T
hree years of steady growth has turned the Castrol Canadian Tour- ing Car Championship presented
by Toyo Tires into the most popular and highly competitive racing series in the country. And as the CCTCC prepares to embark on its fourth season, its appeal to both the participants and the fans continues to expand. “We’re looking at a ten percent increase
in our grid this year,” explains series founder and President John Bondar. “Sev- eral of our established teams are adding extra cars and we’ve verified new entries from both Ontario and Quebec.” One of the new ventures will field a
Mazda 3 for well-known Quebec journalist Jacques Deshaies. Bondar continues, “We averaged 37 en-
tries per event in 2009. We expect grids of 40 or more cars, and possibly even larger fields in Toronto and Trois Rivieres.” Lombardi Racing, based out of Mon-
treal, has already announced a three car team for 2010 with series hot-shoe Alex Healy and Benjamin Distaulo joining de- fending Super Touring champion Nick Wittmer on the Honda squad. GT Racing, which campaigned four BMW 330s in 2009, is still finalizing their driver and car lineup, but team leader Etienne Borgeat vows to be in a car this year. “I have finished in the top three every
year, but I’ve never won the champi- onship. I feel that I have some unfinished business in this Touring Car Series,” says Borgeat. “The team will look different this year. I may start the year in my BMW, but we’ve switched makes and will prepare three Pontiac Solstices. It’s a question of logistics and scheduling, but we plan to have Charles-Andre Bilodeau in one of the cars for at least part of the year. We’re still working on who will be in the other seat.” On the Touring division entry list, Bob
Attrell’s Hyundai Genesis team will expand to three cars while Alain Lauziere and his Octane Racing group will field a pair of Mini Coopers. New recruit Michel Sallen- bach will pilot one of the Octane entries, with a second driver to be named shortly. “Michel brings years of Solo and karting
experience with him, and he has spent the past few seasons racing touring cars in Quebec,” states Lauziere. “It may take him a while to adjust to the Mini and the new tracks, but I feel that he will fit right in.” Lauziere’s primary rival in 2009, and
points runner-up, Anthony Rapone will be back in the fray, the Durabond Team join-
(Above) CCTCC teams like Lombardi Honda Racing are as well prepared as any team in North America. (Below) As well as being a presenting sponsor, Toyo Tires’ Proxes R888 rubber is on every race car.
ing forces with Compass360 Racing for the 2010 season. It will be a three car effort with Compass360 founder Karl Thomson joining Rapone and Andrew Danyliw be- hind the wheel, while 2008 Touring class champion Andre Rapone will call the shots as team manager. “We proved that we had a solid pro-
gramme last year, and we will be coming back with the same package. Everything will carry over,” say Anthony Rapone. “We originally built our cars to 2010 specs, so in effect, we should have a year’s head start on everybody.” He continues, “Karl brings a lot to the
team with his racing experience. And I think this combination bodes well for the series, and especially the Touring division.” Not wanting to upset his smooth running
series, Bondar states that the only major rule change for the upcoming season will be in the Touring class, where, as a cost- cutting measure, the competitors will use regular 94 octane pump gasoline in their cars, as opposed to the cost-prohibitive racing fuels. However, the CCTCC has revealed some
modifications to the 2010 schedule. “A lot of our competitors felt that racing
every other weekend was too intense,” says Bondar. “Had we maintained our pre-
vious schedule, we would have had back- to-back races at Shannonville (following Round One at Mosport) and at Calabogie (one week after the Toronto street course event). That would have put too much pressure on the teams, so we cut our cal- endar back to seven events this year.” The Canadian Touring Car Series will
continue to run doubleheader race week- ends, with a Saturday qualifying sprint fol- lowed by Sunday’s feature race. The series will appear three times at Mosport Interna- tional Raceway, running in combination with the professional race events, with sin- gle race dates for the Toronto Grand Prix and the Grand Prix of Trois Rivieres. ICAR Mirabel will host a pair of race dates, in- cluding the season finale on September12. In conclusion, Bondar has set two per-
sonal goals for the CCTCC this year. One he has already accomplished, securing contingency sponsors in an effort to re- ward the drivers every weekend. His sec- ond aim is to “raise the level of promotion, to help take us to another level.” “We have a great series and great drivers
and we put on a great show. But to most of our guys, this is still a hobby. It’s time to say that we’re a professional series. Every- one is very serious about what they’re doing, and so are we.” •
CASTROL CANADIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP FAN & MEDIA GUIDE • 7
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