its season with three races at CTMP. Jack Polito started on pole in the GT4 class, leading flag-to-flag for the GT4 and overall win in race one, on September 2.

In the TCR class, Dean Baker started on pole, two spots ahead of Justin Di Benedetto. Di Benedetto entered the weekend with a mathematical chance at the championship, following a GP3R weekend where he won two of three races.

Di Benedetto kept it close in the early laps before a mechanical issue sidelined him on Lap 10. Meanwhile, Richard Boake lost a couple spots at the start of the 40-minute timed race; he recorded the fastest lap while moving from seventh to third, passing Baker on Lap 25 for the TCR win.

The second race saw a similar script for the GT4 class, where Polito went flag-to-flag for the win. In TCR, Baker and Di Benedetto traded the lead early, with Baker taking the position for good on Lap 14. Di Benedetto and Boake rounded out the class podium, with Boake coming from 17th on an early restart to finish fourth overall.

“We went to roll off, out of the pits, but it wouldn’t go into gear, so we scrambled…left the pits, caught back up, started from the back and just started picking them off,” said Boake. “We needed three more laps and we probably could have won it.”

In the weekend finale, on September 3, Polito led all laps for the win, while the caution flag was another dominant factor. On Lap 8, Boake and Di Benedetto made contact while battling for second in class, sending Di Benedetto into the tire wall in turn eight. The race briefly went back to green before Quinn Attrell got into the turn one tires, the race ending under caution.

In the GT4 class, Polito won the championship, with nine victories in 12 races.

“No words to be spoken, it’s a really good feeling,” said Polito. “I just had such an amazing team, with such an amazing ride…I had the best of the best and I really am appreciative of that. I just can’t thank anyone enough; it’s been such an honour to get to race this series and drive this car.”

Baker won the TCR championship, with all four of his class wins coming at his home track. He said that his Baker Racing team is a small group that puts in a lot of effort, with this title coming as a surprise.

“When we started the season, our goal was to get on the podium, and on the first weekend we had two first places and a third place, so we started to realize right away that we actually had pace and we had a good group around us,” said Baker. “If you had asked me in May if we were going to be here right now, having this conversation, I would’ve laughed in your face.”

Trevor Hill won all three races in the TCA class, which was new for this season. He also took home the championship.

“It’s good with this new class, I’m happy for our team, we were able to come out in front with the Honda, hopefully this just keeps growing for next year,” said Hill. “We thought (TCA) was a great place to get more young people into it…we bought two cars to enter to help fuel it. I just think another entry level below TCR is what we need.”

EMZONE RADICAL CUP CANADA (RCC)

The RCC presented by Michelin also had three races to conclude the year. The first two races were held on September 2 and saw Kenny Riedmann pass points leader Jake Cowden for the win; both passes came within the final 11 laps of the timed races.

“The first race, I got lucky and (Cowden) did go a little wide in a corner and I was able to make the pass,” said Riedmann. “(Second) race, he wasn’t making any mistakes, so I knew I had to make a forceful move and I did it into (turn) 5b, which is kind of my favourite passing spot from back when I was racing Superbikes.”