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Canadian Touring Car: Exciting weekend at Calabogie Motorsports Park

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Khatir Soltani
Source: CCTCC

The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship Presented by Toyo Tires was featured at the Ted Powell Memorial Race Weekend at Calabogie Motorsports Park on July 26-27, 2008. An impressive field challenged Calabogie's stadium configuration throughout the weekend.

Auto123.com's Nigel Heron slicing through traffic.
Saturday's qualifying was run on a clear track and sunny skies. Peter Lejbjuk in his Honda took top honours in Super Touring Class by nine tenths of a second over Nigel Krikorian in his Subaru followed by his brother Nicholas. Andre Rapone out-qualified his brother Anthony by one half of a second in Touring Class followed Nigel Heron. All three were driving Acuras.

The first race of the weekend was started in dry conditions on Saturday afternoon but rain began to fall at the half way point which tested the skill and patience of the drivers. Super Touring Class was won by Peter Lejbjuk followed by Nigel Krikorian and Nicholas Krikorian. Andre Rapone won in Touring Class race followed by teammates Christian Raymond and Eric Leblanc. The winners were greeted by a full rainbow that covered the track at the end of the race.

A large crowd had gathered for Sunday's feature race and the cars took to the track under sunny skies. A clean start was followed by a number of intense battles throughout the field. The top four cars in each Class were separated by only a few seconds lap after lap. Nigel Krikorian led in Super Touring for the first part on the race until Peter Lejbjuk took over. The rest of the Super Touring field traded spots while the leaders drove away.

Eric Leblanc led Andre Rapone in Touring Class going into the last lap until both spun off the track which left the door open for the rest of the Touring Class field to move up. At the chequered flag, Peter Lejbjuk won Super Touring Class in his Honda by seven hundredths of a second over Nigel Krikorian in his Subaru followed by Etienne Borgeat in his BMW.

Auto123.com's Nigel Heron was first in Touring Class driving his Acura followed by Anthony Rapone in his Acura and Christian Raymond in his Mazda.

Arek Wojciechowski started at the back in the feature race and drove to fourth in Super Touring Class. His drive has won him the Hard Charger Award sponsored by CSC Racing Products Inc.
photo:CCTCC
Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada