2020 Shannonville Motorsport Park - Canadian Touring Car Championship

The 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Pirelli season was to consist of twelve-rounds held during six race weekends. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it would not be possible to conduct all the events. A reconfigured schedule was created by the Series Management, which reduced the calendar to three-weekends with a total of six races. The series kicked off its fourteenth year of competition at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in late July. The next two contests were held August 14-16 at Shannonville Motorsport Park. The championship weekend would be in late August at Calabogie Motorsports Park.

The series continued its successful partnerships with Pirelli tires and Koni shock absorbers. In the off-season, a re-evaluation of the four-race groups resulted in the series’ most notable change for 2020. Two categories that participated in last year’s championship – Touring and GT Cup – were removed from the series. Touring and GT Cup had very low participation numbers last year. In fact, at some events, there weren’t any entries in either of these categories.

The two groups competing in the Canadian Touring Car Championship are:

TCR - This is an international class that 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, Honda Civic Type-R TCR and Hyundai i30 N TCR.
GT Sport – This class allows engine modifications, advanced suspensions and aerodynamic body enhancements. Cars competing in this group include the Porsche Cayman GT4, McLaren 570S, Audi R8 LMS GT4, Mercedes AMG GT4 and BMW M235iR.

Rounds three and four of the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Pirelli were conducted at Shannonville Motorsport Park, during an event titled the SMP Cup. On Saturday, drivers would compete in a forty-minute race on the Long Track, which incorporates the Nelson and Fabi configurations. The shorter Pro Track would be used for round four; this would also be a forty-minute contest.

The pace lap for round three of the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship at Shannonville Motorsport Park. Leading the field is the No. 13 AWA sponsored McLaren 570S of GT Sport competitor, Orey Fidani. Beside Fidani is the quickest TCR driver, Zachary Vanier, in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS. Occupying the second row is the Hyundai Veloster of Bob Attrell and Marco Cirone in an Audi RS3 LMS.

Orey Fidani started his 2020 season at Daytona International Speedway, sharing the No. 13 AWA McLaren 570S with Kuno Wittmer in IMSA’s Pilot Challenge series. The outbreak of the Coronavirus prevented the Canadian based team from traveling to the US. Fidani, the only GT Sport competitor, swept the opening weekend with two outright victories. In a repeat performance, he claimed another pair of wins.

Zachary Vanier joined Pfaff Motorsport for his first season of the championship. Vanier adapted quickly and won round two driving the No. 9 Audi RS3 LMS. He dominated the weekend at Shannonville. Vanier was the fastest TCR qualifier and led races three and four flag-to-flag. He was able to maintain pace with the winner, Orey Fidani, on the twisty sections of the track, but was not a threat to the overall victory.

Another driver enjoying a successful weekend at Shannonville Motorsport Park was Marco Cirone. Cirone won last season’s Masters division in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada series. This year, he was piloting the No. 82 Mark Motors Racing prepared Audi RS3 LMS. In round three, Cirone started third in TCR, but a dramatic last-lap pass resulted in a runner-up finish. On Sunday, he earned another second-place result.

Nine Canadian Touring Car Championship competitors enter the final turn at Shannonville Motorsport Park for round four. On the pole, for the fourth time, this season is GT Sport driver, Orey Fidani, in the No. 13 McLaren 570S. Sharing the front row with Fidani is the series rookie, Zachary Vanier, in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Audi RS3 LMS. Immediately, behind the leaders are Gary Kwok and Marco Cirone.

There was an incident on the first lap of Saturday’s contest, which shuffled the field; as a result, there were winners and losers. One of the winners was Ron Tomlinson. Tomlinson started Saturday’s race in the sixth place driving the No. 48 TWOth Autosport Audi RS3 LMS. After the lap-1 action, he was second in TCR, but he lost the position to Marco Cirone and finished third. Tomlison netted a sixth place in round four.

After many years of competing in the Canadian Touring Car Championship, Gary Kwok won his first title. It seemed appropriate that it would be in the TCR category as he and his brother, Tom, were the first to compete in this type of car. Kwok was the point’s leader entering round three, but contact during the race dropped him to a seventh in class. He rebounded on Sunday and finished third, but no longer led the title hunt.

As a responsible organization, the Canadian Touring Car Championship was practicing social distancing during the trophy presentation. Each of the podium finishers received their awards individually. In the center is Saturday and Sunday’s TCR winner, Zachary Vanier. On the right is Marco Cirone, who captured a pair of runner-up finishes. The final spot on the rostrum is occupied by Sunday’s third-place finisher, Gary Kwok.

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GT Sport	Orey Fidani	AWA / McLaren 570S	22	-
2	TCR	Zachary Vanier	Pfaff Motorsport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	22	-
3	TCR	Marco Cirone	Mark Motors Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	22	-
4	TCR	Ron Tomlinson	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	22	-
5	TCR	Damon Sharpe	Blanchet Motorsports / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	22	-
6	TCR	Connor Attrell	Hyundai Racing Canada / Hyundai i30N	22	-
7	TCR	Bob Attrell	Hyundai Racing Canada / Hyundai Veloster N	21	-
8	TCR	Gary Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	21	-
9	TCR	Tom Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	18	-

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GT Sport	Orey Fidani	AWA / McLaren 570S	35	-
2	TCR	Zachary Vanier	Pfaff Motorsport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	35	-
3	TCR	Marco Cirone	Mark Motors Racing / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	35	-
4	TCR	Gary Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	35	-
5	TCR	Damon Sharpe	Blanchet Motorsports / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	35	-
6	TCR	Connor Attrell	Hyundai Racing Canada / Hyundai i30N	35	-
7	TCR	Ron Tomlinson	TWOth Autosport / Audi RS3 LMS TCR	35	-
8	TCR	Bob Attrell	Hyundai Racing Canada / Hyundai Veloster N	34	-
9	TCR	Tom Kwok	M&S Racing / Honda Civic TCR	33	-

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