Wet track conditions made for an exciting and interesting scenario in Round 4 of the Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car class Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with youngsters Mason Filippi (TC), Tom O'Gorman (TCA) and Jake Pipal (TCB) winning their respective divisions.
Several of the top qualifiers in the TC division made the decision to go to Pirelli treaded rain tires before the start of the 40-minute sprint event at the legendary 2.458-mile, 10-turn road circuit northeast of Toronto including Round 3 winner and Round 4 pole winner Paul Holton.
- Race results
However, the decision to stay on slick tires seemed to help those racers at the start of the event, as the track did not become completely wet until later in the TC event.
Filippi, the 19-year-old from Alamo, Calif., drove from his 13th starting position Sunday in the No. 12 Winding Road Racing BMW M235iR and took the lead in a battle with Cody Ellsworth in the No. 11 RacerInk Motorsports Porsche Cayman. However, Ellsworth retired from the event on lap 14 and Filippi expanded his margin to 25.904 seconds at the checkered flag in the 25-lap contest.
Placing second to Filippi was JT Coupal of Rochester, N.Y., in the No. 09 BERG Racing Audi RS3 LM Clubsport sedan followed by Tony Rivera of Oceanside, Calif., in the No. 34 Brass Monkey Racing Nissan 370Z, John Weisberg of Webster, N.Y., in the No. 5 BERG Racing Mazda MX-5 and Anthony Magagnoli of Dexter, Mich., in the No. 80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M235iR.
"We ended up sitting in the pits and we saw everyone coming in trying to get their tires done," said Filippi. "My coach went over to Turn 2 and 3 to check out the corners and I had someone else check out the back side. It wasn't raining too much so we decided to stay on slicks for this race and it ended up being a great decision. We were going at it for a while and ended up catching traffic - TC, TCB, and TCA - and we were all together and it seemed that whoever could get through the track faster would be able to pull ahead. (The rain) seemed to move around. It was very exciting on slicks."
O'Gorman, 25, won last year's TCB series championship and moved to TCA this year with Shea Racing and the new No. 94 Honda Civic Si. Starting from the TCA pole position, the Mason, Ohio driver grabbed the lead early and was able to extend his advantage throughout the 40-minute race.
Some incredible TCA racing was going on behind O'Gorman with three to four wide action on the CTMP back straight. Contending with the semi-wet track and passing-in-traffic were defending TCA champion Elivan Goulart of Shelton, Conn., in the No. 70 S.A. Racing Mazda MX-5, VIR double winner Matthew Fassnacht of Madison, N.J., Gary Kwok of Markham, Ont., Canada in the M&S Racing Honda Civic and Round 3 TCA winner Dean Copeland of Grasonville, Md., in the No. 97 Copeland Motorsports Mazda Global MX-5 Cup.
At the finish, it was O'Gorman with a close-to 30-second margin over Goulart, Fassnacht, Kwok and Copeland.
"A bunch of the Touring Cars switched to the rain tires at the last minute and it ended up being dry for 80-percent of the race so it wasn't paying off for them," said O'Gorman. "TCA and TC are close enough that they were holding us up through the corners so we had this ebb and flow of one of us getting by the Touring Car that was slow in the corners and then Elivan (Goulart) and Matt (Fassnacht) would catch up. We would get by cars and I finally got by long enough to clear them by a couple of seconds. After that it was just put my head down and clear my marks. Then it started raining and the front-wheel drive with the new Civic Si was awesome in those conditions and it likes the cool (weather) in general so the car was fantastic today."
The TCB victory for Pipal was the second of the weekend at CTMP in the No. 6 Pipal Racing/Carbotech Brakes Honda Fit with a provisional 14-second lead over Canaan O'Connell of Chandler, Ariz., in the No. 24 Tech Sport Racing Chevrolet Sonic and local favorite P.J. Groenke of Richmond Hill, Ont., Canada, in the No. 25 Tech Sport Racing Chevrolet Sonic.
"The track was dry for about half the race and it ended up getting wet, so I ended up going off-line," said Pipal. "Then it dried up again and we were all able to put some fast laps down and I was able to pull away. It was just a great race. I've never been here before. It's probably one of my favorite tracks I've driven. The double-win (this weekend) is a dream come true."
Touring Car racing from CTMP will premiere on CBS Sports Network on Wednesday, May 31st at 10:00 p.m. EDT. Check your local listings for additional broadcasts and channel information. The PWC series now moves to popular Lime Rock Park for TC Rounds 5 and 6 at the end of this week (May 26-27).
Result of Round 4 in the Touring Car classes Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Results are provisional until posted Final.