The 2013 Monaco de Trois-Rivieres, a very popular race in the city northeast of Montreal finally displayed some racing on Saturday for the fans on hand. Utilizing a portion of the GP3R street circuit, the go-karts navigate through the 1km track with almost no room for error. To stand on the podium at Le Monaco means more than just being fast, but being able to minimize even the slightest of errors, but with the tricky weather added in from Mother Nature today it made things just a little more difficult.
As the sun returned after the storm, the Briggs & Stratton division was split on tire choices for their prefinal. The track was still wet but drying fast and it was obvious only one choice was going to benefit.
Maxime Couturier (Zanardi) converted pole to an early lead in the prefinal ahead of Tyler Givogue (Margay) and Tommy Lemaire-Ouellet (Zanardi). In the mid pack there was an accident which took out majority of the field. With the track near dry those drivers on slicks really picked up the pace as the heat went on, with Givogue doing everything he could to hold on in third with his balding rain tires. This led to drivers being spread out through the field as many fell out of the running. Couturier would dominate the race taking a four second lead ahead of Lemaire and Givogue at the line. Notably, Mathieu Demers (CRG) drove from the rear of the 26-kart field to finish fourth.
Coutrier once again led early in the Briggs Senior Final, but with a clean start by the field he would be followed closely by Givogue, Kevin King (CRG), Demers and Lemaire. By the halfway point in the race Couturier and Givogue had pulled a few kart lengths separating them from King and Lemaire Ouellet with Demers falling back. On lap eight Ouellet took third away from King going into turn two. But up front, Couturier held on for the win with Givogue coming home in second and Lemaire finishing third. King came home in fourth place ahead of Demers.
