Auto News 5

Besides being asked what car one should buy next, I'm also often asked which cars are the worst. Or which cars should be avoided? Which are the bad ones? The lemons, the bad seeds? In all honesty, there are no bad cars out there anymore.

Sure, circumstances would prove me wrong; first batch glitches, quality control problems, etc. However, when it comes down to labelling a car as downright horrible and bad, it just doesn't happen anymore.

How is that? Well, safety regulations and standards across the board have ensured all vehicles are made with a certain level of quality and with materials that make them all more than tolerable. Gone are the days when headrests and even seatbelts were a luxury. Cars by fault of build materials and standards nowadays “feel” more luxurious.

So, how what's the point in doing what I do? Reviewing cars, “testing” them as it were; why do I do that if they're all good anyways? Well, they may all be standardized but they still have their foibles and they still have their strong and weak points, their good and bad sides.

Here's the thing: There's a car out there for everyone, but not everyone will like the same car.

Just as I may like a certain model of house and the design elements it has, you may think it's the ugliest thing on the block. Sure it has doors, windows, plugs and a roof; but we'll each feel differently about it. We'll each find good and bad things about it and perhaps they won't be the same things.

That's where we testers come in. We're here to point out things you may not have considered or even thought about. We're here to look at vehicles from another point of view, and offer up not only an unbiased opinion, but one based on experience after driving hundreds (if not thousands) of vehicles. Standardized is one thing, finding those differences is quite another.

Forget manufacturer stereotypes you've heard over the years. Audis no longer catch fire (and neither do Kias). Hyundais are not made of plastic and VWs don't leave the dealer lot with their check-engine lights on already.

“Bad car” is a dirty term these days because it's not true. There are bad designs, bad colours, bad driver positions, bad cargo space, and even bad entertainment systems (we all know about those *cough*iDrive*cough*), but a bad car as a whole? Nope. Doesn't happen anymore.

Take solace in knowing that if you are in the market for a new vehicle, you're bound to get a good car. However, the tricky part comes down to choosing the right car, which is when you ask me that other all-important question I love to hate: Which car should I buy?

From Hyundai Motorsport press release

Hyundai Motorsport Monday announced Finnish driver Juho Hänninen as one of the team's test drivers for 2013, ending weeks of speculation over the mystery man behind the wheel of the Hyundai i20 WRC in May.

Hyundai Motorsport has been building up its new operation from scratch since the start of the year, establishing the team at a dedicated facility in Alzenau, Germany and recruiting specialists at every level of its organisation.

Test drivers are an integral part of the team's development programme, requiring the necessary skills and experience to develop a competitive and reliable rally car in a short space of time.

Juho Hanninen. (Photo: Hyundai)

Six months ahead of the debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 2014, Hyundai Motorsport is in the process of carrying out an intensive test programme to evaluate and develop the i20 WRC on all terrains and conditions.

Hänninen won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2010 followed by the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship and the FIA European Rally Championship titles in 2011 and 2012 respectively. He will be a valuable asset for the team to prepare the assault to the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship.

Hyundai Motorsport will soon be in a position to announce a second test driver for the remainder of the 2013 test phase. 2014 drivers will be announced at the end of the year.

“We're very pleased to welcome Juho on board for our 2013 test programme," said Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal, Michel Nandan.

"I'm sure his experience and background will contribute to the project and I'm happy with the job he's done so far. We have decided to work with different drivers with unique skills and capabilities this year, which will provide us with valuable feedback for 2014”.

It was a great weekend for the Ganassi squad as Scott Dixon led both his teammates across the finish line to make it the team's first-ever 1-2-3 sweep in the IndyCar Series at Pocono.

Dixon finished first ahead Charlie Kimball and veteran Dario Franchitti to earn his first win of the season. It was a hard race for Andretti Autosport, which were the favorites at Pocono, as its best placed driver was Marco Andretti with a 10th place finish.

Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Charlie Kimball. (Photo: IndyCar)

What is more astonishing, is that all three Ganassi drivers had to start from ther back of the grid and still managed to fight their way up to the front, thanks in part to their ability to do the extra mileage on a tank of fuel.

Penske's Will Power passed Simon Pagenaud late in the race to secure fourth while the Frenchman lost an additional position to Josef Newgarden just before the end.

Charlie Kimball. (Photo: IndyCar)

The Andretti team was plagued by all kind of trouble right from the start even though Marco Andretti led most of the race before struggling with fuel mileage over his final stint and drifted back to 10th.

Canadian James Hinchcliffe day's work ended-up early after his car looped up into the wall. Meanwhile, his teammate EJ Viso, suffering from mechanical issues had to retire for good back in the pits.

Current Indycar champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay had no better luck as he was punted from behind in the pits by Takuma Sato who badly misjudged his own entry.

Scott Dixon. (Photo: IndyCar)

Results - 160 laps:
Pos   Driver   Team/Engine  Time/Gap
1. Scott Dixon   Ganassi/Honda  2h04m26.4178s
2. Charlie Kimball  Ganassi/Honda  +0.4572s
3. Dario Franchitti  Ganassi/Honda  +1.1989s
4. Will Power   Penske/Chevy  +5.6320s
5. Josef Newgarden  Fisher/Honda  +7.1949s
6. Simon Pagenaud   Schmidt/Honda   +9.4074s
7. Justin Wilson  Coyne/Honda   +13.3012s
8. Helio Castroneves   Penske/Chevy  +13.9376s
9. Ed Carpenter  Carpenter/Chevy  +15.5500s
10. Marco Andretti   Andretti/Chevy  +18.4584s
11. Simona de Silvestro  KV/Chevy   +32.0478s
12. James Jakes  Rahal/Honda  +36.2536s
13. Tony Kanaan  KV/Chevy  +41.5507s
14. Ryan Briscoe  Panther/Chevy  +1 lap
15. Pippa Mann  Coyne/Honda  +1 lap
16. Sebastien Bourdais  Dragon/Chevy  +1 lap
17. Alex Tagliani  Herta/Honda  +2 laps
18. Graham Rahal  Rahal/Honda  +2 laps
19. Tristan Vautier  Schmidt/Honda  +2 laps

Retirements:
Ryan Hunter-Reay   Andretti/Chevy   121 laps
EJ Viso  Andretti/Chevy  104 laps
Takuma Sato  Foyt/Honda   61 laps
Sebastian Saavedra  Dragon/Chevy  2 laps
James Hinchcliffe  Andretti/Chevy   0 lap

From GMM

Romain Grosjean may have rescued his formula one career on Sunday by returning to the podium at the Nurburgring.

Having failed to score a single point since his podium in Bahrain, the Frenchman was the subject of rumours Lotus might be preparing to replace him with Nico Hulkenberg.

Indeed, it is believed Hulkenberg has terminated his contract with the financially-troubled Sauber, with Bild newspaper saying the German has even had a Lotus seat fitting.

Frenchman Grosjean, however, said he never doubted himself.

Photo: Lotus F1 Team

"Not really," he told RMC on Sunday. "I just asked myself 'When are things going to turn?' I have always believed in myself. The numbers were not good but I knew that the work I was doing was positive."

27-year-old Grosjean therefore denied being upset after Lotus asked him to let teammate Kimi Raikkonen pass for second place on Sunday.

"As far as the strategies (go)," he said, "we didn't put our eggs in the same basket so I think it was the right thing to do."

From GMM

Peter Sauber has denied reports employees of his struggling Swiss team are going without pay.

It is reported that, because he has not been paid his contractual instalments for May or June, Nico Hulkenberg has terminated his 2013 deal and is therefore free to switch to another team at any moment.

"Basically, I won't talk about contracts," Sauber told Swiss television Sportpanorama.

"But I am convinced that Nico will be with us in the second half of the season."

The Sonntagszeitung newspaper claims sponsor Oerlikon, and perhaps some other Sauber sponsors, has provided "emergency relief" to the tune of a mid-six figure to the Hinwil based team.

"It is very difficult at the moment," team founder Peter Sauber admitted.

"Our resources are very limited and the situation is uncomfortable and embarrassing," he added.

But Sauber, 69, vehemently denied that his staff are not being paid their wages.

"In 20 years in formula one, we have never not paid wages on time," he insisted.

Photo: Sauber F1 Team

However, Sauber admitted that some suppliers of the team are being asked to wait for their invoices to be paid.

"It is affecting not only the development of the car, but also the suppliers," he said.

"For the large part, we are being met with understanding, but it is very stressful for us and in many regards painful," said Sauber.

He said he has "never" laid off staff "for financial reasons", and does not intend to start now.

"Once you start doing that, you hurt the team so much," said Sauber.

But Sauber said his team needs new sponsors urgently, or preferably an investor.

"We are very confident in this regard," he revealed. "If it runs smoothly, we can give the all-clear by the end of the month."

He also said a 'plan B' is in place.

"It is a good plan," said Sauber, "but time is the big problem -- we're running out of it.

"Mainly because we might not be able to drive if suppliers begin to stop supplying us."

Asked if Sauber's 2013 season is assured, he admitted: "In principle, no.

"But I feel safe. Currently we are working day to day."

The last resort will be simply selling the team.

"If there is no other way out," said Sauber, "that is a possibility. But we are far from that.

"Closure is not an option. The fire inside me is kindled by situations like this. There is nothing else to do than fight."

From GMM

F1 could be set to improve safety in the pitlane, after a cameraman was lucky to escape with his life in Sunday's German grand prix.

Red Bull has been fined EUR 30,000 for sending Mark Webber away from a pitstop with a loose rear wheel, which detached from the car and struck at high speed a British television cameraman for Bernie Ecclestone's company FOM.

The cameraman has broken bones and is still in a Koblenz hospital, but a FOM spokeswoman told Bild newspaper doctors do not believe he is injured internally.

The injured cameraman Paul Allen. (Photo: Williams F1 Team)

"The most important thing is he is fundamentally ok," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

"But it was a timely reminder that life in the pitlane is still a pretty dangerous place to be, that things can go wrong. Mechanics have to wear safety gear and helmets, and maybe it's time some of the other operational people in the pitlane have some safety equipment as well," he added.

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn agrees: "On the basis of what we have seen here, we should be thinking that all people in the pitlane are properly dressed, equipped and should have a helmet on."

From GMM

Stefano Domenicali has refused to comment on speculation former Lotus technical director James Allison is definitely headed to Ferrari.

"It is a topic covered by a lot of rumours," team boss Domenicali is quoted by Russia's f1news.ru website, "so I will not make a comment."

The Italian was also asked about Ferrari's likely engine customers for the 2014 season, amid reports the Maranello team will replace its lost client Toro Rosso with Marussia.

The other currently Ferrari-powered team is the financially embattled Sauber.

"Very soon we will make the announcements. We will supply engines to two (customer) teams," Domenicali said.

Photo: Ferrari

The University of Toronto's Blue Sky Solar Racing Team recently unveiled the B-7 car that will take part in the 2013 World Solar Challenge from October 6-13 in Australia.

Made of carbon fibre, the ultra-lightweight B-7 will race 3,000 kilometres across the Australian outback in a collective effort to promote sustainable mobility. Participants will start in Darwin on October 6th, and cross the finish line in Adelaide on the 13th.

It will be Blue Sky Solar Racing's 4th attempt at finishing in the top 10 teams (out of 50 or so) at the World Solar Challenge.

Also competing in this year's event will be students from the Ecole de technologie supérieure de Montréal and University of Calgary.

Source: Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Organisers of the DTM series decided to introduce a new system to identify cars shod on the option Hankook tires.

Since the race held at Spielberg, option tires carried a bigger written yellow brand name on the tire walls.

Photo: Red Bull Ring

The situation will be improved as a new technical device makes it possible to identify the type of tire used in each car and to include it in the TV graphics. This is made possible by the use of sensors mounted to the wheels of the Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz DTM cars.

In addition to the air pressure, these sensors will also transmit the information if a car is running on option tires.

This is made possible by an individual code of the sensor that is entered by the representative of the German Motor Sport Association, DMSB, in the marshalling system prior to the distribution of the option tires.

Every driver receives - solely for the race - one set of option tires and must run it at any point during the race.

Subaru Canada today announced pricing and specifications for the 2014 Outback, whose “crisp, car-like handling” makes it an “adventure-ready SUV alternative.”

Powertrain choices start with a 2.5L, 4-cylinder BOXER engine that produces 173 horsepower through a standard 6-speed manual transmission or a second-generation Lineartonic CVT. Meanwhile, the 3.6L, 6-cylinder BOXER engine develops 256 horsepower with the help of a 5-speed Electronic Direct Control Automatic Transmission with manual mode.

Models equipped with the Lineartronic CVT will see fuel efficiency of 6.5L/100km on the highway and 8.6L/100km in the city. The manual gearbox achieves 7.1 and 9.4L/100km, respectively.

The 2014 Subaru Outback comes in 5 trim levels:
- 2.5i Convenience: $28,495 (w/ PZEV option: $30,495)
- 2.5i Touring: $31,095
- 2.5i Limited: $36,295 (w/ EyeSight option: $37,795)
- 3.6R: $34,495
- 3.6R Limited: $38,495 (w/ EyeSight option: $39,995).

Photo: Subaru

For the second year in a row, Andrew Ranger gave the hometown crowd at Circuit ICAR something to cheer about as he roared to the victory Sunday in the Jiffy Lube 100 presented by Snap-On.

The two-time NASCAR Canadian Tire Series' champion withstood a late restart to go wire-to-wire for the win - his 17th career series victory and 14th on a road course.

Photos: Paolo Pedicelli

Scott Steckly, who started third on the grid, held off teammate Louis-Philippe Dumoulin for second at the finish. J.R. Fitzpatrick and Jeff Lapcevich were fourth and fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were D.J. Kennington, Kerry Micks, Jean-François Dumoulin, Martin Roy and rookie Alex Guenette.

British driver Mike Conway has signed a deal with Dale Coyne Racing to drive the squad's second entry for both IndyCar double-header races remaining on the 2013 schedule.

Conway will be therefore on duty for the upcoming Honda Indy Toronto (13-14 July) and the Grand Prix of Houston (5-6 October).
 


The 29-year-old driver drove the No. 18 Sonny's BBQ car for the last time at the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit back in June. He was able to display his street course talent by winning the first race and becoming the only driver to secure podium finishes in both races.

This weekend at Toronto will be Conway's 57th IndyCar start and has achieved 15 top-10 finishes, five top-5 and two wins.

In the three starts he has made this year he has had two podiums including a win and one pole.



When Conway isn't with IndyCar he is racing full time in the FIA World Endurance Championship in Europe with Delta-ADR.

Mike Conway leading the race in Detroit. (Photo: IndyCar)

Toyota founding family scion and President Akio Toyoda has emerged from the bureaucratic shadows to present himself as the company's car-loving, fashion-forward salesman-in-chief.

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said the European car market will probably shrink further in 2014 and 2015. He is preparing Renault for 'several years of market stability, at best.'

Straight from a grueling Saturday night race in Daytona, four-time Sprint Cup Champion, Jeff Gordon, was visiting the starting grid at Pocono Raceway with his soon to be 3 year-old son Leo.

They came to see IndyCars, which had been missing, on the track known as “tricky triangle,” for 24 years.

I'm so excited to be here for Leo," Gordon said. "He's the one who saw the cars on the TV and said to my wife, (the Belgian-born) Ingrid, `Race car! Race car!”

Jeff Gordon, his son Leo (centre) and somebody else (Photo: Jeff Gordon)

"So we were in New York (where the Gordon's have a second home) and said, “Heck, let's go!” To be back here in Pocono with the Indy cars, how could we miss that? It's so cool. I'm being here as a race fan and enjoying it.”

Gordon has won six of his 87 career Sprint Cup victories at the three-mile oval. The four-time NASCAR champion came up from racing sprint cars and briefly considered, but never raced, in Indy cars.

Adapted from GMM

Sauber could have an all-new driver lineup next year, as rumours of a radical shakeup for the struggling Swiss team gain speed.

Nico Hulkenberg, reportedly not paid by the Hinwil based team since May, has already confirmed at the Nurburgring that boss Monisha Kaltenborn is working to pull Sauber out of a financial crisis.

Now the German and his manager Werner Heinz have reportedly terminated the deal for breach of contract, meaning Hulkenberg could be free to leave Sauber at any time.

Rumours at the Nurburgring suggested Heinz has already been in talks with Lotus, while Hulkenberg has also been linked with a future move to Ferrari.

Meanwhile Speed Week correspondent Rob La Salle speculated that Sauber's 2014 lineup could see Russian Vitaly Petrov return to F1, alongside the Nicolas Todt-managed Felipe Massa or Jules Bianchi.

Todt - also a GP2 team chief and the son of FIA president Jean Todt - has been linked with a buyout, as has Chelsea football club's Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

The Bild joined Speed Week in reporting that one of Russia's wealthiest men, Boris Rotenberg, is also linked with the Sauber rescue.

Rotenberg, who co-owns the SMP bank with his brother, reportedly has close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

It is believed Carlos Slim's Telmex has ruled out buying Sauber, which - given the Mexican company's expected move to McLaren - could be bad news for 2013 team driver Esteban Gutierrez.

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber C32 (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Niki Lauda says the F1 fraternity this week gave a thumbs-up to a movie about the sport's legendary 1976 season.

During qualifying at the Nurburgring on Saturday, the triple world champion was spotted in the Mercedes garage with Ron Howard.

'Happy Days' actor and American Howard, director of Apollo 13, was behind 'Rush' -- a movie about Austrian legend Lauda, his fiery 1976 Nurburgring crash and his rivalry with James Hunt.

The film will not be released until September, but some of the sport's leading figures - including Bernie Ecclestone and Lewis Hamilton - were given a special screening at the Nurburgring, Lauda told Austria's Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

"The pictures are really immense," said the 64-year-old Austrian, now co-owner and chairman of the Mercedes team.

"And the director Ron Howard was really happy because he could see how excited these formula one experts were about his film," added Lauda.

A British newspaper said Red Bull's Christian Horner and Adrian Newey also attended the screening.

Two-time NASCAR Canadian Tire series' champion, Andrew Ranger Sunday won the Jiffy Lube 100 presented by Snap-On at Circuit ICAR in Mirabel.

It was the series' first of three Quebec appearances this season, and a third visit to the road course set-up on the grounds of the Mirabel airport, located north of Montreal.

Andrew Ranger, the winner of last year's race at ICAR, captured pole position Saturday.  Ranger planted his No. 27 La Cite de Mirabel Dodge on pole position in front of Jeff Lapcevich, Scott Steckly, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin and rookie Alex Labbe.

At the drop of the green flag, Ranger jumped into the lead while Steckly powered into second place ahead of Lapcevich.  On lap 2, a full course caution bunched up the field again.

The race restarted on lap 7. Ranger again took command. JR Fitzpatrick, driving the No. 84 car, powered from sixth to third place behind Ranger and Steckly.

Jeff Lapcevich maintained fourth place in front of Dumoulin, Labbé and D.J. Kennington.

Ranger and Steckly ran together until lap 20 of the 30-lap race. In just three laps, Ranger managed to build a 4.3-second cushion over Steckly. Meanwhile, L.-P. Dumoulin passed Lapcevich and then Fitzpatrick to take third spot.

On lap 24, a full course yellow was displayed for Jason Hathaway, whose car suffered serious mechanical problems.

The race restarted on lap 26. Ranger pulled away from Steckly. Then, Dumoulin started to apply pressure on the driver of the No. 22 Canadian Tire car. On the penultimate lap, the pair ran side-by-side for a few corners but Steckly managed to stay ahead.

After 30 laps, Ranger crossed the line in first place, winning the race from Steckly, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin in the No. 47 WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare Dodge, Fitzpatrick, Lapcevich, Kennington, Kerry Micks, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Martin Roy and Alex Guenette.

Rookie Alex Labbe, who was sixth at the beginning of the last lap, crossed the line in 11th position.

Neither of their two rivals could stop Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf from scoring their third consecutive victory of the season, at this weekend's Lime Rock Northeast Grand Prix.

Chris Dyson and Guy Smith put on a decent fight during the first hour of the race, at the wheel of their Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda, but their hopes of victory eventually faded as the duel turned into a one-horse race.

Luhr and Graf eventually brought their HPD ARX-03c home some six laps ahead of Smith and Dyson.

Third place of the P1 category went to Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge, despite their DeltaWing abruptly losing water pressure, and retiring, on lap 102.

BMW won the GT race from Corvette, as pole-sitters John Edwards and Dirk Muller led Antonio Garcia and Kevin Magnussen by a mere nine tenths at the finish line. The win extended Muller's lead in the drivers' championship.

Ryan Briscoe and Scott Tucker finished first in P2, but race officials only rewarded them with third-place points for the way Briscoe overtook Guy Cosmo (Extreme Speed Motorsports) near the end of the race.

Second place Cosmo and co-driver Scott Sharp got the maximum 20 points for their performance.

Bruno Junqueira (RSR Racing) won in PC, whereas Spencer Pumpelly backed his GTC pole from Friday with the class win.


Race results - ALMS Northeast Grand Prix (Lime Rock)
1 - Graf/Luhr (HPD ARX-03c) - Pickett - 184 laps
2 - Dyson/Smith (Lola B12/60 Mazda) - Dyson - 178
3 - Tucker/Briscoe (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 178
4 - Sharp/Cosmo (HPD ARX-03b) - ExtremeSpeed - 178
5 - Junqueira/Ende (Oreca FLM09) - Rocketsports - 177
6 - Bennett/Braun (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 177
7 - Tucker/Briscoe (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 176
8 - Nunez/Booth (Oreca FLM09) - Preformance Tech - 176
9 - Brown/Van Overbeek (HPD ARX-03b) - ExtremeSpeed - 176
10 - Marcelli/Cumming (Oreca FLM09) - BAR1 - 175
11 - Van der Zande/Schultis (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 174
12 - Guasch/Cheng (Oreca FLM09) - PR1 - 172
13 - Mueller/Edwards (BMW Z4) - Rahal - 172
14 - Magnussen/Garcia (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 172
15 - Kimber-Smith/Long (Porsche 997) - CORE - 172
16 - Auberlen/Martin (BMW Z4) - Rahal - 171
17 - Bomarito/Wittmer (SRT Viper) - SRT - 171
18 - Gavin/Milner (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 171
19 - Drissi/Mitchell (Oreca FLM09) - BAR1 - 170
20 - Miller/Holzer (Porsche 997) - Miller - 169
21 - Henzler/Sellers (Porsche 997) - Falken - 169
22 - Sweedler/Bell (Ferrari GTS3 458) - Alex Job - 168
23 - Beretta/Malucelli (Ferrari GTS3 458) - Risi - 167
24 - Canache/Pumpelly (Porsche 997 Cup) - FlyingLizard - 164
25 - Hedlund/Heylen (Porsche 997 Cup) - JDX - 162
26 - Keating/Faulkner (Porsche 997 Cup) - TRG - 161
27 - Stanton/Ostella (Porsche 997 Cup) - TRG - 161
28 - MacNeil/Bleekemolen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Alex Job - 159
29 - Neiman/Von Moltke (Porsche 997 Cup) - FlyingLizard - 159
30 - Dempsey/Lally (Porsche 997 Cup) - Demsey/DelPiero - 158
31 - Cisneros/Armindo (Porsche 997 Cup) - NGT - 145
32 - Legge/Meyrick (DeltaWing) - Panoz - 102
33 - Goossens/Farnbacher (SRT Viper) - SRT - 25

Thomas McGregor Sunday scored a dominant victory at ICAR Circuit located north of Montreal in the second race of the weekend of the Formula Tour 1600 series.

McGregor led the pack under a blazing sun, but the Safety Car took to the track following an early race incident. Car No. 13 of Jean Lajoie broke a suspension and the car hit the guardrail.

The race restarted on lap 7 with McGregor leading Tristan DeGrand, Jack Mitchell Jr, Jessy Lazare and Michel Bonnet.

One lap later Lazare moved around Mitchell to take third place. Then, Lazare started to put pressure on DeGrand. He pushed him as hard as he could but never managed to be close enough to attempt a move.

The chequered was wave on lap 12, saluting McGregor's win.

DeGrand finished second ahead of Lazare.

Mitchell arrived home in fourth place in front of Michel Bonnet.

Former Formula 1600 series' champion, Didier Schraenen, finished the race in 8th place.