The 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship schedule consists of six race weekends. Each event would be a tripleheader.

The season kicks off in May at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races. In June, the series returns to CTMP as a support event for the VARAC Canadian Historic Grand Prix event. In mid-July, competitors race at Shannonville Motorsport Park during Peter Jackson Trophy Races. Then the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship makes its third of four stops at CTMP for the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy races. In late August, teams travel to Calabogie Motorsports Park for rounds thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. The BEMC Indian Summer Races is the series’ final weekend of competition and determines class champions.

Series entrants are also eligible to participate in the Formula 1600 Super Series, which includes drivers from Quebec. Points toward the Super Series championship are awarded at four events.

  • Canadian Grand Prix – Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve
  • VARAC Canadian Historic Grand Prix – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
  • Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres – Trois-Rivieres
  • Ted Powell Races – Calabogie Motorsport Park

The single-seater, open-wheel race cars in the championship are powered by one of two engine options - a four-cylinder, 1600-cc Ford engine or the 1.5-liter HPD Honda L15A7. Both motors produce approximately 120-horsepower. A mixture of European and North American chassis is used by competitors. Minimum vehicle weight is determined by the suspension design and ranges from 1050 to 1125-lbs. Teams are required to use a spec tire – the Toyo Proxes R888.

Drivers collect championship points in one of two groups.

  • F1600A – This category is for newer chassis’ built between 1995 and 2017.
  • F1600B – This group is for cars constructed between 1994 and older with the Ford engine.

The manufacture date for the individual car and not the model is used to determine the year split and whether a vehicle is categorized as F1600A or F1600B.

Rounds four, five and six of the 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship were conducted during VARAC’s Canadian Historic Grand Prix weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Drivers would score points in three races around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

The opening race of the Canadian Historic Grand Prix weekend was held in wet conditions. Leading the field on twenty-entrants into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s corner one is the pole-sitter, Parker Thompson, in the No. 93 Spectrum 014. Trailing Thompson is the third-fastest qualifier, Craig Willis driving the No. 99 AERO II. Behind Willis are Brian Graham Racing teammates Mikhail Goikhberg and Roman De Angelis.
Parker Thompson didn’t participate in the opening weekend of the 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship but made his presence known at the Canadian Historic Grand Prix event. Thompson put the No. 93 Spectrum on the pole for round four. He dropped to sixth on the opening lap but raced back to a third-place finish. Thompson started third in the next to contests but moved the front early and grabbed a pair of wins.
Another driver that didn’t enter the first weekend of the series was F1600B competitor Craig Willis. Despite the vintage of the No. 99 AERO II raced by Willis, it is still a very competitive car. He qualified third for Saturday’s contest and earned the overall and class victory. The next day, Willis started on pole but finished sixth, which was good enough for the class win. Once again, he topped the category in the finale.
With three victories to start the season, Graham Lobban entered the second weekend of the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship on top of the F1600B standings. Driving the No. 12 Van Diemen RF94 Lobban was the sixth fastest during the qualifying session. He excelled during round three’s wet conditions and finished second in class and overall. Unfortunately, he was no match for Craig Willis and captured one more runner-up result.
Shane Jantzi had a number of F1600 Championships on his racing resume. However, Jantzi had not entered a series event since 2014. He demonstrated that he hadn’t lost his touch and qualified fourth for round four. Jantzi was challenged by the wet conditions in race one and fell to the rear of the field on the opening lap; he would finish eleventh. In the next two races, Jantzi would earn second and fourth-place results.
Three runner-up results during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races earned F1600A competitor Ben Hurst a second-place in the title chase. Hurst opened the second weekend of the championship with the eighth fastest time in qualifying. However, the wet conditions during the race seemed to agree with him and he finished second in class. Hurst finished ninth in Sunday’s first contest but ended the weekend with a fourth-place result.
The driver of the No. 8 Van Diemen RF92, David Graham, delivered some solid results in the first three rounds of the 2017 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship. Graham started the second weekend by qualifying tenth overall and finishing third in the F1600B category. The next day, he started eleventh overall and finished 4.79-seconds behind the class winner, Craig Willis. Unfortunately, in the finale, his race ended on lap-2.
Brian Graham Racing entered three Piper DL7 at the Canadian Historic Grand Prix. The No. 2 Piper was piloted by British Columbia resident Mikhail Goikhberg. Goikhberg qualified second for Saturday’s contest, but during the race he lost a position to Ben Hurst and finished third in F1600A. He was gridded fifth in the first contest on Sunday and finished third in his category. Goikhberg was disqualified from round six.

POS.STARTCLASSDRIVERCARLAPSRETIREMENTS
13B-1Craig WillisAERO II11-
26B-2Graham LobbanVan Diemen RF9411-
31A-1Parker ThompsonSpectrum 01411-
48A-2Ben HurstPiper DL711-
52A-3Mikhail GoikhbergPiper DL711-
67A-4Dev GoreSpectrum 01411-
713A-5Keith LobbanVan Diemen RF9411-
815A-6Connor WaglandPiper DF511-
910B-3David GrahamVan Diemen RF9211-
1029A-7Gord RossMygale SJ1411-
114A-8Shane JantziVan Diemen RF0210-
1216A-9Duncan MurdochVan Diemen RF9910-
1321B-4Bill TebbuttVan Diemen RF8210-
1422B-5James BritnellHawke DL210-
1514A-10Tony CoveVan Diemen RF9810-
169A-11David TaylorVan Diemen RF9910-
1712A-12Jason SharpeMygale SJ1410-
1826B-6Bruce KitchenVan Diemen RF9210-
1911A-13Danby CrowderSpectrum 0149-
2027B-7Noel CastellZink Z-109-
2124A-14Ross SmithVan Diemen RF019-
225A-15Roman De AngelisPiper DL77Did Not Finish
2317B-8Steve BodrugVan Diemen RF934Did Not Finish
2418A-16Alex ZellerVan Diemen RF003Did Not Finish
2519B-9Mike LeeVan Diemen RF942Did Not Finish
2620B-10James LindsayVan Diemen RF910Did Not Finish
-23BKieran MurphyVan Diemen RF91-Did Not Start
-25BBrent McPhailHawke DL2-Did Not Start
-28BMichael McGregorLola T-440-Did Not Start

POS.STARTCLASSDRIVERCARLAPSRETIREMENTS
13A-1Parker ThompsonSpectrum 01413-
29A-2Shane JantziVan Diemen RF0213-
37A-3Mikhail GoikhbergPiper DL713-
44A-4Roman De AngelisPiper DL713-
51B-1Craig WillisAERO II13-
611B-2David GrahamVan Diemen RF9213-
76A-5Dev GoreSpectrum 01413-
821A-6Danby CrowderSpectrum 01413-
98A-7Keith LobbanVan Diemen RF9413-
1019A-8David TaylorVan Diemen RF9913-
115A-9Ben HurstPiper DL713-
1215A-10Tony CoveVan Diemen RF9813-
1318A-11Jason SharpeMygale SJ1413-
1412A-12Connor WaglandPiper DF513-
1513B-3Steve BodrugVan Diemen RF9313-
1614A-13Duncan MurdochVan Diemen RF9913-
1724A-14Alex ZellerVan Diemen RF0013-
182B-4Graham LobbanVan Diemen RF9413-
1925B-5Mike LeeVan Diemen RF9413-
2017B-6James BritnellHawke DL213-
2116B-7Bill TebbuttVan Diemen RF8213-
22-B-8James LindsayVan Diemen RF9113-
2323A-15Ross SmithVan Diemen RF0113-
2426B-9Kieran MurphyVan Diemen RF9113-
25-B-10Brent McPhailHawke DL213-
2610A-16Gord RossMygale SJ1412-
27-B-11Michael McGregorLola T-44012-
2822B-12Noel CastellZink Z-1012-
2920B-13Bruce KitchenVan Diemen RF926Did Not Finish

POS.STARTCLASSDRIVERCARLAPSRETIREMENTS
13A-1Parker ThompsonSpectrum 01413-
25A-2Roman De AngelisPiper DL713-
32B-1Craig WillisAERO II13-
41A-3Shane JantziVan Diemen RF0213-
57A-4Ben HurstPiper DL713-
610A-5Danby CrowderSpectrum 01413-
79A-6David TaylorVan Diemen RF9913-
813A-7Tony CoveVan Diemen RF9813-
917A-8Jason SharpeMygale SJ1413-
1015B-2Graham LobbanVan Diemen RF9413-
1112A-9Connor WaglandPiper DF513-
1216A-10Duncan MurdochVan Diemen RF9913-
1318B-3Steve BodrugVan Diemen RF9313-
1420B-4Mike LeeVan Diemen RF9413-
1521A-11Alex ZellerVan Diemen RF0013-
1619B-5James LindsayVan Diemen RF9113-
1722B-6Bill TebbuttVan Diemen RF8213-
1823B-7James BritnellHawke DL213-
1926B-8Bruce KitchenVan Diemen RF9213-
2027B-9Kieran MurphyVan Diemen RF9113-
2128B-10Noel CastellZink Z-1012-
2224A-12Ross SmithVan Diemen RF0111Did Not Finish
2325B-11Brent McPhailHawke DL210Did Not Finish
2411A-13Keith LobbanVan Diemen RF944Did Not Finish
2614B-12David GrahamVan Diemen RF922Did Not Finish
2729B-13Michael McGregorLola T-4402Did Not Finish
-6AGord RossMygale SJ14-Did Not Start
-4AMikhail GoikhbergPiper DL713Disqualified
-8ADev GoreSpectrum 01413Disqualified


Copyright Notice:
All content (photographs and text) appearing on this website are the exclusive property of © www.zoompics.com and are protected under International copyright laws. The subject matter on this website may not be reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated.

© Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

Return to home page.