BOWMANVILLE, ON - After two years in Canadian Touring Car with a Toyota, the Media Racing Team kicks off the season as the very first Canadian team to enter a Scion and its tC model in a national motorsports series. One of their cars contested the first race weekend on the 2011 calendar, earning a "Top 6" class at the hands of Trois-Rivières' Luc Lesage.
For the Media Racing Team, this first outing of the season was definitely an opportunity to evaluate the winter's work made by Éric Côté (GT Racing) as they continue to develop the new cars. During the sole qualifying session, Luc Lesage set the third fastest time in the Touring class, demonstrating the potential of the Scion tC, as explained by the driver: « the car is great to drive » confides Luc Lesage, who also had to familiarize himself with the track after not competing at Mosport in several years. He adds: « I immediately felt comfortable at the wheel of the Scion.
It's a very competitive series and to see that we right away qualified in the top 3 against teams that have two or three years of development and fine tuning on their cars is really the proof of our entire team's work ».
Saturday afternoon, the start of the rainfall coincided with the start of the race. Luc Lesage explains his first laps: « I had a excellent start and when it really began to pour, I was still third in Touring and tenth overall. Unfortunately, there was a collision just in front of me and in order to avoid the out-of-control cars, Paul Dargis hit the front right side of my car. It was obviously not on purpose but it forced me to pit to change the wheel. The car's steering had suffered as a result of the impact and when I left the pits, just after the steering broke, I ended up going straight at the second turn » adds the Scion tC #22 driver.
With little damage, the Media Racing Team Scion was able to get repaired quickly for the Sunday afternoon race. « Since I didn't finish Saturday's race, I was forced to start last on Sunday. It ended up being a much more calm race but I was still able to pass six cars to eventually finish sixth in Touring class » adds Luc. For this second race, the instructions to finish were clear in order to accumulate a maximum amount of information for the next events.
« Aside from the bad luck we encountered during Saturday's race, we consider this a very positive weekend. The car is reliable and powerful, we still have to work on the suspension but all in all we can say mission accomplished for this first successful race weekend » indicates Jocelyn Fecteau, Media Racing Team owner and teammate to Luc Lesage.
In the Canadian Touring Car championship series, the Media Racing Team is entering two Scion tC's, the Japanese manufacturer's sports model, recently released in the Canadian market. As a result of a knee injury sustained last winter, Jocelyn Fecteau did not drive the #77 Scion this past weekend at Mosport. « I will be competing in Mirabel for the Grand Prix ICAR in two weeks » mentions Fecteau, who has two years of experience in the series, highlighted by a podium at the 2009 Toronto Indy Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix ICAR at Mirabel is the next round of the 2011 Canadian Touring Car championship series. This provides another opportunity to see the two Scion tC's compete for results as promising as those realised this weekend at Mosport.
The Media Racing Team's participation in the 2011 Canadian Touring Car Championship is possible thanks to the collaboration of Autonet.ca, V-Télé, Trois-Rivières Scion, Trois-Rivières Toyota, Boulevard Scion, STD Suspension, Ultimate, Transport Laberge, Oakley, Phlik, Luc Jean, Alpinestars, Quality Hotel, OSGiken, Boom-FM, Le Canada Français, GSR Pneu & Mécanique, Burn-Out.ca, Leucan, Ronny Photography, PA auto recyclage, GO impression, Martin Berger Design, Lettrage Provan and Rousseau Métal.
For more information: (514) 910-8204 Email : mrteam77@videotron.ca
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