2015 Circuit ICAR - Super Production Challenge

Quebec’s Super Production Challenge series for production vehicles debuted in 2011. The very popular championship has attracted large fields as the result of affordable racing, which has, in turn, generated close competition and captured the imagination of fans.

The Super Production Challenge offers amateur drivers a semi-professional environment which is sanctioned the Auto Sport Quebec. Most races range from thirty to forty-five-minutes in length. The season starts on the May long weekend with rounds one and two at Autodrome St-Eustache. The subsequent two events take place at Circuit ICAR. The first is called Le ICAR by Night. On Canada Day weekend, the Super Production Challenge acts as a support event for the NASCAR Canadian Tire series. Then teams travel to Ontario to compete in rounds ten and eleven at Calabogie Motorsport Park. The season ends on Thanksgiving weekend with a doubleheader at Autodrome St-Eustache.

The series controls costs by limiting performance and balancing the power of different vehicles using various methods – weight, rev limiters, intake manifold restrictions and adjustments to other components. Series rules allow modifications to the engine, brakes and suspensions. All cars in the series are required to compete on Falken tires.

Drivers score points in one of two classes – Super Production or Compact. The larger displacement vehicles with no more than 220-horsepower compete in the Super Production group. Cars commonly found in this division include the Scion FRS, Honda Civic, Acura RSX and BMW 328i. The Compact class, introduced in 2012, is for vehicles with less the 100-horsepower. Included in the category are the Mini Cooper, Toyota Echo, Nissan Micra and Mazda 2.

The third weekend of the 2015 Super Production Challenge was held at Circuit ICAR as a support event for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Over the two-days, competitors could score points in four races – rounds six to nine.

The only Mitsubishi Lancer EVO entered in the series was driven by Jean-Sebastien Besner. Besner started the season with a pair of victories in the opening rounds at Autodrome St-Eustache. He earned a third and two fourth-place finishes in the series first visit to ICAR. Besner returned to ICAR second in the Super Production standings. He won round six but was excluded from the next three races and fell to fifth in the title chase.

Julien and Mathieu Legris shared the driving duties on the No. 20 Legris Racing Toyota Echo. Mathieu competed in rounds six and seven on Saturday and won both of the Compact class races. Julien did not fare quite as well but claimed first and second-place finishes in the same category. Mathieu left the weekend second in the championship points and trailed the leader, Gabriel Lacombe, by fifty-seven markers.

Super Production competitor Philippe Gelinas had a terrible start to the season. In race one at Autodrome St-Eustache, he lost an engine in the No. 34 Hyundai Genesis and was unable to start round two. But he bounced back and captured a pair of victories and third place in the first visit to ICAR. Returning to ICAR, Gelinas earned two more wins but also encountered mechanical issues in the other two races.

Gabriel Lacombe led the Compact point standings entering the series second visit to Circuit ICAR. His record included five podium results in as many starts, of which two were victories. During the ECKO Unlimited 100 weekend, Lacombe added another three podium results to his total. Unfortunately, the driver of the No. 03 Honda Civic had his first retirement of the year but still maintained the championship lead.

2015 was the third season for the driver of the No. 28 Equipe CVK Honda Civic, Benoit Landry. Landry finished seventh in last year’s Super Production Challenge and earned a personal best of second place in round six at Calabogie Motorsport Park. He started this year with an accident but had a runner-up result in the series first visit to ICAR. Upon the championship’s return to ICAR, Landry scored his first victory.

After finishing second in the final Super Production standings last season, the 2013 category champion Marc Heroux was on track to claim his second title. This year Heroux led the title chase after scoring five podium results. Driving the No. 24 BP3D Competition Scion FRS, he collected another two podium (two third-place results) finishes at the NASCAR weekend and retained his lead in the points chase.

Two female racers were participating in this year’s Super Production Challenge. One of the drivers was Marie-Laurence Paquin campaigning the No. 16 BP3D Competition Acura RSX Type-S. The ECKO Unlimited 100 was her first event of the season. Paquin was immediately on pace. By the end of the weekend, she had earned fifth, fourth, third and runner-up finishes.

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	SP-1	Jean-Sebastien Besner	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	10	-
2	SP-2	Sylvain Laporte	Mini Cooper	10	-
3	SP-3	Marc Heroux	Scion FRS	10	-
4	SP-4	Benoit Landry	Honda Civic	10	-
5	SP-5	Marie-Laurence Paquin	Acura RSX Type S	10	-
6	SP-6	Yves Legris	Scion TC	10	-
7	SP-7	Jacques Gravel	BMW 328i	10	-
8	SP-8	Patrick Boyer	Acura Integra GSR	10	-
9	SP-9	Eric Durand	Chevrolet Cobalt SS	10	-
10	SP-10	Eric Laporte	Honda Civic	10	-
11	SP-11	Christopher Sahakan	Pontiac Solstice GXP	10	Penalty
12	SP-12	Eric Jacques	Nissan 350Z	10	-
13	SP-13	Denis Desrochers	Audi A4 Turbo	10	-
14	SP-14	Alain Levesque	Mazdaspeed 3	10	-
15	SP-15	Crystel Charest	Mini Cooper	10	-
16	SP-16	Ghislain Theriault	VW Golf GTi	10	Penalty
17	C-1	Mathieu Legris	Toyota Echo	10	-
18	C-2	Gabriel Lacombe	Honda Civic	10	-
19	C-3	Pascal Bastien	Mini Cooper	10	-
20	C-4	Eric Bellemare	Honda Civic	9	-
21	C-5	Dominic Dumais	Toyota Echo	9	-
22	C-6	Paul Morin	Toyota Echo	9	-
23	SP	Philippe Gelinas	Hyundai Genesis	6	Diffential
24	SP	Bertrand Lambert	Honda Civic Si-R	6	Fuel Pump
25	SP	Luc Richard	Audi TT-RS	3	Mechanical
26	SP	Alain St-Hilaire	Acura RSX Type S	1	Fuel Pump
-	SP	Luc Pelletier	Audi A5 Turbo	-	Turbocharger
-	C	Frederick Magny	Mazda 2	9	Disqualified
-	C	Jacques Belanger	Nissan Micra	9	Disqualified

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	SP-1	Philippe Gelinas	Hyundai Genesis	13	-
2	SP-2	Patrick Boyer	Acura Integra GSR	13	-
3	SP-3	Marie-Laurence Paquin	Acura RSX Type S	13	-
4	SP-4	Marc Heroux	Scion FRS	13	-
5	SP-5	Benoit Landry	Honda Civic	13	-
6	SP-6	Eric Durand	Chevrolet Cobalt SS	13	-
7	SP-7	Eric Jacques	Nissan 350Z	13	-
8	SP-8	Denis Desrochers	Audi A4 Turbo	13	-
9	SP-9	Crystel Charest	Mini Cooper	13	-
10	SP-10	Alain Levesque	Mazdaspeed 3	13	-
11	SP-11	Ghislain Theriault	VW Golf GTi	13	Penalty
12	C-1	Mathieu Legris	Toyota Echo	13	-
13	C-2	Eric Bellemare	Honda Civic	13	-
14	C-3	Kevin Bastien	Mini Cooper	13	-
15	C-4	Dominic Dumais	Toyota Echo	12	-
16	C-5	Paul Morin	Toyota Echo	12	-
17	SP-12	Eric Laporte	Honda Civic	11	Suspension
18	SP	Alain St-Hilaire	Acura RSX Type S	2	Mechanical
19	SP	Sylvain Laporte	Mini Cooper	1	Accident
20	SP	Christopher Sahakan	Pontiac Solstice GXP	0	Mechanical
21	SP	Yves Legris	Scion TC	0	Accident
22	SP	Jacques Gravel	BMW 328i	0	Mechanical
23	SP	Bertrand Lambert	Honda Civic Si-R	0	Fuel Pump
24	C	Gabriel Lacombe	Honda Civic	0	Hood Pin
-	SP	Luc Pelletier	Audi A5 Turbo	-	Turbocharger
-	SP	Jean-Sebastien Besner	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	4	Disqualified
-	SP	Luc Richard	Audi TT-RS	4	Disqualified
-	C	Frederick Magny	Mazda 2	13	Disqualified
-	C	Jacques Belanger	Nissan Micra	13	Disqualified

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	SP-1	Benoit Landry	Honda Civic	14	-
2	SP-2	Marie-Laurence Paquin	Acura RSX Type S	14	-
3	SP-3	Marc Heroux	Scion FRS	14	-
4	SP-4	Jacques Gravel	BMW 328i	14	-
5	SP-5	Eric Durand	Chevrolet Cobalt SS	14	-
6	SP-6	Bertrand Lambert	Honda Civic Si-R	14	-
7	SP-7	Eric Laporte	Honda Civic	14	-
8	SP-8	Crystel Charest	Mini Cooper	14	-
9	SP-9	Eric Jacques	Nissan 350Z	14	-
10	SP-10	Alain Levesque	Mazdaspeed 3	14	-
11	C-1	Gabriel Lacombe	Honda Civic	14	-
12	SP-11	Yves Legris	Scion TC	13	Penalty
13	C-2	Julien Legris	Toyota Echo	13	-
14	C-3	Pascal Bastien	Mini Cooper	13	-
15	C-4	Dominic Dumais	Toyota Echo	13	-
16	C-5	Eric Bellemare	Honda Civic	13	Penalty
17	C-6	Paul Morin	Toyota Echo	13	Penalty
18	SP-12	Patrick Boyer	Acura Integra GSR	12	Transmission
19	SP	Philippe Gelinas	Hyundai Genesis	3	Mechanical
20	SP	Christopher Sahakan	Pontiac Solstice GXP	2	Mechanical
21	SP	Denis Desrochers	Audi A4 Turbo	1	Mechanical
-	SP	Ghislain Theriault	VW Golf GTi	-	Did Not Start
-	SP	Alain St-Hilaire	Acura RSX Type S	-	Did Not Start
-	SP	Sylvain Laporte	Mini Cooper	-	Did Not Start
-	SP	Luc Pelletier	Audi A5 Turbo	-	Turbocharger
-	SP	Jean-Sebastien Besner	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	-	Disqualified
-	SP	Luc Richard	Audi TT-RS	-	Disqualified
-	C	Frederick Magny	Mazda 2	13	Disqualified
-	C	Jacques Belanger	Nissan Micra	13	Disqualified

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	SP-1	Philippe Gelinas	Hyundai Genesis	14	-
2	SP-2	Marc Heroux	Scion FRS	14	-
3	SP-3	Marie-Laurence Paquin	Acura RSX Type S	14	-
4	SP-4	Benoit Landry	Honda Civic	14	-
5	SP-5	Jacques Gravel	BMW 328i	14	-
6	SP-6	Eric Durand	Chevrolet Cobalt SS	14	-
7	SP-7	Eric Laporte	Honda Civic	14	-
8	SP-8	Crystel Charest	Mini Cooper	14	-
9	SP-9	Eric Jacques	Nissan 350Z	14	-
10	SP-10	Sylvain Laporte	Mini Cooper	14	Fuel
11	SP-11	Bertrand Lambert	Honda Civic Si-R	14	-
12	SP-12	Ghislain Theriault	VW Golf GTi	14	-
13	SP-13	Alain Levesque	Mazdaspeed 3	14	-
14	C-1	Julien Legris	Toyota Echo	13	-
15	C-2	Gabriel Lacombe	Honda Civic	13	-
16	C-3	Pascal Bastien	Mini Cooper	13	-
17	C-4	Eric Bellemare	Honda Civic	13	Penalty
18	C-5	Dominic Dumais	Toyota Echo	13	Penalty
19	C-6	Paul Morin	Toyota Echo	10	Penalty
-	SP	Yves Legris	Scion TC	-	Transmission
-	SP	Patrick Boyer	Acura Integra GSR	-	Transmission
-	SP	Christopher Sahakan	Pontiac Solstice GXP	-	Transmission
-	SP	Denis Desrochers	Audi A4 Turbo	1	Mechanical
-	SP	Alain St-Hilaire	Acura RSX Type S	-	Mechanical
-	SP	Luc Pelletier	Audi A5 Turbo	-	Turbocharger
-	C	Jacques Belanger	Nissan Micra	-	Disqualified
-	C	Frederick Magny	Mazda 2	-	Disqualified
-	SP	Jean-Sebastien Besner	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	-	Disqualified
-	SP	Luc Richard	Audi TT-RS	-	Disqualified

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