cc motorsports: round 3 weekend recap

After a successful second round and a few weeks away from racing, the CC Motorsports crew returned to CTMP for round three of the Toyotires F1600 championship at the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy Races. With plenty learned in the second round the team was looking forward to getting back to CTMP to try and build on the seasons momentum. Round three delivered with a great turn out of spectators, variable weather conditions and a packed field of 30 cars.

Saturday: Practice, Qualifying and Race One

P: Saturday mornings practice session was a great opportunity for Conner and Cole to get right back to where they left off in round 2. With a very full grid it proved to be a tricky session to get consistent laps in, but the team made the most of it to get prepared for qualifying. Conner would cross the line with a new personal best time of 1:31:118 putting him in P9, while Cole struggled a bit more and would only manage a 1:32:567.

Q: Conner continued to show improvement in qualifying and was able to get into the 1:30s with a 1:30:904, another personal best time for him. Cole continued to improve as well in qualifying, but despite his best effort could only put together a 1:31:943. Conner would start race one from P9, while Cole would line the #45 up in P14.

R1: Race one got off to a promising start with both Conner and Cole showing great pace in the opening laps. By lap four Cole had made his way up to P11 and was continuing to inch further towards Conner, who was working on getting back past Graham Lobban. Unfortunately as the trio approached corner three, Conner locked up while attempting a move up the inside of Graham which would send the car into a spin. Conner managed to avoid contact with Graham, however Cole unfortunately was left in a very similar position as round one and clipped his rear right wheel on one of the #44 cars rears while attempting to navigate around the spinning car. This lead to Cole also spinning across the track and in front of chasing traffic. By the time the traffic has cleared, Cole rejoined the race at the back of the pack, but the impact damaged the #44 cars rear suspension forcing Conner to retire. Cole put in a solid recovery drive and worked his way back up to his starting position of P14 from P27.

Sunday: Race Two and Three

R2: After a long afternoon of repairs on the #44 car on Saturday, the team returned to CTMP for a the Sunday of exciting racing in tricky conditions. With on an off rain throughout the day finding a good balance in setup for wet and dry conditions was a challenge. After retiring from race one early with no quick laps set, Conner lined up for race two in P19 with little to lose. As most of the field cautiously navigated the the tricky conditions, Conner was able to find grip early on and put in a great drive making his way through the pack up to P10 when he crossed the line. After setting a decent time in race one on Saturday, Cole lined up for race two P11 and put in a consistent drive to hold position. Conner and Cole also happened to put in the 10th and 11th fastest time during race two, meaning they would line up for race three where they finished race two.

R3: As race three rolled around the track conditions had changed yet again. The rain had stopped, but the entire track was left damp unlike race two where a bit of a dry line had formed. This again kept teams on their toes and forced them to make setup decisions. Some favoured a full wet setup, some a full dry expecting there to be a dry line like race two, others played it safe and kept a fairly neutral setup. Both Conner and Cole opted to keep their neutral setup form race two as they felt confident that it would give them what they needed wet or dry. Both the #44 and #45 car got off to a great start, however Cole got off line on the first lap into turn 8 while defending and dropped away from the lead pack. He would go on to gap the cars behind, however wasn’t able to get back up to the lead back and ran a fairly lonesome race to finish in P11. Meanwhile up ahead, Conner did better to stay with the lead pack for most of the race. Despite his best efforts he too would cross the line in his starting position of P10.

Following round 3, CC Motorsports took some time off from racing and didn’t attend round 4 at Calabogie. Feeling refreshed from the summer break they look forward to returning to CTMP for round 5 at the Labour Day Weekend Sprints.

It’s hard to believe we are already approaching the final two rounds of the season. We’re looking forward to whatever they may bring and cannot wait to get back trackside. As always, thank you to everyone involved in making these weekends happen. We truly appreciate the time, effort and love that goes into making these races happen.

Photography by John Cardillo and Cole Janeteas