Clarington, Ontario. We are finally home from a long weekend up in Toronto for Rounds 3 and 4 of the Pirelli World Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It was our first time at this track and Jay spent many weeks preparing for this challenging course. Using the simulator and talking to many drivers, he was comfortable enough to get out there and begin pushing the limits on the Fuse Lenses/Regenexx Cayman Mazda MX-5. There was definitely some trepidation before the first test day as many drivers will tell you that it’s a very fast track with very little room for error. Small mistakes can lead to big problems and potentially take you out for the entire weekend. So, slow and steady gains were really what we were aiming for.
Testing and official practice were held on Thursday. The car and track conditions were perfect and each session led to better and better lap times. Still not completely up to pace with some of the other drivers, Jay’s confidence was steadily building and he knew he’d eventually get to where he’d need to be with the race. Friday morning held the first qualifying session where he ended up 8th out of a field of 15. He was right about where he expected to be and knew there were still a few seconds to gain to get up to speed with the leaders. Late Friday afternoon brought race number one beginning with a rolling start. Towards the end of the race things got pretty dicey near the front and the leaders ended up getting in a tangled mess taking each other out of the race. Luckily avoiding any collisions Jay was able to move up to the front finishing in 4th place and shaving almost 2 seconds off his fasted qualifying lap.
Race 2 began with the cars placed in the order of fasted lap from Race 1 which unfortunately put him back in 8th position overall. This race began from a standing start where Jay was able to quickly move past 4 other drivers and get close to the front of the field. However as cars shifted and the faster classes began lapping the TCA cars, he moved back a bit finishing in 8th place overall. However, he was able to shave another 1.4 seconds off his fastest lap. Steady gains and staying out of trouble were the name of the game for the weekend. Overall very satisfied to have a top 5 and a top 10 to add to his racing resume.
Our main partner Fuse Lenses was out in full force giving away t-shirts, sunscreen, coozies & of course lenses! They weren’t able to bring the lense cutter out this time as they did in COTA but they were able to give away coupons for future purchases through their website www.fuselenses.com. Our other partner Regenexx Cayman was also represented with a booth at our trailer. They handed out free backpacks with water bottles and information about their stem cell procedures.
All in all it was a great weekend! Catch the replay of the race Thursday, June 2nd at 7pm on CBS Sports Network.