Richard Boake clinches the SCCC title at Bowmanville
Richard Boake of Blanchet Motorsport was crowned TCR champion in the Sports Car Championship Canada at the end of the final race of the season at Bowmanville’s Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Boake drove his Audi RS 3 LMS to an authoritative victory in Saturday’s Race 1, the fourth of the season for him, beating the last of his title rivals Anthony Martella and guest star Ruben Volt. All Boake needed to clinch the title was to finish Sunday’s race, but he wanted to end in style and for the whole distance he kept on chasing Martella looking for another win. Eventually he settled for second, while the 15-year-old Martella claimed his third win to finish runner-up at the end of his impressive rookie season.
Race 1 – Martella had set the pole with a time faster than that of the GT class, with Boake and Volt in second and third positions. Martella got away well at the start, but during the first lap he was passed by Boake and Volt. It took six laps to Martella to retake the second position from Volt, while Ron Tomlinson overtook Gary Kwok advancing to fourth. Both Martella and Volt were able to close the gap from Boake and at mid-race point the three of them were covered by 1.5 seconds. Further behind, Kwok was defending the fifth position from Connor Attrell.
Despite being under pressure for the whole second half of the race, Boake completed a spotless performance, beating Martella by four tenths, with Volt completing the podium. Behind them, Tomlinson and Kwok finished fourth and fifth e so fell off the battle for the title before the last race.
Race 2 – The top positions on the grid, determined by the second fastest laps in qualifying, were the same as the previous race, with the pole sitter Martella who led the field at the start. During the first lap, Volt overtook Boake for second and Ron Tomlinson passed Connor Attrell for fourth. Just like in Race 1, the leading trio pulled away with Boake moving into second ahead of Volt in lap 7. Tomlinson in fourth position was closely chased by Connor Attrell, Gary Kwok and Quinn Attrell. The three-car battle for the lead saw Boake trying at every lap to make a move on Martella, while Volt’s gap shrank and grew every now and then. Meanwhile, the pack fighting for P4 lost Quinn Attrell and then split while taking a lap to a group of TCA cars, which helped Kwok to pass Connor Attrell for P5.
Up front the pace of the three leaders was so fast that with two laps to go they overtook the only GT car left and went to finish 1-2-3 overall, with Martella the winner ahead of Boake and Volt. Behind them, Kwok overtook Tomlinson to finish fourth, while Connor Attrell had stopped on the pit straight with body damage during the penultimate lap.
Bowmanville – Race 1
- Richard Boake (Blanchet Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 28 laps
- Anthony Martella (Martella Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.411
- Ruben Volt (M&S Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 2.581
Bowmanville – Race 2
- Anthony Martella (Martella Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 28 laps
- Richard Boake (Blanchet Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.192
- Ruben Volt (M&S Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.849
Championship points
- R. Boake, 332 pts; 2. A. Martella, 308; 3. R. Tomlinson, 271
Picture: Blanchet Motorsport
