Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship: Calabogie Report

Canadian Touring Car Series Thrill at the Ted Powell Memorial Races

Calabogie, Ontario - 35 of Canada’s best drivers racing today’s hottest touring cars proved to the fans they had what it takes this past Saturday & Sunday during the Ted Powell Memorial Races hosted by the Motorsports Club of Ottawa this past weekend. Canada’s largest racing series, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Toyo Tires, thrilled the fans during Round Six of the series for a fantastic double header set of races.

For Saturday afternoon’s 20-minute heat race, GT Racing’s Etienne Borgeat, Greg Pootmans & Paul Dalla Lana held a clinic for the rest of the Super Touring Class field after second place driver Andrew Wojteczko’s Lexus IS300 engine failed on lap 5. Pootmans, currently the Championship points leader in Super Touring class was ecstatic with another strong performance for the entire Northwest Value Partner’s BMW squad.

The battle in Touring class was intense as Durabond Racing’s Anthony Rapone, who was defending his position atop the Touring Class championship points battle. BMW Mini driver Alain Lauziere and Nigel Heron in his borrowed Honda Civic were using every bit of their race craft to contend with Rapone’s teammate Scot Nicol during the entire battle.

Heron was able to get the lead for a brief 3 laps before Rapone took it back on lap 4. Nicol then took to battling back and forth with Heron and swapped the second place position a few times before the checkered flag came out on lap 9 of the race. MINI Cooper driver Alain Lauziere struggled for most of the session unable to find the much needed grip that he was looking for to keep up with the top 3 in the class.

Sunday’s 40-minute feature began with Saturday’s heat race winner Etienne Borgeat and his GT Racing teammate Greg Pootmans leading the pack to the green flag. As the tightly packed field made their way into turn one and through to turn three Pootmans took the lead and never looked back. Lombardi Honda’s Nick Wittmer made a charge to the front in turn one that would be short lived as he had a tire go down on lap 3 forcing him to make a pit stop to replace it.

Auto Analyser sponsored driver Andrew Wojteczko came back stronger than ever with the team’s second Lexus IS300 usually piloted by his dad Andy. Starting from his 29th grid position, Wojteczko gained 13 spots in the first lap alone. He then climbed the position ladder quickly and chased down rival Richard Boake in his Subaru WRX STi for 10 laps before securing third spot on the podium at race end.

Series rookie Alex Healy was the star of the race. Healy made an incredible set of passes from his 6th place starting position and made his way to third place on lap one. Healy fought  GT Racing’s Borgeat for 6 laps when Borgeat’s transmission failed allowing Healy to take over second place. This was an ecstatic Healy’s first podium of the year.

Nigel Heron led the Touring class briefly for two laps until Durabond Racing’s Anthony Rapone drove his Honda Civic back around him to retake the lead and never look back. Heron & Nicol battled the rest of the 18 laps to round out the podium. Another Honda Civic Si driver Tom Kwok spent the entire race battling with Octane Promotions driver Alain Lauziere to finish fourth.

The championship now is on a three week break as the teams prepare to do it all again in Round 7 at Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres - August 14-16, 2009

For up-to-date championship information and a complete schedule, please visit www.touringcar.ca.

Saturday's Race results:
Super Touring Class
1st Place    Etienne Borgeat    BMW
2nd Place     Greg Pootmans    BMW
3rd Place    Paul Dalla Lana    BMW
4th Place    Nick Wittmer    Honda
5th Place    Arek Wojciehowski    BMW

Touring Class Results
1st Place    Anthony Rapone    Honda
2nd Place    Scott Nicol    Honda
3rd Place    Nigel Heron    Honda
4th Place    Alain Lauziere    MINI Cooper
5th Place    Tom Kwok    Honda

Sunday's Race results:
Super Touring Class
1st Place    Greg Pootmans    BMW
2nd Place     Alex Healy    Acura RSX
3rd Place    Andrew Wojteczko    Lexus
4th Place    Richard Boake    Subaru
5th Place    Paul Dalla Lana    BMW

Touring Class Results
1st Place    Anthony Rapone    Honda
2nd Place    Nigel Heron    Honda
3rd Place    Scott Nicol    Honda
4th Place    Tom Kwok    Honda
5th Place    Alain Lauziere    MINI Cooper

From Perry Iannuzzi // Communications Director // Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship Presented By Toyo Tires
Canada's Best Racers Driving Today's Hottest Touring Cars
www.touringcar.ca