Toronto, ON – The FEL Sports Car Championship Canada presented by Michelin (SCCC) completed its second race at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, where Jack Polito, Anthony Martella and Robert Cipriani-Detres were victorious on Sunday morning. The Emzone Radical Cup Canada presented by Michelin (RCC), in a combined field with Radical Cup North America, held its third race on the streets around Exhibition Place.
SCCC Race Two
The second SCCC race of the weekend saw Polito take an early lead in GT4, while Ron Tomlinson moved ahead in TCR and Eric Kunz took the advantage in TCA.
Martella battled with Gary Kwok and Tomlinson in the early running, making a couple of passes to take the lead on Lap 5. Cipriani-Detres took the TCA advantage as the race went on, while Polito opened a sizeable gap at the front of the field.
Tomlinson kept Martella in his sights before finding himself in the runoff area at turn eight, on Lap 16. The class leaders held their positions through a full course caution, on Lap 27, for Tom Kwok in the wall exiting turn five. The damage and resulting tow was enough to end the race, with just minutes remaining in its time window.
Polito took the GT4 win over Jared Odrick and Cayden Goodridge, while Martella finished ahead of Richard Boake and Tomlinson in TCR. The win for Martella came in his second ever street course race, with Toronto being his first street race weekend.
“I knew we had the car to win and it was just about managing the tires and managing the brakes, to make sure they didn’t get hot,” said Martella. “They got me on the start, I think I dropped back to third, but I knew we had the pace to continue on so, once the tires came in, I made some moves…just wanted to manage the tires and slowly stretch away, which I did.”
Cipriani-Detres took the TCA win over Kunz and Peter Hanson; the Chicago driver raced with the Radicals in last year’s Toronto event and now has his first win since joining the SCCC full-time this season.
“We had the pace yesterday, unfortunately I got taken out a little earlier on in the race, had to pit for a new tire,” said Cipriani-Detres. “I had to come back for redemption in race two; managed our pace, pulled a pretty decent sized gap…it feels like a homecoming; it finally happened. CTMP and Calabogie were a bit rough on me, but I knew coming here to (Toronto) would hopefully turn my season around, because of my prior experience last year.”
Justin Di Benedetto
Justin Di Benedetto and Polito battled closely for the GT4 lead in the early running of Saturday’s SCCC race, with Di Benedetto holding off charges from Polito to keep his Porsche 718 Cayman up front. However, on Lap 12, Di Benedetto slid out of turn one and slapped the wall, ending his weekend.
“When I went in, it was maybe just a tad too quick; I think it was something around one-and-a-half to two kilometers, a little bit quicker than the lap previously,” said Di Benedetto. “When we went in, front tires took it, (but) rear tires didn’t take it, so car snapped, then left-rear hit the wall, damaged the suspension and that was pretty much game over after that.”
Di Benedetto says the team has everything except for the rear subframe, which is on back order from Porsche in Germany. He says they’ll be back for the next race weekend, taking place August 9-10 at the GP3R in Trois-Rivières, QC. With another street course on deck, the start to the Toronto weekend was still a good sign for them.
“The car was great all weekend; in qualifying, the car was lightning quick; in the race, we did a (01:16.9 lap time) and Jack did it as well, and those are some very fast GT4 times,” said Di Benedetto. “The confidence was there, it was just me pushing the limits a bit too much, but we’re going to GP3R, which is a track that went exceptionally well last year…also racing with Jack; Jack is very fast, very respectable on track, and I really did enjoy the battle, so I’m looking forward to continuing where we left off here to GP3R.”
Di Benedetto recorded two wins and a runner-up finish in the TCR class at last year’s GP3R. To read more about Saturday’s FEL action, click here, and to read more about a special event in Toronto, where Di Benedetto hosted I Challenge Diabetes, click here.
Radicals Race Three
The third Radicals race of the weekend saw Kenny Riedmann complete the sweep in the RCC class, with Travis Hill and Chris Styles rounding out the podium. A wreck in race one at CTMP put Riedmann behind in the points standings, but the three Toronto victories, combined with finishes outside the top-two by Owen Clarke, has given Riedmann the unofficial points lead.
“Not a lot of green flag laps (in race three), there was a lot of carnage out there, but just drove safe, brought the thing home, and rounded out a perfect weekend for us,” said Riedmann. “I knew I was behind (in points), I was just trying to win as much as I could, so that feels great (to take the points lead).”
Podium Finishers
Here’s a full rundown of podium finishers:
Radicals race three:
Platinum class:
Winner: Jon Field
Second: Chip Romer
Third: Louis Schriber
PRO 1500 class:
Winner: Nick d’Orlando
Second: Jordan Missig
Third: Evan Slater
PRO 1340 class:
Winner: Mayer Deonarine
Second: Suellio Almeida
Third: Seth Bacon
RCC class:
Winner: Kenny Riedmann
Second: Travis Hill
Third: Chris Styles
RCC Masters class:
Winner: Robert Burgess
Second: Daniel Earle
Third: Liang Qiu
SCCC race two:
GT4 class:
Winner: Jack Polito
Second: Jared Odrick
Third: Cayden Goodridge
TCR class:
Winner: Anthony Martella
Second: Richard Boake
Third: Ron Tomlinson
TCA class:
Winner: Robert Cipriani-Detres
Second: Eric Kunz
Third: Peter Hanson
