2022/09/04

Mississauga – The Nissan Sentra Cup staged its ninth and tenth races of the 2022 season this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park located east of Toronto, Ontario. The penultimate event of the season saw Alexandre Fortin win twice during the weekend.

The sole qualifying session for the two races was held Saturday in hot summer conditions. The three main contenders for this year's overall title dominated the session and clinched the top three spots on the starting grid. Simon Charbonneau took pole position ahead of Alexandre Fortin and Valérie Limoges. Nicolas Barrette, Nicolas Miron, Sylvain Ouellet, Toronto's Nicholas Hornbostel (who qualified seventh in his Sentra debut after he was the runner-up in the Micra class last year), Normand Boyer, Éric Chaput and Daniel Fortin rounded out the top 10.

The 40-minute race got underway with a spectacular battle between Charbonneau, Fortin and Limoges. On lap 4, the three front runners were joined by Nicolas Barrette, a driver who's always at ease on the famous and fast Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course.

The positions of the top four competitors remained unchanged to the benefit of Alexandre Fortin who extended his lead, en route to his third victory of the season. Limoges and Barrette continued to fight until the penultimate lap when Barrette started to run backwards. After 40 minutes of close wheel-to-wheel racing without any incidents, Alexandre Fortin crossed the finish line in first place, 546 thousandths of a second over Valérie Limoges, who thus confirms her first place in the overall drivers' championship. Sylvain Ouellet completed the podium, as he benefitted from Charbonneau's and Barrette's difficulties.

In fact, Ouellet, Hornbostel, Miron and Éric Chaput finished the race separated by less than half a second. Charbonneau was seventh, ahead of Daniel Fortin. Normand Boyer, André Lapointe, Jean Audet and Nicolas Barrette completed the Top 12.

Despite this being his first career race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Simon Vincent dominated both the qualifying session and the race in the Micra class. Vincent finished ahead of Sean Scully, Raphaël St-Pierre, Jean-François Couture and Marie-Soleil Labelle.

A drizzle and much cooler temperatures highlighted the second race of the weekend on Sunday. The drivers took the start on wet grooved tires but the track dried progressively. A few competitors gambled to stop early and have a set of dry weather tires fitted to their Sentras. However, the top runners elected to stay on rain tires that degraded on the dry tarmac.

Simon Charbonneau, Valérie Limoges and Alexandre Fortin took turns to lead the 40-minute confrontation marked by several position changes. However, the race ended after 32 minutes following Jean Audet's track exit. Leading the race at that moment, Alexandre Fortin was declared the winner, taking his second victory of the weekend. The Ste-Foy Nissan driver had managed to build a four to five second lead over the rest of the field shortly before the halfway point. Charbonneau, Limoges, Ouellet and Boyer completed the Top 5, ahead of Daniel Fortin. Jean Audet (who nevertheless was classified seventh), Nicholas Hornbostel, Micra class winner Simon Vincent, and Nicolas Miron followed.

Simon Vincent scored a perfect weekend in the Micra class, taking two pole positions and two wins. Jean-François Couture and Raphaël St-Pierre completed the podium in this category.

Valérie Limoges increased her lead on top of the overall drivers' championship. She now holds a 21-point lead over Charbonneau and 37 points over Fortin.

The next event will take place at the end of September as part of the Fall Classic at the picturesque Circuit Mont-Tremblant. This will mark the conclusion of the 2022 season and the celebration of the season's champions.

To follow the Nissan Sentra Cup on social media:

Facebook: @CoupeSentraCupOpens in a new tab.
Instagram: @nissansentracupOpens in a new tab.
Twitter: @SentraCupOpens in a new tab.
YouTube: SentraCupTVOpens in a new tab.

2022 SCHEDULE - NISSAN SENTRA CUP

May 20-22                Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario
June 17-19                Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada, Montréal, Québec
July 22-24                 Summer Classic, Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Québec
August 5-7                Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec
September 2-4          Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario
September 23-25       Fall Classic, Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Québec

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