2021 Shannonville Motorsport Park

The Nissan Micra Cup series made its debut in 2015. The championship was designed to provide racers with the most affordable race vehicle in Canada. New for 2021, and replacing the Micra series, is the Nissan Sentra Cup. This year the grids will still include the older Micras, but the focus will be on the Sentra.

Nissan Sentra – Each Nissan Sentra competing in the series carries a price tag of $39,990. The Sentras were prepared by the Motorsports in Action team at St-Eustache, with the development being performed by Canadian racing veteran Jean-Francois Dumoulin. The cars are powered by a DACT four-cylinder 2.0-liter sequential multi-point fuel injection engine which produces 149-horsepower at 6,400-rpm. Some performance upgrades include four-piston front calipers, adjustable coil-overs, 18”X9” alloy wheels, braided stainless steel flex lines and a MoTec M1 Series ECM. To address safety, the Sentra Cup cars include features such as an FIA Spec six-point roll cage, FIA homologated six-point harness and FIA homologated racing seat.
Nissan Micra – The Micra is powered by a 1.6-liter DOHC 4-cylinder engine which produces 109-horsepower. For safety purposes, much of the interior (seats, door panels, etc.) is removed and a safety cage, five-point harness, window net and FIA-approved racing seat are installed. To improve the performance of the cars, they are fitted with a racing suspension kit, high-performance brake pads, Pirelli racing tires and a modified exhaust system.

Each race weekend consists of two forty-minute contests. The Nissan Sentra Cup kicks off on June 26-27 at Shannonville Motorsport Park. This event is followed by the first of two visits to Circuit Mont-Tremblant. Then teams travel to Trois-Rivieres to compete on the popular temporary street circuit. Rounds seven and eight are conducted at Circuit ICAR. Then the championship returns to Ontario for races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The season will end in the third week of September during Fall Classic at Circuit Mont-Tremblant.

The inaugural Nissan Sentra Cup was held on the weekend of June 26-27 at Shannonville Motorsport Park. Saturday’s event was contested on the Long Track, which incorporates the Nelson and Fabi configurations. The shorter Pro Track was used for rounds two on Sunday.

The pace lap for round one of the inaugural Nissan Sentra Cup at Shannonville Motorsport Park. On the pole is Gavin Sanders in the No. 10 GS Motorsports Nissan Sentra with backing from Fat Bastard Burrito. On the outside of Sanders is Jesse Lazare driving the No. 21 Motorsports in Action prepared Nissan Sentra. A total of twelve Nissan Sentras and eleven Nissan Micras started the season’s first race.

The former karter Gavin Sanders gained some experience in last year’s Nissan Micra Cup and scored a season-high second place at Calabogie Motorsport Park. In race one at Shannonville, Sanders put the No. 10 Sentra on the pole and won after a tremendous battle with Kevin King. On Sunday, he was in second when the contest was red-flagged. The leader, King, was assessed a penalty and Sanders was awarded the victory.

Having an equally dominant weekend was Nissan Micra competitor Nicholas Hornbostel. Hornbostel was driving the No. 71 OCC Lasik sponsored Micra. Despite his rookie status in the series, he has several years of successful karting experience, which showed during the weekend. Hornbostel started on the pole in both rounds and led from start to finish for a comfortable lead in the championship.

Last year’s Nissan Micra Cup title holder, Kevin King, entered this season’s Nissan Sentra Cup, driving the No. 1 Nissan Gabriel Nissan Sentra. King qualified third-fastest for race one and slipped by the eventual winner, Gavin Sander, momentary before finishing second by a margin of 0.987-seconds. On Sunday, he was in the lead when the race was red-flagged. Unfortunately, avoidable contact resulted in a one-position penalty.

Hi-Fi Racing’s Frederic Bernier returned for his seventh season in the Nissan series. Bernier has always been one of the front runners in the Senior category. In 2021, he is campaigning the familiar No. 28 Nissan Micra. In Saturday’s race at Shannonville, he finished second to Nicholas Hornbostel by a margin of 0.551-seconds. Unfortunately, an incident with Nicolas Barrette the following day brought out the red flag.

A split start was employed for the Sentra and Micra competitors. The quicker Sentras received the Starters flag first. The Nissan Micra field enters the final corner at Shannonville Motorsport Park on Sunday in anticipation of a start. On the pole is the No. 71 OCC Lasik sponsored Micra of Nicholas Hornbostel. On the outside of the front row is the No. 28 Hi-Fi Racing Nissan of Frederic Bernier.

Another of last season’s Nissan Micra Cup competitors making the jump to the new Nissan Sentra was Justin Di Benedetto. Di Benedetto finished second in the 2020 rookie standings and sixth in the overall championship. This year, he was driving the No. 4 SPI Racing Sentra. Contact in race one took him out of contention and he finished twentieth overall. On Sunday, Di Benedetto redeemed himself with a third-place result.

Trois-Rivieres’ Andre Lapointe has been competing in the Nissan Micra Cup series since 2018. 2020 was dismal for Lapointe; he had two DNFs and one DNS but ended the year with a season-high seventh-place result at Circuit Mont-Tremblant. His bad luck followed into the first race of the new year when he failed to start. However, on Sunday, Lapointe finished second in class driving the No. 47 Lapspeed Performance Micra.

Jesse Lazare brings a wealth of experience to the 2021 Nissan Sentra Cup. His racing resume includes Formula 1600, Nissan Micra Cup, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and a class victory at the 2017 Rolex 24. Lazare is driving the No. 21 Motorsports In Action prepared Nissan Sentra in this year’s championship. He captured the final position on the class podium on Saturday and finished in the fourth position in round two.

Sylvain Ouellet, driver of the No. 98 Ouellet Motorsport Nissan Micra, won the 2019 Senior Championship and finished in the runner-up position last season. He opened 2021 at Shannonville Motorsport Park with some strong results. In round one, Ouellet finished twelfth overall and third in class. On Sunday, he earned another podium result, but important he would enter Mont-Tremblant second in the standings.

Sunday’s race ended prematurely when Frederic Bernier and Nicolas Barrette had contact on lap-17 of the forty-minute contest. The two tangled after exiting Shannonville Motorsport Park’s back straight causing officials to display the red flag. Barrette, driver of the No. 427 Equipe de Course Musee Gilles-Villeneuve Nissan Micra, who finished fifth in class the previous day, sustained the most damage.

POS.	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	Sentra	Gavin Sanders	Nissan Sentra	20	-
2	3	Sentra	Kevin King	Nissan Sentra	20	-
3	2	Sentra	Jesse Lazare	Nissan Sentra	20	-
4	8	Sentra	Valérie Limoges	Nissan Sentra	20	-
5	6	Sentra	Alexandre Fortin	Nissan Sentra	20	-
6	7	Sentra	Éric Chaput	Nissan Sentra	20	-
7	10	Sentra	Jesse Webb	Nissan Sentra	20	-
8	9	Sentra	Simon Charbonneau	Nissan Sentra	20	-
9	12	Sentra	Darren Graham	Nissan Sentra	20	-
10	13	Micra	Nicholas Hornbostel	Nissan Micra	19	-
11	14	Micra	Frédéric Bernier	Nissan Micra	19	-
12	16	Micra	Sylvain Ouellet	Nissan Micra	19	-
13	18	Micra	François Angers-Bouthier	Nissan Micra	19	-
14	19	Micra	Nicolas Barrette	Nissan Micra	19	-
15	21	Micra	Frédéric Chaput	Nissan Micra	19	-
16	20	Micra	Mario Berthiaume	Nissan Micra	19	-
17	23	Micra	Jean Audet	Nissan Micra	19	-
18	17	Micra	Simon Vincent	Nissan Micra	18	-
19	24	Micra	Marie-Soleil Labelle	Nissan Micra	18	-
20	11	Sentra	Justin Di Benedetto	Nissan Sentra	18	-
21	5	Sentra	Kai Dalziel	Nissan Sentra	10	-
22	4	Sentra	Owen Clarke	Nissan Sentra	3	Did Not Finish
23	22	Micra	Étienne Caron	Nissan Micra	2	Did Not Finish
-	15	Micra	André Lapointe	Nissan Micra	-	Did Not Start

POS.	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	Sentra	Gavin Sanders	Nissan Sentra	20	-
2	3	Sentra	Kevin King	Nissan Sentra	20	-
3	2	Sentra	Justin Di Benedetto	Nissan Sentra	20	-
4	6	Sentra	Jesse Lazare	Nissan Sentra	20	-
5	5	Sentra	Simon Charbonneau	Nissan Sentra	20	-
6	8	Sentra	Valérie Limoges	Nissan Sentra	20	-
7	4	Sentra	Alexandre Fortin	Nissan Sentra	20	-
8	7	Sentra	Kai Dalziel	Nissan Sentra	20	-
9	11	Sentra	Éric Chaput	Nissan Sentra	20	-
10	10	Sentra	Jesse Webb	Nissan Sentra	20	-
11	9	Sentra	Owen Clarke	Nissan Sentra	20	-
12	12	Sentra	Darren Graham	Nissan Sentra	20	-
13	13	Micra	Nicholas Hornbostel	Nissan Micra	19	-
14	15	Micra	André Lapointe	Nissan Micra	19	-
15	16	Micra	Sylvain Ouellet	Nissan Micra	19	-
16	21	Micra	Jean Audet	Nissan Micra	19	-
17	18	Micra	Mario Berthiaume	Nissan Micra	19	-
18	19	Micra	François Angers-Bouthier	Nissan Micra	19	-
19	24	Micra	Frédéric Chaput	Nissan Micra	18	-
20	20	Micra	Simon Vincent	Nissan Micra	18	-
21	22	Micra	Marie-Soleil Labelle	Nissan Micra	18	-
22	14	Micra	Frédéric Bernier	Nissan Micra	17	-
23	17	Micra	Nicolas Barrette	Nissan Micra	17	-
24	23	Micra	Étienne Caron	Nissan Micra	15	Did Not Finish

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