SHANNONVILLE, ON, (July 8, 2018) – The CTCC Summer Challenge at Shannonville Motorsport Park set the stage for rounds 7 through 9 of the 2018 Toyo Tire F1600 Championship.
The weekend started with a full day of testing and perfect weather on the Friday. In an interesting twist to the event, two different configurations of the track were to be run – the long track on the Saturday and the shorter, faster pro track on Sunday so the test day was also broken up that way to help get the setups necessary.
Rookie Zachary Vanier of Garson, ON, is quickly coming to grips with the big cars and tracks of F1600 after several successful years on the Canadian karting scene.
After qualifying his Technica Racing, Anmar sponsored Mygale 6th fastest for race 1 he would drop one spot to 7th after dropping 4 wheels on the grass in the first few laps. From there he put his head down and methodically made his way up to the 4th spot, where he would finish.
On Sunday, under sunny skies, he started 3rd for race 2 based on his fastest lap from the race 1 and was looking for a breakthrough performance and his first podium.
Disaster struck on the 3rd lap when heading down into the hairpin leading onto the back straight he was hit in the right rear by another competitor causing severe damage and was unable to continue.
The damage was severe enough that he would be forced to use a backup car from the teams hauler to make the final race a few hours later.
In the final race he put on an impressive performance, working his way from the back of the field and with some bold passes, brought his team a 6th place finish.
Matt Gidman, of Toronto, ON has turned his season around and got straight to work trying to master the tight, technical turns of Shannonville.
He started 10th for race 1 and had some good battles on track, nabbing his first top ten of the season with a 9th place finish.
In race 2 Gidman continued to show good pace and was making a pass for position at the end of the back straightaway but lost the back end of the car, spinning but continuing with no damage. He would bring his Fortress Racing Van Diemen home for another impressive 9th place finish.
Race 3 was another solid run as he continues to build pace and confidence, driving to an 11th place finish.
There’s lots of work to do and some torn up racecars to fix between now and the next event, the BARC Touring Trophy Races July 28th and 29th at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
