For the third round of Formula Drift Canada, the team and I travelled to the famous streets of Trois-Rivières, where people have been racing since 1967! Held over two weeks in August, the Grand Prix Trois-Rivières plays host to multiple series race events that include NASCAR and World RallycrossRX, and for the first time a drifting competition with FD Canada.
The streets of Monaco inspired the track and while on paper it appears to be two turns, it’s actually quite difficult. To start, the track is entirely lined with concrete walls so there is really no margin for error. Secondly, we were only given two 30-minute practice sessions which really didn’t give us any time to make set-up changes so everything had to be pretty good right from the get-go. Luckily, we were able to walk the track the night before the competition, so I was able to get an idea of what I was going to need to do to make every lap of practice count.
My first practice run went great! I felt really comfortable right away with the track, placed the car where it needed to be, and felt really fast throughout the course! We only got one lap in on that 30 minute session because there was a crash, but I felt good about how I did. Next session out I was able to get in two good laps, and I was feeling confident going into the top 16 competition.
Unlike the other FD Canada events this year, there was no qualifying. Instead, they used the championship points to decide the order of the top 16. Also, due to the time constraints of GP3R, there would be no “one more time” calls from the judges so every run really needed to sway the judges in your favour. The top 16 battle was spread out over two days, with the first half held on Friday and the rest of the competition on Saturday.
With me leading the board on championship points, I qualified in first and was paired up with Jo Thiffault. I led first with a good clean lap, but while Jo kept up, he made a few mistakes. On my follow lap, Jo slowed down way more than I expected on entry, causing me to straighten up for a second but I managed to keep up with him for the rest of the run. It was a close call, but the judges gave me the win!
My next battle was against Tomy Boisvert-bellamare. We’ve battled against one another every round of FD Canada so far. Knowing Tom, I knew he was going to give it his all and this was not going to be an easy fight. I led first and did a near perfect run! Tom hung with about two car lengths back but couldn’t close in on me. On my follow lap, I was able to close the gap between him and I and was awarded the win.
On to the final 4! I was up against Martin Langlois, a really good driver that’s pretty aggressive. I led first, did a great lap and Martin stuck with me by about three car lengths only making some minor mistakes. Which meant that my follow lap would have to be perfect. We took off down the straight into the first corner and I mis-shifted, putting it in fifth gear instead of third. Right away Martin gaped me by four car lengths. I tried to make it up but just couldn't close that gap and Martin took the win. I heard that many of you were saying “one more time” on Periscope! I spoke with the judges afterwards and they agree that had it not been for the circumstances, they would have called for one more time.
In the end with my first place qualifying position, I finished the event in third overall! But the day wasn’t done just yet. With the competition out of the way, the top 3 drivers of the event got to do demo runs Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Dean Kearny. Even better, I was lucky enough to take Yves Levesque, the Mayor of Trois-Rivières along for the ride! We had some great tight runs, the Mayor loved it and the crowd went wild!
So after three exciting rounds of FD Canada, I ended up being the top qualified driver going into the final World Round in September back in St-Eustache! I’ve also been told that I am officially FD Canada’s “Drifter of the Year.”
Up next for us is FD Pro2 in Texas. We will be making some changes to our transmission that will hopefully prevent mis-shifts from happening and do a few other little things but overall I have been extremely happy with how my Scion FR-S has been performing this season!
Thanks so much for the support!
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