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In the first-ever Blue Marble Radical Cup North America event on the streets of Toronto, teams and competitors hit the 1.786-mile, 11-corner-lined track for two on-track sessions on Friday. In a weekend with a different format, including just one hour-long practice session, one qualifying session and three wheel-to-wheel races, Friday’s track time was reserved for drivers to get up to speed in the morning and reward the Motul Pole . Position Awards in the afternoon.
“It was a good start to the weekend,” explained Radical Global Motorsport Director Tom Drewer. “It’s great to be here in Toronto and to see our talented drivers tackle the bumpy street course. Most of our competitors were able to complete at least 25 laps or more in practice with only a few red flags as they got to grips with the slick surface and fine-tuned their machines.”
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With the benchmark set, the focus shifted to the 25-minute afternoon qualifying session that set the grid for the first race on Saturday morning. Former American Le Mans Series champion Jon Field (ONE Motorsports) led the Platinum class with a best time of 1.14.938 seconds, just under 0.222 seconds ahead of Indy Al Miller (ONE Motorsports) who is second place placed. Wayne Williams (ESSES Racing), former dirt racer and Radical driver, impressed, taking the third fastest lap in the Platinum, ahead of local Kevin Poitras (Radical Canada) and Louis Schriber (RYNO Racing).
While the Platinum drivers should be the fastest drivers on the track, Danny Dyszelski (WISKO Racing) set the third fastest time out of 31 cars on track to take the Pro 1500 pole position as he tries to make his way through to the points lead in the championship. Championship points leader Nick Persing (Radical Northwest) was second fastest in Pro 1500 ahead of Canadian Robert Soroka (RySpec Racing) in third. Aurora Straus (ONE Motorsports) was fourth in class ahead of veteran racer Gregg Gorski (ONE Motorsports) in P5.
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The Pro 1340 class was led by Robert Cipriani-Detres (Team Stradale) as he looks set to take his first win of the 2023 season after three second-place finishes at Road America. Crown Racing’s Seth Bacon was best of the rest in second, just over a tenth of a second faster than Ken Savage (G-Tech Motorsports) in third. Seth Bacon’s son Jace Bacon (Crown Racing) was fourth fastest, but was red-flagged in the late session after licking the wall exiting Turn 1, resulting in a traffic jam. Canadian Huw Leahy was fifth fastest.
With three classes on the North American tour, Radical Cup racers competed alongside the Emzone RCC 1340 class in Toronto. Leading the Canadian class was the No. 10 of Gavin Sanders (Sanders Motorsports), outpacing Jake Cowden (RySpec Racing) and motorcycle-champion four-wheeler Kenny Riedmann (Riedmann Management). Owen Clark (JMJS Motorsport) and Conner Bell (RySpec Racing) will aim to move on once the wheel-to-wheel action begins after qualifying fourth and fifth respectively.
Drewer added: “For those who haven’t found their rhythm, the first race can be one of redemption as the fastest laps set the starting grid for race two. Drivers will strive to get ahead and do a fast lap, but the trick is to stay out of trouble and stay outside the walls.”
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Weekend schedule
Saturday July 15
Race 1 – 11:55am – 12:30pm
Race 2:00 PM – 5:30 PM – 6:05 PM
Sunday July 16
Race 3 – 11:10am – 11:45am
Be sure to stay tuned to the Blue Marble Radical Cup social media pages for news, information, photos and results from the event weekend.
Blue Marble Radical Cup events are open to all local and regional Radical racers with eligible cars to participate. More information, including links to register for events and obtain licenses, can be found at www.radicalmotorsport.com. Stay tuned to the Blue Marble Radical Cup North America social media pages for news and updates from the 2023 season.
Story originally appeared on Racer
