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After a long absence, the Sundown Grand Prix returned to Mosport International Raceway in 2005 and became a regular fixture on the Victoria Day Weekend Speedfest schedule.
The first Sundown Grand Prix was held in 1959 at Harewood Acres and won by Roger Penske and Harry Blanchard driving a Porsche RSK. From 1964 to 1976, the event was conducted at Mosport. A list of past winners includes such racing greats as Al Pease, Eppie Wietzes, Craig Fisher, Mo Carter and Ludwig Heimrath. Most competitors in this year’s Sundown Grand Prix were from Ontario; however, the event also attracted teams from Quebec. The classes for this year’s race were set by using a bracket system. Based on lap times, teams would be placed in one of six categories – GT1 (the fastest) to GT6 (the slowest).
If a team goes faster than the breakout time they are registered in, they will be moved up a class. This year’s edition of the Sundown Grand Prix was 180-minutes long around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course. The event began at 5:00 pm on Saturday and ended in the dark. The original races were six-hour contests.
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At last year’s running of the Sundown Grand Prix Quebec’s, Mark Gawronski shared the driving duties of the No. 118 Honda Civic. In 2010, Gawronski decided to complete the three-hour event by himself. He qualified seventh overall and fourth in the GT3 category. As the faster teams encountered issues during the contest, Gawronski moved into the overall lead just before the halfway point and held-on for the victory. |
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Another duo benefitting from the challenges faced by some of the faster competitors were Paul Taylor and Joe Chan. They were gridded in the ninth position for the start of the Sundown Grand Prix and second in the GT4 category – the group with the largest number of entries. A trouble-free run allowed them to move up the race order and finish first class and third overall – two-laps behind the race winner, Mark Gawronski. |
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There were a total of nine drivers entered in this year’s Sundown Grand Prix that decided to compete solo. One of them was Nicholas Krikorian. Krikorian, a former Canadian Touring Car Championship series competitor, drove the No. 67 Versace Parfums sponsored Subaru WRX STi in the GT2 category. He qualified second overall and finished fifth but won his class by a margin of twenty-two-laps. |
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The Krikorian family entered a second Subaru WRX STi. The No. 76 Subaru was driven by Nicholas’ brother Nigel. Nigel was the 2008 Canadian Touring Car Super Touring champion. His car has received extensive upgrades from Can-Jam Motorsports and competed in the GT1 category. Nigel was the only driver in class and started on the pole, but issues during the contest resulted in an overall finish of sixth-place. |
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GT5 competitors Richard Foegele and Matt Graham competed in the last two Sundown Grand Prix. Their best result was a second in class during the 2008 event. The No. 59 Mazda Miata started the three-hour race eighteenth overall and second in their group. The duo took the class early when the faster Shep/Browne Nissan encountered problems. Foegele and Graham would win their category by five-laps. |
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One of the more unique vehicles entered in this year’s edition of the Sundown Grand Prix was the No. 03 Saturn SC2 shared by Nick Berry and Aaron McCauley. The team was one of two entered in the GT6 group – the other was a Nissan Sentra driven by Alex Toth. The Saturn was the twentieth fastest qualifier in a field of twenty-four cars. They finished fifteenth overall and finish ahead of Toth by a margin of six-laps. |
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| FINISH | START | CLASS | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | GT3 | Mark Gawronski | Honda Civic | 110 |
| 2 | 6 | GT3 | Gunter Schmidt / Andrew Danyliw | Chevrolet Cobalt | 109 |
| 3 | 9 | GT4 | Paul Taylor / Joe Chan | Chevrolet Cobalt | 108 |
| 4 | 4 | GT3 | Marco Cirone / Robert Burgess | Porsche 997 | 107 |
| 5 | 2 | GT2 | Nicholas Krikorian | Subaru WRX STi | 107 |
| 6 | 1 | GT1 | Nigel Krikorian | Subaru WRX STi | 105 |
| 7 | 15 | GT4 | Andrew Elliott | Honda Prelude | 105 |
| 8 | 19 | GT4 | M-A Seguin / J-P Dumoulin | Honda Civic | 103 |
| 9 | 8 | GT4 | Tom Kwok / Gary Kwok | Acura CSX | 102 |
| 10 | 18 | GT5 | Richard Foegele / Matt Graham | Mazda Miata | 101 |
| 11 | 21 | GT4 | Jesse Bradburn / Corey Bradburn | Honda Civic | 97 |
| 12 | 22 | GT5 | Robert Burgess/ Mike Edmonds | Porsche 944S | 96 |
| 13 | 17 | GT3 | Jay Saslove / Richard Muise | Acura Integra Type R | 94 |
| 14 | 13 | GT4 | Kevin Robb / Howard Chin | Volkswagen Jetta | 94 |
| 15 | 20 | GT6 | Nick Berry / Aaron McCauley | Saturn SC2 | 93 |
| 16 | 12 | GT4 | Ken Baird / Antoine Cremer | Acura Integra Type R | 92 |
| 17 | 23 | GT6 | Alex Toth | Nissan Sentra | 87 |
| 18 | 10 | GT2 | Serge Tousignant | BMW M3 | 85 |
| 19 | 5 | GT3 | Arek Wojciechowski / Eric Hochgeschurz | BMW 328i | 84 |
| 20 | 16 | GT5 | David Shep / Gary Browne | Nissan Sentra Spec V | 78 |
| Did Not Finish | 3 | GT2 | Andrew Romocki | Porsche 944 Turbo | 58 |
| Did Not Finish | 11 | GT3 | Steve Anderson | Dodge SRT-4 | 36 |
| Did Not Finish | 24 | GT5 | Cliff Daley / Ian Madden | Volkswagen Jetta | 5 |
| Did Not Finish | 14 | GT4 | Steve Greiner | Acura Integra | 3 |
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