2017 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Toyo Tires F1600 Championship

The 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship schedule consists of six race weekends. Each event would be a tripleheader.

The season kicks off in May at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races. In June, the series returns to CTMP as a support event for the VARAC Canadian Historic Grand Prix event. In mid-July, competitors race at Shannonville Motorsport Park during Peter Jackson Trophy Races. Then the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship makes its third of four stops at CTMP for the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy races. In late August, teams travel to Calabogie Motorsports Park for rounds thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. The BEMC Indian Summer Races is the series’ final weekend of competition and determines class champions.

Series entrants are also eligible to participate in the Formula 1600 Super Series, which includes drivers from Quebec. Points toward the Super Series championship are awarded at four events.

Canadian Grand Prix – Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve
VARAC Canadian Historic Grand Prix – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres – Trois-Rivieres
Ted Powell Races – Calabogie Motorsport Park

The single-seater, open-wheel race cars in the championship are powered by one of two engine options - a four-cylinder, 1600-cc Ford engine or the 1.5-liter HPD Honda L15A7. Both motors produce approximately 120-horsepower. A mixture of European and North American chassis is used by competitors. Minimum vehicle weight is determined by the suspension design and ranges from 1050 to 1125-lbs. Teams are required to use a spec tire – the Toyo Proxes R888.

Drivers collect championship points in one of two groups.

F1600A – This category is for newer chassis’ built between 1995 and 2017.
F1600B – This group is for cars constructed between 1994 and older with the Ford engine.

The manufacture date for the individual car and not the model is used to determine the year split and whether a vehicle is categorized as F1600A or F1600B.

Rounds four, five and six of the 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship were conducted during VARAC’s Canadian Historic Grand Prix weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Drivers would score points in three races around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

The opening race of the Canadian Historic Grand Prix weekend was held in wet conditions. Leading the field on twenty-entrants into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s corner one is the pole-sitter, Parker Thompson, in the No. 93 Spectrum 014. Trailing Thompson is the third-fastest qualifier, Craig Willis driving the No. 99 AERO II. Behind Willis are Brian Graham Racing teammates Mikhail Goikhberg and Roman De Angelis.

Parker Thompson didn’t participate in the opening weekend of the 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship but made his presence known at the Canadian Historic Grand Prix event. Thompson put the No. 93 Spectrum on the pole for round four. He dropped to sixth on the opening lap but raced back to a third-place finish. Thompson started third in the next to contests but moved the front early and grabbed a pair of wins.

Another driver that didn’t enter the first weekend of the series was F1600B competitor Craig Willis. Despite the vintage of the No. 99 AERO II raced by Willis, it is still a very competitive car. He qualified third for Saturday’s contest and earned the overall and class victory. The next day, Willis started on pole but finished sixth, which was good enough for the class win. Once again, he topped the category in the finale.

With three victories to start the season, Graham Lobban entered the second weekend of the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship on top of the F1600B standings. Driving the No. 12 Van Diemen RF94 Lobban was the sixth fastest during the qualifying session. He excelled during round three’s wet conditions and finished second in class and overall. Unfortunately, he was no match for Craig Willis and captured one more runner-up result.

Shane Jantzi had a number of F1600 Championships on his racing resume. However, Jantzi had not entered a series event since 2014. He demonstrated that he hadn’t lost his touch and qualified fourth for round four. Jantzi was challenged by the wet conditions in race one and fell to the rear of the field on the opening lap; he would finish eleventh. In the next two races, Jantzi would earn second and fourth-place results.

Three runner-up results during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races earned F1600A competitor Ben Hurst a second-place in the title chase. Hurst opened the second weekend of the championship with the eighth fastest time in qualifying. However, the wet conditions during the race seemed to agree with him and he finished second in class. Hurst finished ninth in Sunday’s first contest but ended the weekend with a fourth-place result.

The driver of the No. 8 Van Diemen RF92, David Graham, delivered some solid results in the first three rounds of the 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship. Graham started the second weekend by qualifying tenth overall and finishing third in the F1600B category. The next day, he started eleventh overall and finished 4.79-seconds behind the class winner, Craig Willis. Unfortunately, in the finale, his race ended on lap-2.

Brian Graham Racing entered three Piper DL7 at the Canadian Historic Grand Prix. The No. 2 Piper was piloted by British Columbia resident Mikhail Goikhberg. Goikhberg qualified second for Saturday’s contest, but during the race he lost a position to Ben Hurst and finished third in F1600A. He was gridded fifth in the first contest on Sunday and finished third in his category. Goikhberg was disqualified from round six.

POS.	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	3	B-1	Craig Willis	AERO II	11	-
2	6	B-2	Graham Lobban	Van Diemen RF94	11	-
3	1	A-1	Parker Thompson	Spectrum 014	11	-
4	8	A-2	Ben Hurst	Piper DL7	11	-
5	2	A-3	Mikhail Goikhberg	Piper DL7	11	-
6	7	A-4	Dev Gore	Spectrum 014	11	-
7	13	A-5	Keith Lobban	Van Diemen RF94	11	-
8	15	A-6	Connor Wagland	Piper DF5	11	-
9	10	B-3	David Graham	Van Diemen RF92	11	-
10	29	A-7	Gord Ross	Mygale SJ14	11	-
11	4	A-8	Shane Jantzi	Van Diemen RF02	10	-
12	16	A-9	Duncan Murdoch	Van Diemen RF99	10	-
13	21	B-4	Bill Tebbutt	Van Diemen RF82	10	-
14	22	B-5	James Britnell	Hawke DL2	10	-
15	14	A-10	Tony Cove	Van Diemen RF98	10	-
16	9	A-11	David Taylor	Van Diemen RF99	10	-
17	12	A-12	Jason Sharpe	Mygale SJ14	10	-
18	26	B-6	Bruce Kitchen	Van Diemen RF92	10	-
19	11	A-13	Danby Crowder	Spectrum 014	9	-
20	27	B-7	Noel Castell	Zink Z-10	9	-
21	24	A-14	Ross Smith	Van Diemen RF01	9	-
22	5	A-15	Roman De Angelis	Piper DL7	7	Did Not Finish
23	17	B-8	Steve Bodrug	Van Diemen RF93	4	Did Not Finish
24	18	A-16	Alex Zeller	Van Diemen RF00	3	Did Not Finish
25	19	B-9	Mike Lee	Van Diemen RF94	2	Did Not Finish
26	20	B-10	James Lindsay	Van Diemen RF91	0	Did Not Finish
-	23	B	Kieran Murphy	Van Diemen RF91	-	Did Not Start
-	25	B	Brent McPhail	Hawke DL2	-	Did Not Start
-	28	B	Michael McGregor	Lola T-440	-	Did Not Start

POS.	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	3	A-1	Parker Thompson	Spectrum 014	13	-
2	9	A-2	Shane Jantzi	Van Diemen RF02	13	-
3	7	A-3	Mikhail Goikhberg	Piper DL7	13	-
4	4	A-4	Roman De Angelis	Piper DL7	13	-
5	1	B-1	Craig Willis	AERO II	13	-
6	11	B-2	David Graham	Van Diemen RF92	13	-
7	6	A-5	Dev Gore	Spectrum 014	13	-
8	21	A-6	Danby Crowder	Spectrum 014	13	-
9	8	A-7	Keith Lobban	Van Diemen RF94	13	-
10	19	A-8	David Taylor	Van Diemen RF99	13	-
11	5	A-9	Ben Hurst	Piper DL7	13	-
12	15	A-10	Tony Cove	Van Diemen RF98	13	-
13	18	A-11	Jason Sharpe	Mygale SJ14	13	-
14	12	A-12	Connor Wagland	Piper DF5	13	-
15	13	B-3	Steve Bodrug	Van Diemen RF93	13	-
16	14	A-13	Duncan Murdoch	Van Diemen RF99	13	-
17	24	A-14	Alex Zeller	Van Diemen RF00	13	-
18	2	B-4	Graham Lobban	Van Diemen RF94	13	-
19	25	B-5	Mike Lee	Van Diemen RF94	13	-
20	17	B-6	James Britnell	Hawke DL2	13	-
21	16	B-7	Bill Tebbutt	Van Diemen RF82	13	-
22	-	B-8	James Lindsay	Van Diemen RF91	13	-
23	23	A-15	Ross Smith	Van Diemen RF01	13	-
24	26	B-9	Kieran Murphy	Van Diemen RF91	13	-
25	-	B-10	Brent McPhail	Hawke DL2	13	-
26	10	A-16	Gord Ross	Mygale SJ14	12	-
27	-	B-11	Michael McGregor	Lola T-440	12	-
28	22	B-12	Noel Castell	Zink Z-10	12	-
29	20	B-13	Bruce Kitchen	Van Diemen RF92	6	Did Not Finish

POS.	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	3	A-1	Parker Thompson	Spectrum 014	13	-
2	5	A-2	Roman De Angelis	Piper DL7	13	-
3	2	B-1	Craig Willis	AERO II	13	-
4	1	A-3	Shane Jantzi	Van Diemen RF02	13	-
5	7	A-4	Ben Hurst	Piper DL7	13	-
6	10	A-5	Danby Crowder	Spectrum 014	13	-
7	9	A-6	David Taylor	Van Diemen RF99	13	-
8	13	A-7	Tony Cove	Van Diemen RF98	13	-
9	17	A-8	Jason Sharpe	Mygale SJ14	13	-
10	15	B-2	Graham Lobban	Van Diemen RF94	13	-
11	12	A-9	Connor Wagland	Piper DF5	13	-
12	16	A-10	Duncan Murdoch	Van Diemen RF99	13	-
13	18	B-3	Steve Bodrug	Van Diemen RF93	13	-
14	20	B-4	Mike Lee	Van Diemen RF94	13	-
15	21	A-11	Alex Zeller	Van Diemen RF00	13	-
16	19	B-5	James Lindsay	Van Diemen RF91	13	-
17	22	B-6	Bill Tebbutt	Van Diemen RF82	13	-
18	23	B-7	James Britnell	Hawke DL2	13	-
19	26	B-8	Bruce Kitchen	Van Diemen RF92	13	-
20	27	B-9	Kieran Murphy	Van Diemen RF91	13	-
21	28	B-10	Noel Castell	Zink Z-10	12	-
22	24	A-12	Ross Smith	Van Diemen RF01	11	Did Not Finish
23	25	B-11	Brent McPhail	Hawke DL2	10	Did Not Finish
24	11	A-13	Keith Lobban	Van Diemen RF94	4	Did Not Finish
26	14	B-12	David Graham	Van Diemen RF92	2	Did Not Finish
27	29	B-13	Michael McGregor	Lola T-440	2	Did Not Finish
-	6	A	Gord Ross	Mygale SJ14	-	Did Not Start
-	4	A	Mikhail Goikhberg	Piper DL7	13	Disqualified
-	8	A	Dev Gore	Spectrum 014	13	Disqualified

Copyright Notice:

All content (photographs and text) appearing on this website are the exclusive property of © www.zoompics.com and are protected under International copyright laws. The subject matter on this website may not be reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated.