SCCBC’s own Carlos Tesler-Mabe, who made his mark in the Canadian Touring Car Series this season, sends his regards to club members.
Looking back at a very successful 2013 season in Canadian Touring Car (CTCC).
By Carlos Tesler-Mabe, SCCBC memberI wanted to share with you my experience racing in the Canadian Touring Car Championships which is the only Canadian Pro series which uses production based race cars.
Being the only driver west of Ontario in a field of some of the fastest eastern Canadian race car drivers proved to be challenging!
Alain Laziere team principal and the amazing group of drivers and crew of Team Octane (Equipe Octane which is based in Montreal) welcomed me with open arms and provided me with number 45, an R56 (latest generation) Turbo Mini named “Franschesca”. This car ,though temperamental at times, finished every one of the 14 races in this series.
Most of the tracks I had never been to before. CTCC competed at Mosport (aka CTMP), Montreal F1 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, I Car, Mt.Tremblant, Trois Rivieres, and Calabogie. Our race series supported race weekends with FIA Formula 1, Nascar (Canada) and the Nascar Truck series.
Furthermore I was able to step up on the podium 3 times! This included the last race of the season.The most memorable being at the historic street course at Trois Rivieres. This is where I finished ahead of two time series champion helping my team regain the series lead going into the last 2 rounds.
Despite mechanical difficulties in 5 races, I managed to finish a very close fourth place in the touring car class championship in the end, just a hair off third place and close to repeating champion Damon Sharpe who won the championship by one point on the last race from my team mate Michel Sallenbach.
Racing at this level fighting for the championship has left me with unforgettable experiences that mostly centre around the people against whom I competed and my team with whom I travelled and shared the low and high moments of racing. It was an absolute honour to represent SCCBC/CACC home to many very experienced and fast drivers.
Mr John Bondar, series owner and director,made a special invitation to any and all BC racing car drivers for 2014 to consider participating in this very competitive all canadian pro series in any of the three classes available: B Spec, Touring Class and Super Touring. Please see touringcar.ca for more information.
A special thanks to Team Octane , Mini Canada, marketing partners Carmen and Camille (www.carmenandcamille.com), Horatio Kemeny and the support of my dear family.
Please check out Team Octane’s facebook page for more information (www.facebook.com/EquipeOctane) and Team Octane’s Vimeo website (vimeo.com/user685550) for some awsome onboard video action.
Best regards and see you next season,
Carlos Tesler-Mabe