BOWMANVILLE, Ontario — Karol Pasiewicz proved to be a dominant force today for Olivia Racing as the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Canada kicked off with a pair of races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
After a promising start to his rookie campaign to open the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida in February, the rapid Pole suffered a disappointing weekend last time out at Carolina Motorsports Park. But today proved to be the perfect tonic. Pasiewicz earned 65 points out of a maximum 66 to vault from sixth in the standings to the lead heading into the final race of the weekend tomorrow.
Zanella Racing also enjoyed a strong day as Florida-based Brazilian Victor Couto edged Ottawa, Canada’s Olivier Mrak for second place in both races.
Pasiewicz paved the groundwork for today on Friday when he laid down two exceptional laps during the tripleheader event’s solitary qualifying session. The fastest of them ensured his maiden Continental Tire Pole Award which meant that it was he who led the 21-car field toward the green flag in sunny cool conditions this morning.
Pasiewicz maintained his position for the opening few laps before the first of two full-course cautions after points leader Ivan Machado Perez, from Madrid, Spain, made the second of two errors at Turn Eight and crashed his VRD Racing entry into retirement.
Shortly after the restart, Brenden Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., lost control on the entry to Turn Three and collided heavily with the tire barriers to ensure another caution. On this occasion, Pasiewicz received a call on his radio a few moments before the yellow flags actually flashed on, which allowed Couto to make a legitimate pass for the lead.
Frustrating as it must have been for Pasiewicz, he kept his cool magnificently and pounced on the exit of Turn Five soon after the final restart to reassert himself at the front of the field with seven laps still remaining. He then turned a series of fastest laps to ensure all 33 points and take the checkered flag ahead of Couto as yet another incident, this time involving Jared Oselka (Zanella Racing), from Long Beach, Ind., caused the race to finish under yellow.
Locally based Canadians Cole Medeiros (Exclusive Autosport), from Ayr, Ont., and Leonardo Serravalle (Zanella Racing), from Thorold, Ont., finished fourth and fifth ahead of England’s Max Cuthbert (JHDD powered by ECR), Exclusive Autosport’s Bex Cranston, from Greenwich, Conn., and VRD Racing’s Dean Hoogendoorn, from Woubrugge, Netherlands. The European karting champion had been too young to contest the opening six races of the season, but after celebrating his 14th birthday on Tuesday Hoogendoorn was able to display his promise by rising from 14th on the grid to eighth, which earned him the Tilton Hard Charger Award.
The grid for this afternoon’s race was determined by each driver’s second fastest lap from qualifying, and thus it was Pasiewicz who once again earned the Continental Tire Pole Award.
This time there was no looking back as he led all 20 laps to complete a dominant day on the ultra-fast and supremely challenging 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course.
Pasiewicz was untroubled by a pair of mid-race cautions and controlled the pace perfectly to win once again from Couto and Mrak.
The top nine cars remained pretty much in a train until the end, all finishing within three seconds of each other, but it was another debutant, VRD Racing’s Edward Kennedy, from Mont-Tremblant, Que., Canada who arguably shone the brightest. Kennedy, who also celebrated his 14th birthday only a few days ago, made some bold moves at the start to climb from 10th to fourth, which he maintained ahead of Cranston, Serravalle, Denmark’s Casper Nissen (JHDD powered by ECR), Medeiros and Hoogendoorn. The young Dutchman once again impressed by pinching the bonus point after posting the fastest lap of the race.
