Martella and Tomlinson win on the streets of Trois Rivières
Anthony Martella and Ron Tomlinson took one race win apiece in the TCR class of the Sports Car Championship Canada’s fourth event, on the spectacular and tricky street circuit of Trois Rivières. The 15-year-old Martella took his second consecutive victory in the first race that was postponed from Friday night to Saturday morning because of pouring rain, while Race 2 saw Tomlinson scoring his maiden victory in the series.
Both race winners have closed the gap in the standings that are still led by Richard Boake, by 24 points over Martella and 32 over Tomlinson, while Gary Kwok missed Race 2 for family reasons and slipped 38 points behind.
Race 1 – Martella was on pole having outpaced Boake by two tenths in qualifying, but Boake started better and led the TCR field just before a crash between two GT cars caused a full-course yellow on the first lap. Competition resumed in lap 5, but another crash involving a TCA car resulted in a second neutralization. When the green flag was waved, Boake was closely chased by Martella, Ron Tomlinson, Gary Kwok and Jonathan Young. In lap 11, Tomlinson overtook Martella for second and began to put the pressure on Boake. Five minutes to the end of the race, Tomlinson took the lead as Boake began to slip down the order. In lap 19, Martella made a move on Tomlinson, they made contact and Martella took the lead. Kwok seized the opportunity to climb to second, which is the way they finished, with Martella beating Kwok by six tenths and Tomlinson third.
Race 2 – Ron Tomlinson and Jocelyn Hébert shared the front row when the field took to the track at dusk, and it was Hébert who led at the start from Boake and Martella. Once again, an incident between GT cars caused a full-course-yellow. It took four laps to clean the track from debris and oil, and racing resumed in lap 9, with Boake passing Hébert for the lead. One lap later Tomlinson overtook Martella for P3 and then passed Hébert advancing to second. Tomlinson quickly closed the gap to the leader Boake and eventually passed him at T6 in lap 15. Boake was now chased by Hébert and Martella. In lap 16, Martella overtook Hébert for third place and they both gained one more place demoting Boake to fourth, but then the race was neutralized again when Megan Tonlinson’s Audi buried itself in the tyre wall at T6. Racing resumed in lap 23 with five minutes to go; Martella collided with a TCA car and retired with a broken rear suspension. Tomlinson continued unchallenged to win the race, with Young and Tom Kwok finishing on the podium behind him.
The season will come to an end in three weeks at Bowmanville’s Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on 30 August/1 September.
Trois Rivières – Race 1
- Anthony Martella (Martella Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 21 laps
- Gary Kwok (M&S Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.630
- Ron Tomlinson (TWOth Autosport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 1.513
Trois Rivières – Race 2
- Ron Tomlinson (TWOth Autosport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 26 laps
- Jonathan Young (M&S Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 6.678
- Tom Kwok (M&S Racing, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 8.758
Championship points
- R. Boake, 257 pts; 2. A. Martella, 233; 3. R. Tomlinson, 225
Picture: FEL Motorsports/abyssalmedia
