The summer progresses and so does the DMCC championship! Round 2 of the Drift Mania Canadian Championship marked the return of the ICAR circuit to the line-up of tracks, who had been missing for two years.
The circuit, built on the former grounds of Mirabel airport, is quite simple. However, this simplicity called drivers to do more to stand out ( higher initiation speed, very close to the wall, lots of angle). We had a lot of action!
Unfortunately, we also had our first major contact of the season. Carl Harvey and Kevin Morin ended up in the wall together during practice. Harvey’s car was badly damaged and he was forced to abandon. However Harvey promised to be back for round 3 in Montmagny.
Alex Michaud gave us an incredible show all throughout the day. Initiations at high speed, going to bang the back of the car on the concrete walls (voluntarily and keeping control, called a'' Wall-Tap''). He managed to take all the style and the angle he fetched in practice and to do the same in qualifying with a near perfect run that earned him a score of 96/100!
The award for the highest initiation speed was given to Jonathan Guitard this round, with a speed of 156km / h!
The top 16 gave us a lot of action, the setup of the track pushing drivers to really get big angles and to move in closer to their competitors for them to really stand out for the judges.
Several'' One more time'' were required. Two of our top qualifiers, Alex Michaud and Jonathan Guitard, were surprised by lower-qualified drivers, Éric Bélanger and Gonzalo Diaz. Both rounds requierd '' One more times'' to decide a winner, with Michaud and Guitard escaping defeat and coming out victorious.
Tandems were very tight, several contacts happend. In top 8, Alex Michaud, who had nothing to lose after a spinout during his lead run, initiated very aggressively and made contact with Pat Cyr, giving the victory to Cyr.
Same thing for the top 4. Maxime Lemoine and Eric Paradis clashed to decide who would take place in the final when Lemoine made contact with Paradis, causing a spin out for both drivers. Eric Paradis therefore advanced to the final.
Then, in the consolation final, Pat Cyr this made contact with Maxime Lemoine, Cyr spun out while Lemoine kept on drifting, costing Cyr the third step of the podium.
The final was very tight. Jonathan Guitard and Eric Paradis fought a fierce battle, one requiring two one-more-times (the maximum number allocated) and thus a total of 6 passes on the track! It was hard-fought, but Jonathan Guitard and his sc300 ended up winning for a third event in a row, taking wins in the first two rounds and a comfortable lead in the 2014 championship.
You won’t have to wait too long for the next event, coming this Saturday July 12th in Montmagny! Pros and pro-ams will compete on the newly renovated track. With a Top-8 pro-am competition and a top-16 pro competition!
