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-turn, barrier-lined circuit for two on-track sessions on Friday. On a weekend that features a different format including only 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 during the morning and award 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 circuit. Most of our competitors were able to get at least 25 laps or more in practice with only a few red flags as they came to grip with the slick surface and fine-tune their machines.”
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With the benchmark set, the focus shifted to the 25-minute qualifying session in the afternoon that set the grid for race one on Saturday morning. Former American Le Mans Series Champion Jon Field (ONE Motorsports) led the way in the Platinum class with a best time of 1m14.938s, a scant 0.222s ahead of Indy Al Miller (ONE Motorsports) who slotted himself into the second position. Former dirt racer turned Radical driver Wayne Williams (ESSES Racing) impressed, earning the third fastest lap in the Platinum ahead of the local Kevin Poitras (Radical Canada) and Louis Schriber (RYNO Racing).
While the Platinum drivers should be the fastest drivers on course, Danny Dyszelski (WISKO Racing) turned the third fastest time of the 31 cars on track to earn the Pro 1500 pole position as he looks to claw his way back into the championship point lead. Championship point 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 to earn his first win of the 2023 season following three second place finishes at Road America. Crown Racing’s Seth Bacon was the best of the rest in the second position just over a tenth of a second quicker than Ken Savage (G-Tech Motorsports) in third. Seth Bacon’s son, Jace Bacon (Crown Racing), was fourth fastest, but brought out a late session red flag after licking the wall on the exit of Turn 1, which resulted in a traffic jam. Canadian Huw Leahy was fifth fastest.
With three classes on the North American tour, Radical Cup racers were competing alongside the Emzone RCC 1340 class in Toronto. Leading the way in the Canadian class was the No. 10 entry of Gavin Sanders (Sanders Motorsports) as he outpaced Jake Cowden (RySpec Racing) and motorcycle-champion-come-four-wheel-star Kenny Riedmann (Riedmann Management). Owen Clark (JMJS Motorsport) and Conner Bell (RySpec Racing) will look to move forward once the wheel-to-wheel action begins after qualifying fourth and fifth respectively.
Drewer added, “For those who didn’t find their rhythm, the first race can be one of redemption as fastest laps will set the grid for race two. Drivers will look to move forward and turn a quick lap, but the trick will be to stay out of trouble and stay out of the walls.”
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Weekend schedule
Saturday, July 15
Race 1 – 11:55am – 12:30pm
Race 2 – 5:30pm – 6:05pm
Sunday, July 16th
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 licensing, can be found at www.radicalmotorsport.com. Please stay tuned to the Blue Marble Radical Cup North America social media pages for news and updates from the 2023 season.
