2019 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Canadian Touring Car Championship

In 2019, the Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) was in its thirteenth year.

The championship is being contested over five race weekends at four different tracks in Ontario and Quebec. The series opens in May on the Victoria Day Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Following Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, teams will compete at Calabogie Motorsports Park and Shannonville Motorsport Park in June. The penultimate round will be the only event held in Quebec this season – the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres. The final race weekend will see the championship return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Some of the bigger announcements in the off-season were the signing of Quaker State oil and Koni shock absorbers as series partners. Also, newsworthy was the introduction of a new class, TCR. Cars prepared to TCR rules have been competing in the series for a couple of years, but in the GT Sport category, now they had their own division. As a result, there were some changes made to the race groups.

The four categories competing in the Canadian Touring Car Championship are:

Touring - This is intended to be an entry-level category. Vehicles competing in this class are allowed minimal performance enhancements. Manufacturers represented in this group include the – Mini Cooper S, Honda Civic Si, Acura RSX and Mazda RX-8.
TCR - This is an international class which was first introduced in 2014 to address the expense of competing in the World Touring Car Championship. These production-based cars are powered by 2.0-liter turbocharged engines which produce approximately 300-horsepower. Examples of vehicles competing in this category include: Audi RS 3 LMS, Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, Honda Civic Type-R TCR, Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR and Hyundai i30 N TCR.
GT Sport – GT Sport includes many of the same makes and models found in Touring. However, this category allows engine modifications and aerodynamic body enhancements. Cars competing in this group include the - Porsche Cayman GT4, Toyota GT86, Ford Mustang, Audi R8 LMS GT4 and BMW M235iR.
GT Cup – Introduced last year, the GT Cup class is comprised of ultra-performance race cars. Vehicles in this category are typically powered by six or eight-cylinder engines. Of the four groups, these cars produce the most horsepower. This division is home to cars such as the Porsche GT3 Cup and Ferrari 458 Challenge.

The Victoria Day race weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park included the NASCAR Canadian Tire and Pirelli World Challenge series. This event would be the Canadian Touring Car Championship’s season opener. Drivers would be competing in two forty-minute races around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

The start of round one for the 2019 Canadian Touring Car Championship and sixteen entrants funnel into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s very quick turn one. Getting a jump on the field is the pole-sitter, Parker Thompson in the No. 1 Audi R8 LMS GT4. Trailing Thompson is the other front row starter, Matthew Taskinen driving an Audi RS3 LMS. Behind Taskinen and second in the GT Sport class is the BMW M235iR of Rocco Marciello.

Road to Indy standout, Parker Thompson made his Canadian Touring Car Championship debut. The 2017 Formula 1600 Super Series champion was entered in the GT Sport category and drove the Speedstar Motorsport prepared Audi R8 LMS GT4. The weekend was a clean sweep for Thompson - starting from the pole in rounds one and two, he led both contests flag-to-flag and in the process recorded the fastest race laps.

The former Formula 1600 standout, Matthew Taskinen gave notice early that he was going to be a threat for the TCR title. Driving an Audi RS3 LMS prepared by M1GT Racing, Taskinen appeared at the top of the timesheet in the first practice session. Like GT Sport competitor, Parker Thompson, he dominated the remainder of the weekend. Taskinen started both races on the class pole and captured a pair of wins.

The Kwok brothers, Tom and Gary of M&S Racing were the first competitors to introduce a TCR class car to the Canadian Touring Car Championship. They entered their first Honda Civic Type-R TCR in 2017 and it proved to be competitive in the GT Sport category. This weekend, Gary was entered in the No. 66 Honda and started round one fifth in TCR and finished second in class. The following day, he was fourth in his category.

While the GT Sport and TCR classes had healthy entry lists the same could not be said for the GT Cup and Touring categories. The only driver participating in GT Cup was Porsche GT3 Cup competitor, Martin Harvey. Unfortunately, Harvey, who was also entered in the Porsche GT3 Cup Canada event, crashed his car beyond repair and failed to start any races. In the Touring class, the lone contestant was Paul Joakim driving a Mazda RX-8.

There were four GT Sport entries with Parker Thompson dominating the category. The ‘best of the rest’ was Michael Delle Donne driving a BMW M235iR prepared by RMP Competizione. A series veteran, Delle Donne started the weekend’s first event thirteenth overall and last in GT Sport but at the finish, he was the category runner-up. On Sunday, he repeated his performance, albeit over a minute behind the class winner, Thompson.

TWOth Autosport entered three Audi RS3 LMS in the TCR category for drivers – Travis Hill, Edward Killeen and Ron Tomlinson. Quickest of the three was performance driving instructor, Hill in the No. 26 car. He was at a disadvantage as the newer Audis are equipped with a sequential transmission whereas Hill was competing with a direct shift gearbox. Despite not having this upgrade, he grabbed second and third place finishes.

The introduction of the TCR class to the Canadian Touring Car Championship is proving to be very popular. Rounds one and two witnessed ten drivers participating in this category with the Audi RS3 LMS being the dominant brand – eight Audis were entered. Driving the second M1GT prepared Audi in the TCR group was Jean-Francois Hevey. Hevey encountered issues in Saturday’s race but in round two he finished third.

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GT Sport	Parker Thompson	Speedstar Motorsport / Audi R8 LMS GT4	29	-
2	TCR	Matthew Taskinen	M1GT Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	29	-
3	TCR	Gary Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	29	-
4	TCR	Travis Hill	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	29	-
5	TCR	Tom Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	29	-
6	GT Sport	Michael Delle Donne	RMP Competizione / BMW M235iR	29	-
7	TCR	Alain Lauziere	Alphasonic Motorsport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	29	-
8	TCR	Nelson Chan	Alphasonic Motorsport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	29	-
9	GT Sport	Rocco Marciello	RMP Competizione / BMW M235iR	29	-
10	TCR	Jean-Francois Hevey	M1GT Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
11	TCR	Ed Killeen	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
12	TCR	Ron Tomlinson	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
13	TCR	Lindsay Rice	Rice Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
14	Touring	Paul Joakim	Can-Saf Motorsports / Mazda RX-8	26	-
DNF	GT Sport	Damon Sharpe	Blanchet Motorsports / Toyota GT86	18	-
DNF	TCR	Bob Attrell	Hyundai Racing Canada / Hyundai i30N	7	-
DNS	GT Cup	Martin Harvey	Wingho Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup	0	-

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GT Sport	Parker Thompson	Speedstar Motorsport / Audi R8 LMS GT4	28	-
2	TCR	Matthew Taskinen	M1GT Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
3	TCR	Travis Hill	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
4	TCR	Jean-Francois Hevey	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
5	TCR	Gary Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	28	-
6	TCR	Bob Attrell	Hyundai Racing Canada / Hyundai i30N	28	-
7	TCR	Ron Tomlinson	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
8	TCR	Nelson Chan	Alphasonic Motorsport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
9	GT Sport	Michael Delle Donne	RMP Competizione / BMW M235iR	28	-
10	TCR	Ed Killeen	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	28	-
11	GT Sport	Rocco Marciello	RMP Competizione / BMW M235iR	27	-
12	TCR	Lindsay Rice	Rice Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	26	-
13	TCR	Alain Lauziere	Alphasonic Motorsport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	29	-
14	Touring	Paul Joakim	Can-Saf Motorsports / Mazda RX-8	24	-
DNF	TCR	Tom Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	5	-
DNS	GT Sport	Damon Sharpe	Blanchet Motorsports / Toyota GT86	0	-
DNS	GT Cup	Martin Harvey	Wingho Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup	0	-

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