2016 CTMP - World Challenge

The 2016 World Challenge season was the twenty-seventh consecutive year for the series. There were eleven race weekends – the series kicked-off in March at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and ended at Laguna Seca in early October.

The vehicle classes were the same as the previous year:

Grand Touring (GT) – This is the series quickest class and is predominantly cars competing in the FIA GT3 category. Examples of vehicles racing in this class include: Porsche 911 GT3 R, Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, McLaren 650S GT3, Cadillac ATS-V.R GT3 and Ferrari 488 GT3.

Grand Touring Sportsman (GTA) – This class includes the same vehicles as GT, however, the drivers are not considered professionals. Competitors in this category are evaluated after each event and based on their performance may be elevated to the GT class.

GT Cup – This is a spec class for 2015-2016 Porsche 991 GT Cup cars.

Grand Touring Sport (GTS) – The cars in this class are similar to the GT vehicles but have more preparation restrictions. In previous years, this class was mainly comprised of Ford, Chevrolet and Porsche products. In 2016, the GTS category witnessed the appearance of a number of new vehicles which proved to be very competitive - KTM X-Box GT4, Ginetta G55 GT4 and SIN R1 GT4.

Touring Car (TC) – This class is for smaller sedans and sports cars which are allowed some performance modifications. Examples of vehicles competing in this category include: Honda Accord, Kia Forte, Mazda MX-5 and Porsche Boxster.

Touring Car A (TCA) – Many of the cars competing in this class are the same as those found in Touring Car. What sets them apart are the minimum amount of modifications that can be made – most changes are to improve the safety of the vehicles.

Touring Car B (TCB) - The slowest of all the World Challenge categories is based on the Sports Car Club of America’s B-Spec class. Examples of vehicles competing in this class include: Chevrolet Sonic, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Mazda 2 and Mini Cooper.

The first two-rounds of the 2016 World Challenge Championship took place at Circuit of the Americas. The season was off to a competitive start – all three Touring Car classes had different race winners at the opening event.

Rounds three and four were well subscribed with a total of thirty-five starters – TC 15-entries, TCA 11-entries and TCB 9-entries. The races were 40-minutes in length around Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

The opening lap of round three at Moss Corner. Second place, Nick Wittmer in a Honda Accord V-6 Coupe leads the Lotus Exige of Dennis Hanratty. Toby Grahovec driving a BMW M235iR is followed by Jason Fitcher in a Honda Accord V-6 Coupe and the Mazda MX-5 of Randy Hale.

Contact on lap-2, in round three at the exit of Moss Corner between the Mazda MX-5s of Dinah Weisberg and Joey Bickers, led to a multi-car incident. Weisberg and Bickers were able to continue but Alain Lauziere in a Mini Cooper and the Kia Forte Koup of Kris Wright required the aid of support vehicles. The accident also led to the retirement of local Honda driver Gary Kwok.

Canadian, Nick Wittmer put the Ste-Rose Honda Accord in the fourth grid position for Friday’s race. At the start, the Touring Car competitor vaulted to second and on a restart jumped into the lead. Wittmer was challenged on numerous occasions but held on for the win. He started round four second and diced with Adam Poland driving a Mazda MX-5 and the BMW of Toby Grahovec. A late race pass by Grahovec dropped Wittmer to a second place finish.

The No. 70 Mazda MX-5 Cup was entered by S.A.C. Racing and driven by Elivan Goulart. In round three, Goulart was the quickest in the TCA class and started from the pole. He was challenged by Joey Bickers and his teammate, Matthew Fassnacht but led flag-to-flag. Goulart started third the following day but moved into the lead on the first lap and scored another TCA class victory.

S.A.C. Racing had a second TCA entry which was the No. 74 Mazda MX-5 Cup driven by Matthew Fassnacht. Fassnacht was challenged by Joey Bickers during Friday’s race but he was able to hold him off and finished second in class. His fastest lap in round three earned him the second starting position for round four. Unfortunately, Fassnacht fell down the order and finished eleventh in TCA.

Starting on the TCB pole for round three was Will Rodgers in the No. 65 Solvang Brewing/Kelly Benefit Mazda 2. Rodgers jumped into the lead and was followed closely by the Honda Fit of Tom O’Gorman and Henry Morse in a Mazda 2. He was unable to maintain the lead and finished third. On Saturday, Rodgers started from the pole and again, found himself in a tight battle but this time, he was victorious.

Toby Grahovec, the TC points leader, started round three from the third position. He ran third for much of the race but was able to secure a second place finish after a late race pass on the Lotus of Dennis Hanratty. In the next round, Grahovec started third and battled with Wittmer and Poland. On lap-19, the driving a BMW M235iR he was able to pass Wittmer for lead and a late race full course caution ensured his victory.

Qualifying third for Friday’s TCB race was Henry Morse in the Hale Motorsports Mazda 2. Morse diced with the Honda Fit of Tom O’Gorman and class pole-sitter, Will Rodgers. Morse was able to take the lead on the second last lap and hang on for the victory. He started race four from the second position and again battled with Rodgers and O’Gorman. Late in the race Morse made hard contact with the tires in turn-three and finished eighth in TCB.

In the weekend’s first race, Dennis Hanratty qualified KRUGSPEED Racing Lotus Exige second. He battled with the Honda of Nick Wittmer and Toby Grahovec in a BMW and eventually finished third in Touring Car. Hanratty’s fast lap in round three gave him the fourth starting position for Saturday’s race. He dropped to last after contact on lap-5 but moved up the order and finished tenth in the weekend’s second event.

Quickest in the final practice session was Adam Poland driving a Mazda MX-5 and he followed up this performance by qualifying on pole. The first race of the weekend was eventful for Poland. He jumped into the lead but fell to fourth on a restart. Poland charged back and challenged Wittmer for the lead but he spun and would finish tenth. His quick time in round three secured the pole again. At the checkered flag, he finished fourth.

Starting third in TBC for the round three race was Tom O’Gorman. O’Gorman in a Honda Fit diced with the Mazda 2 of Henry Morse and pole-sitter Will Rodgers for the win. He eventually finished second in class. In the second event of the weekend, O’Gorman started fifth but jumped to third at the start. He was second at the checkered flag but was penalized 50-points for a technical infraction.

Local competitor, P.J. Groenke started his TCB Chevrolet Sonic from the fourth spot on the grid in the weekend's first race and after twenty-laps of racing finished in the same position. In race four, Groenke earned the final position on the podium after a fourth-place start in the TCB class.

FINISH	CLASS	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	TC	Nick Wittmer	Honda Ste-Rose Racing / Honda Accord V-6 Coupe	21
2	2	TC	Toby Grahovec	Classic BMW Motorsports / BMW M235iR	21
3	3	TC	Dennis Hanratty	KRUGSPEED Racing / Lotus Exige	21
4	4	TC	Patrick Gallagher	Atlanta Motorsports Group / Mazda MX-5	21
5	5	TC	Shea Holbrook	Shea Racing / Honda Accord V-6 Coupe	21
6	6	TC	Jason Fichter	Shea Racing / Honda Accord V-6 Coupe	21
7	7	TC	John A. Weisberg	BERG Racing / Mazda MX-5	21
8	8	TC	Kevin Krauss	Outlier/Scion Group / Porsche Cayman	21
9	9	TC	Brian Lift	Outlier/Scion Group / Porsche Cayman	21
10	10	TC	Adam Poland	Doghouse Performance / Mazda MX-5	21
11	1	TCA	Elivan Goulart	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
12	2	TCA	Matthew Fassnacht	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
13	3	TCA	Joey Bickers	Atlanta Motorsports Group / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
14	4	TCA	Jay Salinsky	BERG Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
15	5	TCA	Kevin Anderson	Tech Sport Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
16	11	TC	Gino Carini	Classic BMW Motorsports / BMW M235iR	21
17	6	TCA	Samantha Tan	Team Ost Racing / Honda Civic SI	20
18	1	TCB	Henry Morse	Hale Motorsports / Mazda 2	20
19	2	TCB	Tom O'Gorman	Black Armor Helmets / Honda Fit	20
20	3	TCB	Will Rodgers	Hale Motorsports / Mazda 2	20
21	4	TCB	P.J. Groenke	Tech Sport Racing / Chevrolet Sonic	20
22	5	TCB	Patrick Wilmot	The Precision Motorsports Group / MINI Cooper	20
23	6	TCB	Ted Hough	Breathless Racing / Mazda 2	20
24	7	TCB	Michael Johnson	Tech Sport Racing / Chevrolet Sonic	20
25	8	TCB	Jasper Drengler	Drengler Racing / Honda Fit	20
26	9	TCB	James Wilson	Black Armor Helmets / Mazda 2	20
27	12	TC	Dinah Weisberg	BERG Racing / Mazda MX-5	19
28	13	TC	Anthony Geraci	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5	16
29	14	TC	Daniel Moen	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5	11
30	15	TC	Randy Hale	Hale Motorsports / Mazda MX-5	3
31	7	TCA	Gary Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic SI	3
32	8	TCA	Eric Powell	Tech Sport Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	3
33	9	TCA	Forrest Landy	Atlanta Motorsports Group / Mazda MX-5 Cup	3
34	10	TCA	Kris Wright	Kinetic Motorsports / Kia Forte Koup	2
35	11	TCA	Alain Lauziere	Team Octane / MINI Cooper	2

FINISH	CLASS	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	TC	Toby Grahovec	Classic BMW Motorsports / BMW M235iR	21
2	2	TC	Nick Wittmer	Honda Ste-Rose Racing / Honda Accord V-6 Coupe	21
3	3	TC	Patrick Gallagher	Atlanta Motorsports Group / Mazda MX-5	21
4	4	TC	Adam Poland	Doghouse Performance / Mazda MX-5	21
5	5	TC	Jason Fichter	Shea Racing / Honda Accord V-6 Coupe	21
6	6	TC	John A. Weisberg	BERG Racing / Mazda MX-5	21
7	7	TC	Kevin Krauss	Outlier/Scion Group / Porsche Cayman	21
8	8	TC	Anthony Geraci	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5	21
9	9	TC	Shea Holbrook	Shea Racing / Honda Accord V-6 Coupe	21
10	10	TC	Dennis Hanratty	KRUGSPEED Racing / Lotus Exige	21
11	1	TCA	Elivan Goulart	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
12	2	TCA	Joey Bickers	Atlanta Motorsports Group / Mazda MX-5 Cup	21
13	11	TC	Daniel Moen	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5	21
14	3	TCA	Eric Powell	Tech Sport Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	20
15	4	TCA	Forrest Landy	Atlanta Motorsports Group / Mazda MX-5 Cup	20
16	5	TCA	Kris Wright	Kinetic Motorsports / Kia Forte Koup	20
17	6	TCA	Samantha Tan	Team Ost Racing / Honda Civic SI	20
18	7	TCA	Alain Lauziere	Team Octane / MINI Cooper	20
19	12	TC	Dinah Weisberg	BERG Racing / Mazda MX-5	20
20	13	TC	Gino Carini	Classic BMW Motorsports / BMW M235iR	20
21	8	TCA	Jay Salinsky	BERG Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	20
22	9	TCA	Kevin Anderson	Tech Sport Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	19
23	14	TC	Brian Lift	Outlier/Scion Group / Porsche Cayman	19
24	1	TCB	Will Rodgers	Hale Motorsports / Mazda 2	19
25	2	TCB	Tom O'Gorman	Black Armor Helmets / Honda Fit	19
26	3	TCB	P.J. Groenke	Tech Sport Racing / Chevrolet Sonic	19
27	4	TCB	Ted Hough	Breathless Racing / Mazda 2	19
28	5	TCB	Michael Johnson	Tech Sport Racing / Chevrolet Sonic	19
29	6	TCB	Jasper Drengler	Drengler Racing / Honda Fit	19
30	7	TCB	James Wilson	Black Armor Helmets / Mazda 2	19
31	8	TCB	Henry Morse	Hale Motorsports / Mazda 2	17
32	10	TCA	Gary Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic SI	16
33	11	TCA	Matthew Fassnacht	S.A.C. Racing / Mazda MX-5 Cup	10
34	9	TCB	Patrick Wilmot	The Precision Motorsports Group / MINI Cooper	19
35	15	TCC	Randy Hale	Hale Motorsports / Mazda MX-5	0

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