The prestigious Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières took place this past weekend on the historic street course, featuring a wide assortment of vehicles on track, with stock cars, sports cars, production vehicles, dirt modifieds, legends, formula racers and vintage machines. Here’s a look at the podium finishers from each race.
NASCAR Canada Series
The headline NASCAR Canada Series race, originally scheduled for 60 laps, was extended by 12 circuits due to a series of late-race cautions. With fuel mileage concerns and attrition involving top contenders, it was Marc-Antoine Camirand who came out on top, winning for the second straight year.
For a full recap of the race, click here.
Podium finishers: Marc-Antoine Camirand (winner), Alex Labbé (second), Raphaël Lessard (third)
FEL Sports Car Championship Canada
The FEL Sports Car Championship Canada presented by Michelin (SCCC) held two races on the streets of Trois-Rivières, with Friday’s night race being postponed to Saturday morning due to rain. We hear from a pair of the winners in our SCCC notes below; for a full event recap, click here.
Race One podium finishers:
GT4: Justin Di Benedetto (winner), Jared Odrick (second), Jack Polito (DNF/third)
TCR: Anthony Martella (winner), Gary Kwok (second), Ron Tomlinson (third)
TCA: Robert Cipriani-Detres (winner), Eric Kunz (second), Peter Hanson (third)
Race Two podium finishers:
GT4: Jack Polito (winner), Jared Odrick (DNF/second), Justin Di Benedetto (DNF/third)
TCR: Ron Tomlinson (winner), Jonathan Young (second), Tom Kwok (third)
TCA: Eric Kunz (winner), Peter Hanson (second), Felix Kwok (third)
SCCC Notes
After claiming his first FEL SCCC win on the streets of Toronto, Cipriani-Detres made it back-to-back victories in the first race in Trois-Rivières. Leading most of the way in the 30-minute timed race, the conditions made it a challenge.
“The race itself was by far the most physical one I’ve ever had,” said Cipriani-Detres. “You never really have a chance to take a break on these streets so that was a bit of a surprise to me. Once I got out of the car I wasn’t feeling too well, which was the result of me not drinking enough fluids prior to the race. A bit dizzy and nauseous but thankfully I recovered enough for race two.”
Cipriani-Detres was racing in the GP3R for the first time. He says that street courses just click for him and that, after learning about the event’s history, he knew that he had to add a GP3R trophy to his collection. He was a contender again in race two before a late incident led to a DNF.
“Race two was looking really good until a late safety car brought up faster cars behind me on the restart,” said Cipriani-Detres. “This resulted in a bit of a mess in the first few corners. An accident happened in front of me and a piece of spring flew off and struck my oil cooler, resulting in the engine losing all of its oil and seizing the engine on the last lap.”
For Di Benedetto, he followed up two TCR wins at last year’s GP3R with his first career FEL GT4 victory in race one. After winning the pole during a wet qualifying session on Friday, he took an early lead en route to the checkered flag in the re-scheduled opener.
“We knew the pace was there; I was hoping we’d be able to get the rain race because then it would’ve made things more interesting,” said Di Benedetto. “Race one went good; we got a decent start, the Mustang’s torque off the line is just ridiculous, so Jack pulled well ahead of us. You got to get him on the inside of turn one and just hope to keep him there and (I) made that work.”
Following a wreck between Polito and Odrick, it became a matter of managing tires and managing the gap in the race. Di Benedetto experienced issues in previous seasons, with the Nissan Sentra Cup and FEL TCR, before his GP3R success last season.
“Last year, it just seemed like all of our cards were in our favour,” said Di Benedetto. “Two wins and a second-place, then a pole position and race win in race one this weekend. It’s a tricky course; it’s very old school, very bumpy. The flow of it is very interesting, it’s very slow, then it picks up, then it slows down, and then it just picks up. Not sure what it is; it seemed to really like me in qualifying and race one.”
Chevrolet Urban Challenge
After a “SuperPole” qualifying race, the Chevrolet Urban Challenge main feature saw dirt modifieds, meant to turn left on banked dirt ovals, tackle the flat pavement and concrete of the left-and-right street course for 20 laps.
The event featured notable names, including NASCAR Canada Series champions Marc-Antoine Camirand and Alex Labbé, NASCAR Canada Series race winner Raphaël Lessard, dirt champions David Hebert and Samuel Charland, and Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Ron Fellows.
Lessard took the lead from polesitter Charland early in the race, going on to win for the second straight year. Charland, Labbé, Hebert and Camirand completed the top-five.
SuperPole podium finishers: Samuel Charland (winner), Raphaël Lessard (second), Alex Labbé (third)
Feature podium finishers: Raphaël Lessard (winner), Samuel Charland (second), Alex Labbé (third)
Super Production Challenge
The Super Production Challenge held three races, with the Super Production, Production and Compact classes in action.
Race One podium finishers:
SP: Kurt Wittmer (winner), Guillaume Labbé (second), Marc Héroux (third)
P: Sylvain Laporte (winner), Vincent Desautels (second), Yannick Lupien (third)
C: Frédéric Bernier (winner), Eric Coulombe (second), Steve Beauchamps (third)
Race Two podium finishers:
SP: Marc Héroux (winner), Nathan Blok (second), Kurt Wittmer (third)
P: Yannick Lupien (winner), Vincent Desautels (second), Matt Briand (third)
C: Eric Coulombe (winner), Frédéric Bernier (second), Zack Lalonde (third)
Race Three podium finishers:
SP: Sylvain Ouellet (winner), Todd Chiappino (second), Alex Habrich (third)
P: Matt Briand (winner), Marc-Andre Bourdages (second), Yannick Lupien (third)
C: Frédéric Bernier (winner), Zack Lalonde (second), Maïka Chamberland (third)
Nissan Sentra Cup
The Nissan Sentra Cup held a pair of races on the streets of Trois-Rivières.
Race One podium finishers: Valérie Limoges (winner), Mathieu Miron (second), Nicolas Barrette (third)
Race Two podium finishers: Éric Chaput (winner), Mathieu Miron (second), Valérie Limoges (third)
F1600 Canada
The first F1600 Canada race, scheduled for early evening on Friday, was cancelled due to rain, leaving the tour with a pair of races at the GP3R.
Race One podium finishers:
PRO: Connor Clubine (winner), Bertrand Godin (second), Didier Schraenen (third)
PRO AM: Duncan Murdoch (winner), James Lindsay (second), Olivier Dulac (third)
Race Two podium finishers:
PRO: Connor Clubine (winner), Bertrand Godin (second), Didier Schraenen (third)
PRO AM: Henderson Knox (winner), Duncan Murdoch (second), James Lindsay (third)
Modified Legends
Three classes contested three races for the Modified Legends.
Race One podium finishers:
MODLITE: Kyle Honour (winner), Eric Lamothe (second), Stéphane Dugré (third)
INEX: Sonny Roy (winner), Relly O’Connell (second), Alexandre Guay (third)
Modified Legends: Benoit Landry (winner), Alexandre Jeannotte (second), Simon Lemieux (third)
Race Two podium finishers:
MODLITE: Kyle Honour (winner), Eric Lamothe (second), Francis Laliberté (third)
INEX: Relly O’Connell (winner), Sonny Roy (second), Alexandre Guay (third)
Modified Legends: Frederick Savard (winner), Maxime Pelletier (second), Vincent Fournier (third)
Race Three podium finishers:
MODLITE: Eric Lamothe (winner), Francis Laliberté (second), Francois Marcoux (third)
INEX: Relly O’Connell (winner), Sonny Roy (second), Alexandre Guay (third)
Modified Legends: Dominique Dumais (winner), Alexandre Jeannotte (second), Frederick Savard (third)
CVQ Invitational
Two invitational races were held for CVQ (Courses Vintage Québec) vintage racing.
Race One podium finishers: Jean-Pierre Ouimet (winner), Paul Bissonnette (second), Francois Reda (third)
Race Two podium finishers: Jean-Pierre Ouimet (winner), Bertrand Dupuis (second), Paul Bissonnette (third)
