2009 Mosport International Raceway

After a long absence, the Sundown Grand Prix returned to Mosport International Raceway in 2005 and became a regular fixture on the Victoria Day Weekend Speedfest schedule.

The first Sundown Grand Prix was held in 1959 at Harewood Acres and won by Roger Penske and Harry Blanchard driving a Porsche RSK. From 1964 to 1976, the event was conducted at Mosport. A list of past winners includes such racing greats as Al Pease, Eppie Wietzes, Craig Fisher, Mo Carter and Ludwig Heimrath.

Most competitors in this year’s Sundown Grand Prix were from Ontario; however, the event also attracted teams from Quebec. The classes for this year’s race were set by using a bracket system. Based on lap times, teams would be placed in one of six categories – GT1 (the fastest) to GT6 (the slowest).

Enduro GT1 – 1.27:999 and faster
Enduro GT2 – 1.28:000 and slower
Enduro GT3 – 1.32:000 and slower
Enduro GT4 – 1.36:000 and slower
Enduro GT5 – 1.41:000 and slower
Enduro GT6 – 1.45:000 and slower

If a team goes faster than the breakout time they are registered in, they will be moved up a class.

This year’s edition of the Sundown Grand Prix was 180-minutes long around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course. The event began at 5:00 pm on Saturday and ended in the dark. The original races were six-hour contests.

To no one’s surprise, Ontario Region driver Alex Habrich grabbed the pole position for the Sundown Grand Prix at Mosport International. Habrich, piloting the No. 75 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, claimed the top qualifying spot by 3.286-seconds. He was the only driver in the GT1 category and lost the overall lead when he pitted for fuel. After regaining first-place, Habrich went on to win by a two-lap margin.

Sundown Grand Prix regulars Ian Phillips and Edward Wong returned for their fifth consecutive event. Phillips’ record included two class victories and a runner-up finish. On the other hand, Wong had one second-place in class with Phillips and four category wins. This year they entered a pair of Nissan Sentra. The No. 205 took the honours in GT4, with the No. 201 Sentra doing the same in the GT6 category.

The best-subscribed class was GT5, which drew nine entries. Sharing the driving duties on the No. 58 Acura Integra Type R were Chris Johnson and John Maloney. At the end of the qualifying session, they were eighteenth fastest and fifth in their category. The duo made steady progress during the race and by the halfway point, they were in the class lead. They maintained first-place in GT5 and won the category by two-laps.

During the qualifying session, the No. 212 Honda Civic of Tom Clausic and WC Storms was 7.646-seconds slower than the pole-winning GT3 Wojteczko Lexus IS300 entry. The duo was gridded tenth overall for the start of the three-hour Sundown Grand Prix. The Wojteczko Lexus failed to start the race and the other two GT3 teams failed to finish. Clausic and WC Storms cruised to a class win and finished fourth overall.

Mark Gawronski is a Sundown Grand Prix regular. This year Gawronski was sharing his No. 118 Honda Civic with one of the Wittmer brothers. The Honda was quick and the pair started on the outside of the front row when the Wojteczko Lexus failed to make the grid. They found themselves in a battle with the Anis / Stuard Nissan 350Z for the GT2 category during the race. The duo prevailed and captured the class win.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS
1	1	GT1	Alex Habrich	Dodge Viper	98
2	4	GT4	Edward Wong / Ian Phillips	Nissan Sentra	96
3	18	GT5	Chris Johnson / John Maloney	Acura Integra Type R	96
4	10	GT3	Tom Calusic / WC Storms	Honda Civic	95
5	5	GT5	David Shep / David Diedrick	Nissan Sentra Spec V	94
6	9	GT5	Gregory Kierstead / Jeff Graves	Mazda Miata	93
7	27	GT4	Andrew Elliott/ Nicholas Krikorian	Honda Prelude	93
8	3	GT2	M. Gawronski / K. Wittmer	Honda Civic	93
9	26	GT5	Cliff Daley / Ian Madden	Volkswagen Jetta	92
10	20	GT2	S. Anis / S. Stuard	Nissan 350Z	92
11	11	GT4	Steve Leitao / Nigel Heron	Honda Civic	91
12	15	GT5	Vincent Basile / Carl Werner / JP Dumoulin	Honda Civic	91
13	22	GT5	Richard Foegele / Matt Graham	Mazda Miata	91
14	13	GT6	Edward Wong / Ian Phillips	Nissan Sentra	91
15	25	GT4	D. Fantin / J. Fantin	BMW 330i	90
16	24	GT2	S. Tousignant / S. Rochon	BMW M3	89
17	21	GT5	Mark Baum / James MacDougall	Porsche 944	87
18	23	GT5	Robert Burgess/ Mike Edmonds	Porsche 944S	87
19	16	GT4	N. Berry / P. Dolan / M. Dolan	Acura Integra	85
20	28	GT4	Steve Grenier / Jay Saslove / Richard Muise	Acura Integra Type R	79
21	17	GT5	David Dorigo / Anthony Rapone	Honda Civic	71
22	8	GT6	Andrew Mackintosh	Ford Escort GT	67
23	6	GT4	Tom Kwok / Gary Kwok	Honda Civic	60
Did Not Finish	7	GT3	K. Baird / A. Wojciekowski / E. Hochgeschurz	Mercury Cougar	49
Did Not Finish	12	GT3	Kevin Robb / Howard Chin	Volkswagen Jetta	37
Did Not Finish	19	GT2	S. Rochon / B. Rochon / B. Lummis	BMW 318i	15