TOYO TIRES F1600 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES NEWS & NOTES
“A” Class Champ Crowned This Weekend at Celebration of Motorsports
Craig Willis Clinched “B” Class Title Last Event
TORONTO, ON (September 23, 2013) – The Toyo Tires F1600 Championship Series will crown the “A” Class Champion this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park during the annual CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsports, the final two rounds in the series.
2013 “B” Class honours were awarded this past week to Craig Willis – his dominating performance in the last few rounds securing his spot in the record books as the Champion, collecting no less than 7 victories and every qualifying and race lap record at every track the series competes at. He may add to his record this weekend.
The fight for “A” Class honours has two combatants in contention – Jack Mitchell, Jr.,and Zacharie Robichon. Mitchell, Jr., has scraped a bit of a lead in the points following two conservative drives at the last event after Robichon was taken out of contention in Race 1 due to a collision with Mitchell, Jr’s teammate Thomas McGregor.
BGR Team Grote will be bringing 5 cars this weekend. The 3 house Piper Hondas will be Zach Robichon and Jesse Lazare, joined by Jeff Kingsley, making his open wheel debut. Kingsley comes to the team having just clinched the ECKC Rotax Max Junior Title and a place on Canada’s team at the Rotax Max Grand finale in New Orleans. Customer cars for BGR Team Grote will be Kieran Murphy and Marc Bishara.
Exclusive Autosport will run 4 cars for the first time in the Toyo Tires series this season. Included in the lineup will be points leader Jack Mitchell, Jr., Thomas McGregor who is fresh off his championship-winning weekend in Formula Tour, Max Hanratty and newcomer Tristan DeGrand who comes with 2 wins from last weekends Formula Tour race.
2012 Champion Michael Adams makes a welcome return behind the wheel in the #59 Van Diemen driven to much success by Michael Gayowski at the beginning of the year and to a win and a 2nd by his father Stephen at the last event. That should be some good competition for “B” Class Champion Craig Willis.
Other notables from “B” Class include Mike Lee, Andrew Mason, Amy Castell, Bruce Kitchen and Ted Michalos. Connor Wagland suffered a season-ending crash at the last event and will not make it out.
“This has been one of the best season’s of competition ever,” said series promoter Jason Sharpe. “The excitement level lap after lap is immense and I don’t believe we have had more than one or two races all year where the winner was decided before the last corner,” he added. “We continue to add some of the most talented drivers in North America to this series and welcome 2 more this weekend. I am anxious to drop the green flag, enjoy the action and celebrate with our new Champions when it’s all over.”
Cars will hit the track on Friday for a full day of testing and the racing will begin with Round 1 on Saturday and Round 2 on Sunday afternoon.
RACE: CASC-OR Celebration of Motorsports
TRACK: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
DATE: Saturday September 28 & Sunday September 29, 2013
TWITTER: @ToyoTiresF1600
SERIES HASHTAG: #ToyoTiresF1600
SERIES CONTACT: Jason Sharpe, (416) 557-5451 or jasons@movemotorsports.com, Twitter: @jasonsharpe
If photographs are required please contact Jason Sharpe (416) 557-5451 or jasons@movemotorsports.com
NOTABLE FACTS
The Race: This is round 13 and 14, the final rounds in the Championship.
The Format: Both A and B Class cars race together, with an equalization package for the Honda and Ford motors. There is one practice and one qualifying session for each of the weekend’s races.
Gaining Momentum: With a renewed enthusiasm and new marketing partners the Series is enjoying a large increase in grid size and exposure. There are several competitors returning to the series and several new competitors will make their series’ debut.
The Toyo Tires F1600 Championship Series is the premiere open wheel series in Ontario, sanctioned by CASC Ontario Region and proudly supported by Toyo Tires, MG Homes, Cove Dentistry, MK Technologies, Braidan Tires and Rod Ends Mechanical. The series is comprised of a seven event, double-header format and competes at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Shannonville Motorsport Park and Calabogie Motorsport Park.
Photos by Michael Haley
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=18606.msg109409#msg109409
