The first round of the newly created Super Series which features drivers from both the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship and the Quebec based Formula Tour Series opened this past weekend during the Victoria Day Speedfest weekend at CTMP and boasted a full field of competitors from across Canada and the USA. It also marked the season debut for 2013 Rookie of the year and Team Canada Scholarship winner Zacharie Robichon and his Piper DF5/Honda. Despite getting a later start to the season then his competitors, Zach showed he was ready to content for the win after topping the charts at times during the Friday test day. Qualifying was very close and with no teammate to draft with Zach would line up 6th for the opener.

 

From the start Zach quickly moved forward and immediately put pressure on the leader and after several laps the duo would eventually get a gap on the pursuing pack. With the race winding down the Ottawa racer grabbed the lead as the battle for the win was getting more intense. Traffic would play a part as the duo and their pursuers had to deal with lapped cars and when the checkered flag waved the BGR driver would fall just a few tenths of a second behind the winner for a superb 2nd place finish. He also recorded the races fastest lap which ended up being the fastest race lap of the weekend.

 

Sundays qualifying was possibly the closest contest ever in the Toyo Tires Series and had the first eleven cars posting times all in the 1.29 second bracket. This truly shows the competitive field and quality of cars and drivers competing this season. Zach grabbed the 3rd starting spot and prepared for another tough fight for the feature event. It was a drafting war on the famous Mario Andretti backstraight every lap that had different drivers all fighting and leading the pack at times when on lap 7 it all went bad. Zach was on the inside running in 2nd with a challenger alongside as they had been every lap when a 3rd car tried to make it 3 wide.

 

The outside car tried to move over and put the car alongside Zach into the sidepod of Zach and the three had a huge moment with damage to all 3 cars. The other two retired but Zach was able to continue but with some significant bodywork damage and now misaligned racecar. The plan from that point was to salvage every point possible for the Super Series Championship. To his credit Zach was able to hold on and complete the race while monitoring the cars temps and driving a very ill handling ride. While disappointed with the result it was a great start to the season and with the team expecting their new cars shortly, the team is very excited about the next event held in Montreal during the Canadian Grand Prix with F1.

 

Making his first start this weekend for BGR Team Grote was Brazilian Bruno Chapinotti. The former karting champion in making his return to racing and his first time racing in Canada. He made huge strides over the course of the weekend posting quicker times each session. He completed both races and it won't be long before he works his way up the result sheet. Kieran Murphy posted two top 5 results in the hotly contested FFB class narrowly missing the podium in the Saturday race. He is sure to get his first podium of the season very soon.

 

"We really had a strong weekend and were in with a shot to win each day and Zach drove brilliantly throughout the entire event. When you have that many cars that close things can sometimes go awry and we are just thankful that it did not end up worse than it did. We are also pleased to welcome our newest driver Bruno Chapinotti who made his racing debut and gained some valuable experience and got quicker each time out. We expect him to continue that and be a contender before too long. Our next venture is Zach and myself heading to California to pick up our new cars and we expect to be ready for Montreal and we are very anxious to debut the latest Piper F1600 car, the DL7. This will be the first car built from the drawing board with the Honda Fit engine in mind and we expect it to be a nice evolution to the wonderful DF5's we have campaigned the last few season." Comments team principal Brian Graham.

 

The next event for the team is June 6-8 in Montreal for rounds 3-4 of the Super Series. BGR Team Grote has put more drivers in the winners circle than any other team in OFFC history and continues to strive to provide the perfect environment for karters to make the transition to the open wheel ranks. The winners of the past 7 consecutive years of Rookie of the Year will be

looking to continue that tradition this season. To learn more about the team visit www.briangrahamracing.com and follow us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/144083092268782/