“our mentality was to go out and win races, and if everything came together as we’d hoped, the title would come. “by the mid-point of the season we were leading the championship and we toned the aggression level down a notch, making sure that we finished every race.” 2012 Super champion Sasha Anis


could get into the car, we had the package to go after the championship,” stated the lorraine, Qc- based driver. “we lost a motor in Montreal which hurt us, and sasha, with the year he had, meant that the championship was an uphill battle.” also proving that consistency was the secret


to success, G-1 Racing recruit Jonathan Rashleigh rode a record of 11 top ten finishes aboard his #86 ontario hyundai Genesis, including a pair of season best fourths, to third place in the year- end standings. barrie, on’s scott nicol piloted his #41 Velocity Motorsports civic to the podium on three occasions to lay claim to fourth spot over- all, ending the 2012 season 83 points in front of top five finisher, Marc-antoine camirand.


TOuRING of the 19 different drivers who participated in


the cTcc Touring class races in 2012, seven of them managed to find their way onto the top step of the victory podium, with a handful of these competitors scoring multiple race wins. among the repeat winners this year were: for-


mer two-time champion alain lauziere (3), Joce- lyn hebert (3), Jacques belanger (3), Damon sharpe (3) and Michel sallenbach (2), while Karl Thomson and Paul Dargis were rewarded for their efforts with single race wins. Despite the obvious balance in talent across the Touring class field, due to several of the aforementioned drivers running just a limited schedule this year, the championship chase boiled down to a battle between two friendly rivals, veteran sallenbach and newcomer sharpe. ultimately, in a come-from-behind charge, it


was Tottenham, on’s sharpe aboard the blanchet Racing #84 honda civic who prevailed, wrestling the points lead from sallenbach in the final weekend of the year and earning the 2012 Touring class championship crown. “we had some niggling problems, we just


couldn’t close the deal,” admitted sharpe. “we had a bad race at Tremblant, but things settled down after that. we put it all together, gained a lot of momentum and then pounced on Michel’s misfortunes to win the title.” sallenbach got a solid start to the year, scor-


ing race wins in the season opener at canadian Tire Motorsport Park and in Round 3 at Mirabel, and only finishing off of the podium twice in the first four double-header dates. on their second appearance at cTMP, a dampening pulley broke in the powerplant of the #46 MInI original Parts


MInI cooper s resulting in a Dnf. and two events later at Montreal, his newly rebuilt en- gine expired in spectacular fashion, allowing sharpe to further cut into his points advantage. “we started strong and built up a gap when


everyone else had issues. but when we broke at Mosport (cTMP), Damon got on a roll. That was the turning point of the season. he was always fast, and then he got reliable, and we ran into problems,” explained sallenbach. heading into the final two races of the year


at calabogie Motorsports Park, sallenbach held on to a slim 12 point advantage. unfortunately for the Roxton Pond, Qc resident, he simply “pushed too hard” in pursuit of race leader sharpe in saturday’s opening contest, impacting the Turn 14 guardrail and retiring from the race. “I was trying to pressure Damon and got too


close going into Turn 13. I had to lift, the car got light and slid onto the grass,” said sallenbach. “I tried to avoid contact and put myself off.” sharpe would go on to win that race, and then


followed up that performance with his second victory of the weekend on sunday, taking the checkered flag and the championship by 102 points over his season long rival. “we spent a lot of time honing in on what we


needed to do to make the car competitive. frank and Ryan (blanchet) and the crew worked really hard this year getting us to the front, I’m glad I could return the favour,” said sharpe. Paul Gravel, sallenbach’s octane Racing team-


mate and series rookie competed in every event on the calendar this year and “stayed out of trouble” to conclude the year in third place over- all, just 45 points in front of the #77 scion tc of Mont st-Gregoire’s Jocelyn fecteau. Jocelyn hebert, who won three races in four


appearances on the circuit Gilles-Villeneuve this year, ended his campaign with a fifth place in the final tally.


B–SPEC with no ride available to him and the 2012


canadian Touring car season opener just weeks away, two-time super class champion nick wittmer “wheeled a honda fit off of the show- room floor” at ste. Rose honda and prepared his car for competition in the new b-spec racing di- vision. against eight other division rivals, includ- ing multiple entries from the lombardi honda and octane Racing stables, wittmer proceeded to decimate his opposition, eventually scoring


P1 Magazine 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24