2004 Mosport International Raceway - Ontario Touring GT Championship

Despite declining entries for the Canada GT Challenge Cup and the series demise in 2002, there was still a demand for this format of racing among closed wheel competitors in the Canadian Automobile Sport Club Ontario Region (CASC-OR). The Touring GT Championship filled this vacancy.

Teams competed in one of two categories. Last season’s Touring SGT class was eliminated for 2004. The colour of the windshield banner identifies the groups.

Touring GT – Blue – This class is home to vehicles with V8 or six-cylinder engines and cars with forced induction systems.
Touring T – Yellow - Vehicles commonly found in this category include the Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Volkswagen Rabbit, Acura Integra, etc. Engine displacement is limited to 2.8-liters.

Both classes compete on Toyo Proxes RA-1 tires.

The Touring GT Championship events are conducted on nine CASC-OR race weekends. On Saturdays, teams compete in a twenty-minute sprint event and the following day a longer forty-minute race is contested. The Championship has also been invited to participate in three professional weekends at Mosport International Raceway – Victoria Day, CASCAR Super Series and American Le Mans Series. At these events, drivers compete in a one-hour endurance race with a mandatory pit-stop.

All one-hour races require a mandatory one-minute pit-stop. For teams that use two drivers, one-minute is sufficient time to make the change. Competitors driving solo can remain in the car during the stop. Re-fueling is not allowed.

In addition to the Drivers’ Championship, there are awards given for:

Rookie of the Year
Most Improved Driver
Most Professional Team
Crew Chief of the Year
Masters Champion
Hard Charger

The penultimate round of the Ontario Touring GT Championship was held at Mosport International Raceway during the British Empire Motor Club Indian Summer Trophy weekend.

The starting grid for Sunday’s Ontario Touring GT Championship race at the BEMC Indian Summer Trophy weekend. On the pole is the race one winner, Michael Boekdrukker, in the No. 167 BMW M3. Next to Boekdrukker is the No. 54 Toyota Supra driven by Allan Jones. The second row is occupied by Bob Armstrong in a Nissan NX2000 and the BMW E30 of Ray Arlaukas. There was a total of twenty-five starters.

Series regular Allan Jones had a spectacular weekend. Jones qualified fifth fastest for race one in the No. 54 Toyota Supra. After a tight battle with the Nissan NX2000 Turbo of Bob Armstrong, he finished in the runner-up position. On Sunday, he benefitted from the issues encountered by the BMWs of Michael Boekdrukker and Allan DeWolfe to claim the victory over Armstrong.

Touring T competitor Michael Thornley had another dominant weekend. The points leader qualified and finished sixth overall in the weekend’s first contest, which was good for a class win. On Sunday, Thornley was challenged by the Honda Prelude of Nigel Krikorian. However, the driver of the No. 133 Aura Integra Type R was able to secure a narrow margin of victory in the Touring T category.

The 2004 Touring GT Championship started slowly for Nigel Krikorian. However, at the CASCAR Super Series event, the driver of the No. 152 Honda Prelude captured the Touring T victory. Krikorian was back on form at the BEMC Indian Summer Trophy weekend. He qualified third in class for Saturday’s contest and finished a distant second. In the finale, he kept the winner, Michael Thornley, honest and finished on his bumper.

Last year’s Touring GT Championship Touring GT title holder, Bob Armstrong, made his first appearance of the season at BEMC’s Indian Summer Trophy event. Despite missing the previous ten rounds, Armstrong demonstrated the skills that won him his championship. In the first contest of the weekend, he qualified and finished third in his familiar No. 33 Nissan NX2000 Turbo. On Sunday, Armstrong finished second.

Honda employee Scott Nicol and his team built the beautiful No. 41 Acura EL, which is fitted with a K20 engine. The car wasn’t ready until the American Le Mans Series weekend, where it showed great promise. In race one, during the penultimate weekend of the season, Nicol qualified second in Touring T but finished seventh. In the finale, he fared much better and was in third-place at the checkered flag.

There is no doubt that the No. 167 BMW M3 and its driver Michael Boekdrukker are quick, but there appears to be a reliability issue. This was the case during the BEMC Indian Summer Trophy event. In the weekend’s first contest, Boekdrukker started second and secured the victory after Allan DeWolfe retired. On Sunday, Boekdrukker jumped into an early lead, but he would park the car before the end of the race.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS
1	2	Touring GT	Mike Boekdrukker	BMW M3	13
2	5	Touring GT	Alan Jones	Toyota Supra	13
3	3	Touring GT	Bob Armstrong	Nissan NX2000 Turbo	13
4	4	Touring GT	Ray Arlauskas	BMW E30	13
5	7	Touring GT	Allan Lewis	BMW E30	13
6	6	Touring T	Michael Thornley	Acura Integra Type R	13
7	9	Touring T	Nigel Krikorian	Honda Prelude	13
8	11	Touring T	Nick Majors	Nissan Sentra	13
9	13	Touring T	Gunter Schmidt	Volkswagen Jetta	13
10	14	Touring T	Eric Nummelin	Mazda RX-7	13
11	15	Touring T	Andrew Elliott	Volkswagen Corrado	13
12	8	Touring T	Scott Nicol	Acura EL	13
13	17	Touring T	John Bondar	Acura Integra	13
14	16	Touring T	Nicholas Krikorian	Honda Prelude	13
15	18	Touring T	Terry DiFrancesco	Toyota MR2	12
16	20	Touring T	Ian Houston	Volkswagen Rabbit GTi	12
17	22	Touring T	Perry Iannuzzi	Nissan Sentra	12
18	23	Touring T	Terry Mueller	Nissan Sentra	12
19	26	Touring T	John Powell	Mazda RX-7	12
20	24	Touring T	Gregory Chang	Acura Integra Type R	12
21	25	Touring T	Cindy Armstrong	Nissan NX2000	12
Did Not Finish	1	Touring GT	Allan DeWolfe	BMW 325	5
Did Not Finish	19	Touring T	Jeff Lorriman	Hyundai Tiburon	4
Did Not Finish	21	Touring T	Cliff Daley / Ian Madden	Volkswagen Golf	2
Did Not Finish	10	Touring T	Ian Law	Honda Civic	1
Did Not Start	12	Touring T	Howard Chin	Volkswagen Rabbit	-
Did Not Start	28	Touring T	Tom Caluzic/ Alex Rizhanovski	Honda Del Sol	-

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS
1	2	Touring GT	Alan Jones	Toyota Supra	25
2	3	Touring GT	Bob Armstrong	Nissan NX2000 Turbo	25
3	5	Touring GT	Allan Lewis	BMW E30	25
4	4	Touring GT	Ray Arlauskas	BMW E30	25
5	6	Touring T	Michael Thornley	Acura Integra Type R	25
6	7	Touring T	Nigel Krikorian	Honda Prelude	25
7	22	Touring GT	Allan DeWolfe	BMW 325	25
8	12	Touring T	Scott Nicol	Acura EL	25
9	14	Touring T	Nicholas Krikorian	Honda Prelude	25
10	9	Touring T	Gunter Schmidt	Volkswagen Jetta	25
11	25	Touring T	Ian Law	Honda Civic	24
12	10	Touring T	Eric Nummelin	Mazda RX-7	24
13	24	Touring T	Cliff Daley / Ian Madden	Volkswagen Golf	24
14	13	Touring T	John Bondar	Acura Integra	24
15	23	Touring T	Jeff Lorriman	Hyundai Tiburon	24
16	16	Touring T	Ian Houston	Volkswagen Rabbit GTi	24
17	15	Touring T	Terry DiFrancesco	Toyota MR2	23
18	17	Touring T	Perry Iannuzzi	Nissan Sentra	23
19	20	Touring T	Gregory Chang	Acura Integra Type R	23
20	18	Touring T	Terry Mueller	Nissan Sentra	23
21	21	Touring T	Cindy Armstrong	Nissan NX2000	23
Did Not Finish	1	Touring GT	Mike Boekdrukker	BMW M3	14
Did Not Finish	8	Touring T	Nick Majors	Nissan Sentra	3
Did Not Finish	27	Touring T	Howard Chin	Volkswagen Rabbit	3
Did Not Finish	11	Touring T	Andrew Elliott	Volkswagen Corrado	2
Did Not Start	19	Touring T	John Powell	Mazda RX-7	-
Did Not Start	28	Touring T	Tom Caluzic/ Alex Rizhanovski	Honda Del Sol	-

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