When a two-car team plans for a weekend of racing, they always hope to perform well. They sometime dream of a 1-2 finish. But to qualify 1-2 and finish 1-2 in both weekend races, the stars have to line-up. And they were shining brightly over the Octane team’s canopy at Icar’s Grand Prix. The second of eight Castrol Canadian Touring Car racing weekends started with the two teammates leading the qualifying session on Friday with Lauzière behind the wheel of the #47 MINI Original Parts Cooper S edging Sallenbach by two tenths of a second. Race #1 was uneventful for both racers with the #47 leading the first couple laps until Lauzière went slightly wide under braking in bumpy conditions, enough for Sallenbach to sneak by. The teammates had to keep the pressure on all race long as the powerful Honda of Tom Kwok stayed close to Lauzière`s rear bumper for the race’s duration. The teammates would end their first race leading the field and capturing the fastest race lap, but only one tenth of a second faster than Kwok. Race #2 was full of action as the pile-up expected in the re-worked first corner materialised. Sallenbach rocketed off the starting line and was able to avoid the mess by staying on the outside. That proved to be the right strategy as he even lead the faster Super Class field for a few inches going into corner two. Positioned in third position overall, Sallenbach opened-up a huge gap over his Touring Class competitors, slowly being caught by the faster Super Class field. Lauzière was not as lucky as he was right in the middle of the action in corner #1, but he managed to avoid contact. He was passed by Groenke driving his beautifully-prepped VW GTi, Lesage at the wheel of his new Scion and Kwok in his Honda. The Honda was re-passed under braking for the new hairpin during the same lap. It took a couple more laps to pass the Scion as the two drivers touched mirrors while Super Class competitors that were caught in the incident started catching back. Groenke was next on the list as as he was sailing away but a yellow flag to clean the track after a couple incidents two laps later interrupted the charge to the front as the #47 was getting close to the VW’s rear bumper. At the re-start, Groenke attempted a banzai move to the inside of Sallenbach, the two of them carrying too much speed to make the first corner. They both re-joined the track in the same order but Lauzière passed inside of Groenke in corner #3, the MINI still carrying the momentum from the re-start. The race would end in another 1-2 finish for the team carrying the bright Orange livery. Tom Kwok’s very powerful Honda managed the honour to grab the fastest race lap in Race #2 over the Octane drivers. Team Octane is supported by MINI Original Parts, Castrol and revolutionmini.com. The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship next stop will bring competitors back to the Mosport circuit in on June 25-26. Photo credit: Sylvain Lachapelle for Team Octane
Perfect result. Hard work and preparation have paid off. It's also nice when the stars align for that unimaginable weekend. Best of luck moving forward.