Photos: GP3R
Ontario’s Toyo Tires Formula 1600 series headed to neighbouring Canadian province Quebec for the first ever time last weekend for a landmark race meeting on the streets of Trois-Rivieres for its grand prix
Reigning champion Connor Clubine, who won at GP3R last year when F1600 Canada was on the event bill, returned to the paddock and the street circuit to face off against Stewart Ross and Christian Menezes who are fighting over the title.
Clubine’s experience of the street circuit, which features the narrow Porte Pacifique-Duplessis drivers have to squeeze through [pictured above], showed in qualifying on Friday as he claimed pole by 0.302 seconds over Ross.
Menezes was 0.718s behind in third, with 0.003s splitting Parker Gill and Christophe Paquet in fourth and fifth. Marc Antoine Cardin and F1600 veteran Didier Schraenen were also within a second of pole. There was 6.497s between Clubine and the slowest driver in 24th place.
The 20-lap race one took place in the late afternoon, and the safety car led the field to a rolling start as the huge entry list meant the drivers at the back would not have been able to see the starting lights from their grid spots.
Gaps began opening up between the top three and the rest of the field on lap two as Menezes lost third to Paquet, who has also overtaken Cardin.
The safety car returned a few laps later as James Lindsay spun, hit a barrier and then collected Schraenen. During the lengthy safety car period, marshals helped Schraenen get his car going again and it crabbed back to the pits where his team used a metal rod and a hammer to bend the steering and rear suspension back into shape and send him back out.
Racing resumed on lap 10, and Clubine pulled away but on the next lap he had a lengthy lock-up with his front wheels turned approaching turn five. After releasing the brakes, going deep and making the corner he was fifth, and lost another two spots.
Clubine leads the pack
Soon Gill was having to defend fifth place from him, as Boss Patel and Menezes ran close together in third and fourth. The top five all then lost time lapping cars, but bunched up and Clubine took fourth on lap 14.
He was all over Patel on lap 17, and after diving past into turn five they encountered a lapped car at the exit and Clubine was almost squeezed into the barriers as he went past them.
Paquet made a mistake on the penultimate lap that helped Clubine close in, and he overtook him at turn five on the final lap as Ross took victory by 1.418s.
Race two kicked off Sunday morning’s action, and Clubine was on pole again. Gill attacked him at the start before losing out to Ross at turn five and then to Patel at the Ryan hairpin after a lock-up.
Ross was overtaken by Patel into turn five on lap two, then ran wide at Depailler and dropped behind Gill too.
Patel went for the lead at turn six, and almost got it done around the outside at Depailler but ran off and rejoined side-by-side with Gill who had the inside line for Ryan and took second before cutting the final corner and conceding the place.
Paquet and Ross passed Gill through turn one on lap four, with Menezes next to get past at turn five on lap five.
The top three were very close, and a bump undid Patel’s attempted lap six attack on Clubine approaching turn five. He then got alongside through turn six, but locked up at Depailler, just avoided clouting the tyre barriers and rejoined in fourth as Paquet snuck by Clubine for the lead at Ryan.
Clubine tried coming back at Paquet through turn twon a lap later but ran out of room and was overtaken by Ross just before the safety car was summoned as Gill had crashed out at Depailler.
A delayed recovery meant racing did not resume until lap 12, and Paquet lost out to Ross and Clubine by brushing the barrier exiting turn five.
The top four then ran nose-to-tail until lap 14 when Patel went down the inside of Paquet at turn five and the latter went straight on into the wall.
After another safety car period, one lap remained and Patel almost nosed Clubine around into turn one. Clubine was then on the defensive through the rest of the lap, hugging the inside through turns four and five and having a train form behind him as Ross pulled away.
A squirm into Depailler almost cost Clubine, but he held on to finish 1.815s behind two-time winner Ross. Menezes was fourth, and Schreanen made a move at Ryan for sixth.
This time Patel claimed the fastest lap by 0.011s over Paquet so claimed race three pole, and Ross, Menezes and Clubine were all also within 0.09s of his best effort.
Yellow flags waved through lap one due to the grid not being properly formed, so there was a second formation lap. Clubine took third at turn seven, and Ross almost crashed at the final corner but managed to start lap two of racing in second behind Patel.
He attacked for the lead through turns four and five on lap, and was side-by-side into Depailler. Ross had the inside line and got ahead, but then went off and Patel reclaimed the lead before the next corner.
They swapped places again on lap three, with Ross going down the inside at turn one. Patel picked the outside at turn five in an attempted response but almost hit the wall and conceded second to Clubine.
The top three ran almost as one until lap seven, when Patel lost time running wide at turn five. It mattered little as the field was bunched up on lap eight due to a crash at Ryan in which Cardin flipped and lost his rear-left wheel and Menezes was also eliminated.
Drivers had go through the pits while the clear-up took place, and on one of those passages through Paquet’s car came to a halt and he could not get it restarted.
The restart took place on lap 15, leaving three laps to go racing. Gill, who started 12th, managed to successfully pass Henderson Knox down the inside of turn five for fifth despite getting loose, and a lap later Clubine snuck past Ross there.
Once again the top three were almost touching as they began the final lap. After navigating turn three safely, Clubine chose to cover the inside on the run to turn five and Ross passed him around the outside. But he had to reduce his exit speed to avoid the barriers and Clubine drew back alongside.
They were wheel-to-wheel all the way to Ryan where Clubine finally cemented himself ahead again and won by 0.359s. Patel was a further 0.179s back, and Jonathon Petrone finished fourth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Stewart Ross Britain West Motorsport 29m22.892s
2 Connor Clubine Britain West Motorsport +1.418s
3 Christophe Paquet +2.075s
4 Boss Patel +4.304s
5 Parker Gill +7.911s
6 Christian Menezes +12.302s
7 Jonathon Petrone +12.931s
8 Marc Anctoine Cardin Cardin Racing +13.085s
9 Henderson Knox Henderson Racing +16.664s
10 Michael Dowden +21.374s
Pole: Clubine, 1m12.189s
Fastest lap: Clubine, 1m11.487s
Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Ross 30m19.151s
3 Clubine +1.815s
3 Patel +2.259s
4 Menezes +2.559s
5 Cardin +2.888s
6 Didier Schraenen Dynatech +3.602s
7 Knox +4.048s
8 Dowden +4.622s
9 James Lindsay +4.960s
10 Olivier Dulac +5.766s
FL: Patel, 1m11.773s
Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Clubine 30m25.556s
2 Ross +0.359s
3 Patel +0.538s
4 Petrone +1.436s
5 Gill +2.402s
6 Knox +3.674s
7 Dowden +4.548s
8 Schraenen +5.529s
9 Lindsay +5.736s
10 Dulac +7.975s
FL: Ross, 1m12.131s