2004 Mosport International Raceway - Ontario Touring GT Championship

Despite declining entries for the Canada GT Challenge Cup and the series demise in 2002, there was still a demand for this format of racing among closed wheel competitors in the Canadian Automobile Sport Club Ontario Region (CASC-OR). The Touring GT Championship filled this vacancy.

Teams competed in one of two categories. Last season’s Touring SGT class was eliminated for 2004. The colour of the windshield banner identifies the groups.

Touring GT – Blue – This class is home to vehicles with V8 or six-cylinder engines and cars with forced induction systems.
Touring T – Yellow - Vehicles commonly found in this category include the Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Volkswagen Rabbit, Acura Integra, etc. Engine displacement is limited to 2.8-liters.

Both classes compete on Toyo Proxes RA-1 tires.

The Touring GT Championship events are conducted on nine CASC-OR race weekends. On Saturdays, teams compete in a twenty-minute sprint event and the following day a longer forty-minute race is contested. The Championship has also been invited to participate in three professional weekends at Mosport International Raceway – Victoria Day, CASCAR Super Series and American Le Mans Series. At these events, drivers compete in a one-hour endurance race with a mandatory pit-stop.

All one-hour races require a mandatory one-minute pit-stop. For teams that use two drivers, one-minute is sufficient time to make the change. Competitors driving solo can remain in the car during the stop. Re-fueling is not allowed.

In addition to the Drivers’ Championship, there are awards given for:

Rookie of the Year
Most Improved Driver
Most Professional Team
Crew Chief of the Year
Masters Champion
Hard Charger

The second round of the Ontario Touring GT Championship was held on the weekend of May 15-16 during the British Empire Motor Club’s Spring Trophy Races. Teams would compete in two events – a twenty-minute race on Saturday and a forty-minute contest to end the weekend.

Last season, Allan DeWolfe competed in the Touring SGT category and finished in the runner-up position. With the elimination of that class for 2004, he converted No. 31 Eurotec BMW 325i to Touring GT specifications. DeWolfe did not do well in the first outing at the BARC Grand Prix of Ontario. However, in round two, he earned a second-place and victory when Michael Boekdrukker was disqualified.

Michael Thornley finished second in the Touring T class last season, driving an older Acura Integra Type R. For 2004, he campaigned a newer model that was delivering the results required for this year’s title. In the first race of the weekend, Thornley qualified fourth overall and second in class. He claimed the victory after his main rival, John Dipchand, was disqualified. In the finale, it was a sweep for Thornley.

A newcomer to the Touring GT Championship was Robert Gay. Gay was driving the No. 298 BMW E36. He had a successful first weekend in the series and scored enough points to enter round two, second in the Touring GT standings. In race one of the BEMC event, Gay qualified fifth fastest and finished third in class. On Sunday, he started fourth and benefitted from the disqualification of Michael Boekdrukker to finish second.

Last year’s Touring T class champion, Ian Madden, returned to defend his title. Madden drives the No. 126 Metric Racing prepared Volkswagen Golf. In the first heat, he qualified seventh overall and fourth in class. Madden finished second in his category after Nicholas Krikorian retired and John Dipchand was disqualified. On Sunday, Madden scored another runner-up result after starting second in Touring T.

Ian Law entered the BEMC Spring Trophy Races event seventh in the Touring T standings. In round two, Law had a productive point-scoring event. For Saturday’s contest, he qualified thirteenth overall and seventh in class driving the No. 117 Honda Civic. During the race, Law moved up the order and finished third in his category. He repeated this performance the next day, but from the sixth starting spot.

Michael Boekdrukker had a difficult start to the season. After tallying the points from BARC Grand Prix of Ontario, Boekdrukker was fifth in the Touring GT standings. With the No. 167 BENQ sponsored BMW M3 fully sorted for round two, he appeared to be unstoppable. Boekdrukker started the weekend’s first race on the pole and led flag-to-flag. He repeated his performance on Sunday but was later disqualified.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS
1	1	Touring GT	Mike Boekdrukker	BMW M3	13
2	2	Touring GT	Allan DeWolfe	BMW 325	13
3	4	Touring T	Michael Thornley	Acura Integra Type R	13
4	5	Touring GT	Robert Gay	BMW E36	13
5	7	Touring T	Ian Madden	Volkswagen Golf	12
6	13	Touring T	Ian Law	Honda Civic	12
7	17	Touring T	Jeff Lorriman	Hyundai Tiburon	12
8	16	Touring T	Cliff Daley	Volkswagen Jetta	12
9	19	Touring T	Tom Caluzic	Honda Del Sol	12
10	20	Touring T	John Bondar	Acura Integra	12
11	18	Touring GT	G. Brown / P. Durda	Nissan NX2000 Turbo	12
12	21	Touring GT	Shaun DeJager	Eagle Talon	12
13	15	Touring T	Steve Arlauskas	BMW 2002ti	12
14	23	Touring T	Jeff Holmes	Nissan Sentra	12
15	22	Touring T	Terry Mueller	Nissan Sentra	12
16	24	Touring T	Perry Iannuzzi	Nissan Sentra	12
17	25	Touring T	Hans Wolter	Nissan Sentra	12
18	9	Touring GT	Alan Jones	Toyota Supra	11
19	12	Touring T	Nick Majors	Nissan Sentra	9
20	11	Touring T	Nigel Krikorian	Honda Prelude	8
Did Not Finish	26	Touring T	Stephany Malanka	Datsun 510	5
Did Not Finish	6	Touring T	Nicholas Krikorian	Honda Prelude	0
Did Not Finish	14	Touring T	G. Schmidt / R. Smith	Volkswagen Jetta	0
Did Not Start	10	Touring GT	Ray Arlauskas	BMW E30	-
Did Not Start	8	Touring T	Howard Chin	Volkswagen Rabbit	-
Disqualified	3	Touring T	John Dipchand	Ford Contour	13

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS
1	2	Touring GT	Allan DeWolfe	BMW 325	26
2	3	Touring T	Michael Thornley	Acura Integra Type R	25
3	4	Touring GT	Robert Gay	BMW E36	25
4	5	Touring T	Ian Madden	Volkswagen Golf	25
5	6	Touring T	Ian Law	Honda Civic	24
6	7	Touring T	Jeff Lorriman	Hyundai Tiburon	24
7	24	Touring GT	Ray Arlauskas	BMW E30	24
8	9	Touring T	Tom Caluzic	Honda Del Sol	23
9	13	Touring T	Steve Arlauskas	BMW 2002ti	23
10	15	Touring T	Terry Mueller	Nissan Sentra	23
11	16	Touring T	Perry Iannuzzi	Nissan Sentra	23
12	10	Touring T	John Bondar	Acura Integra	23
13	17	Touring T	Hans Wolter	Nissan Sentra	23
14	14	Touring T	Jeff Holmes	Nissan Sentra	12
15	19	Touring T	Nick Majors	Nissan Sentra	22
16	25	Touring T	Howard Chin	Volkswagen Rabbit	17
Did Not Finish	12	Touring GT	Shaun DeJager	Eagle Talon	12
Did Not Finish	8	Touring T	Cliff Daley	Volkswagen Jetta	8
Did Not Finish	21	Touring T	Stephany Malanka	Datsun 510	7
Did Not Start	11	Touring GT	G. Brown / P. Durda	Nissan NX2000 Turbo	-
Did Not Start	18	Touring GT	Alan Jones	Toyota Supra	-
Did Not Start	20	Touring T	Nigel Krikorian	Honda Prelude	-
Did Not Start	22	Touring T	Nicholas Krikorian	Honda Prelude	-
Did Not Start	23	Touring T	Gunter Schmidt	Volkswagen Jetta	-
Disqualified	1	Touring GT	Mike Boekdrukker	BMW M3	26

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