Lauzière leads the championship behind the wheel of the GO FAST Sports MINI Cooper S; Dion-Viens on the podium in Trois-Rivières

Alain Lauzière, driver of the GO FAST Sports- Octane Motorsport MINI Cooper S, took the championship lead in the Touring class of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship race, after the Trois-Rivières Grand Prix weekend.

Lauzière qualified his - MINI Original Accessories – Cooper S in third position, right behind the championship leader. After the start where the 3 Touring-class leaders were fighting together, they were able to catch a back-marker from the Super Touring class. Lauzière was involved with a collision with him: “I thought that our right front suspension was damaged as I had difficulties turning left” mentioned Lauzière. The right front tire was suffering from a slow leak and let go three laps later. The #47 MINI Cooper S would lose 2 laps in the process. Lauzière bringing back the Go FAST Sports MINI in 12th position.

The Sunday race did not bring much better results to the team, Lauzière would cross the finish line in 7th position after having problems under braking conditions.

Trois-Rivières represented an important event for the Octane team as they were debuting the second MINI Cooper S in their stable. Local journalist Jacques Deshaies and Simon-Dion Viens would share driving duties, each one taking turn to ster the #46 MINI Cooper S.

Deshaies qualified the Castrol MINI Cooper S in 12th position, without any prior practice in the car. He would drive all the way back up to finish in 4th place during Saturday’s race, but the car was unfortunately disqualified for a ride height infraction: “We feel sorry for Jacques; he deserved this fantastic finish having driven a very intelligent race, but unfortunately these adjustments are part of setting-up a new car and can happen”, mentioned team-owner Lauzière.

Because of the driver change, Dion-Viens started from the back of the field but would drive the car back to 3rd position after a spectacular drive, clinching the last step of the podium. “The MINI Cooper was so pleasing to drive; it’s so well-balanced” said Dion-Viens.

The Championship leader of the Touring class would only gather a few points in Trois-Rivières, having issues with his Honda Civic engine all weekend long. As a result, Lauzière is now taking the lead away in the championship.

The GoFast Sports-Octane team will be back on-track on September 5-6 at the Icar circuit in Mirabel. The team’s participation is facilitated by the support and collaboration of GO FAST Sports (energy drink), MINI Original Parts, Simone Performance Imports, Castrol Canada (Wakefield) , Birchmount Collision, MINI Original Accessories, Cruisecanada.com, BULLY clutches, Betz pools and Muellerprep. Deshaies et Dion-Viens were able to participate with the support Castrol, Best Buy pièces d’autos Rive-Sud, Boulay inox, Pizzeria Stratos, Les délices de la mer, Jeannot Lemieux et GroupeVincent.com.

Photos by : Flagworld.com

Saturday #47 video :http://www.vimeo.com/6125160

 

 

Looking good!!!!

 

Congrats to Alain and his team!!!!!

Nice to meet you! - Next time, we'll get more quality time!

 

great job guys!

got these from connor

 

 

Man, Every time I watch one of your race starts I can't get over how well behaved the drivers are. I'll dig up one of the SCCA Race starts from down here. The only inch of room you get is the inch someone makes when caving in your fender.

 

haha I was thinking the same thing looking at that picture

 

well said. that's why i'm building a BMWCCA/NASA/PBOC car instead of buying your SCCA car! 13/13 or "vintage" rules help keep things more civil. that said, there is a lot of close, competitive racing in alain's series. congrats on leading the championship. how many more races?

edit: nice debut for the "winter project"! i hope someone w/ large ones will hire the car for the targa newfoundland.

 

Thanks Peter! The pleasure was mine! Sorry we didn't spend more time while you dropped-by. Things were a bit hectic the first day. Please let us know next time you're around!

 

Thanks guys!

 

It isn't always this clean. You should have seen the carnage last year at T-R. A few drivers took things in their own hand this weekend. If you watch the video, the Z3 came back to hit me from the back "to show me" when I was on 3 tires against the guardrail. You can see my head/the car bounce forward. #46 got punched on the rear bumper by another loose canon. New bumper cover required....

 

When I have a chance I'll update that thread. Too much work performed within the last 2 weeks to update it.

I had a driver but he had to cancel due to business commitments. The event is a month away so it's getting too close to prepare now. It'll be for another year.

I will be at Targa working on the MINI Canada team for driver Jim Kenzie. A nice R56 MINI Challenge car converted to rally will be entered. OOOOPPPs. The cat is out of the bag now.....

The #46 (& #47) should be back on track a week before Targa for our last events of the season. Judging by the number of inquiries I have received since Sunday, I don't think I'll have any trouble finding interested drivers....

 

No worries, I sold that car. It finished 2nd at the Pocono race this past weekend. I worked and worked on the SCCA to move the Focus SVT to SSC and they finally did it. A Buddy sorta gave me one so I'm trying to find the money to put a cage in it now. It's sitting on the lot with the a/c and stereo out just waiting on a cage. I love running showroom stock, There's something fun about racing a soft, ill handling car when everyone else is in a soft ill handling car. It's who can keep tires and brakes under it till the end of the race. But you can't do it in a car you love. You gotta be ready for some rubbin. I'm a bit worried as the front and rear bumper covers on the SVT aren't cheap.