Deslongchamps Remains Unbeaten in 2023 with Canadian Open Victory

The dream season for Lucas Deslongchamps continued this past weekend as he added another victory to his resume, this time at the Canadian Open where he also secured a position on Team Canada for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.

Deslongchamps brought a winning record to the Complexe ICAR after starting the Coupe de Montreal season with four straight victories, but this weekend was by far the toughest task yet.

Deslongchamps did secure the Super Pole in Qualifying but he was under attack in the heat races as Major Makovskis (PSL/BirelART) scored the first one while Antoine Lemieux (REM/Kosmic) took control in the second and third and earned the pole position for Sunday’s PreFinal with Deslongchamps back in fourth place after a tough run in the first heat added 12 points to his total.

After winning the PreFinal, Lemieux was knocked back to third following a penalty for contact and that put Makovskis and Deslongchamps on the front row for the main event.

The front two got away clean at the start and opened a small gap in the opening laps while Lemieux had to battle with his teammate Oliver Mrak (REM/Kosmic) for the third spot. Once he was clear he tracked down the lead pair and that is when Deslongchamps made his move for the race lead, overtaking at the end of the long straight on lap six.

This left Makovskis to battle with Lemieux and when the two traded the position a few times, Deslongchamps opened up a lead that was more than enough to hold on to for the second half of the 15-lap sprint and he celebrated the victory at the finish line.

The battle for second intensified as the laps ticked away and Deslongchamps was unreachable with Mrak working his way back by Lemieux with four laps to go and Makovskis followed him through in the penultimate corner.

They would finish that way with Mrak second to cross the finish line followed closely by Makovskis and Lemieux but a penalty for a start lane violation knocked Makovskis off the podium and moved Lemieux up to third.

Behind the lead group, Olivier Pichette (BirelART) wound up in fourth place while John Wade (Nonstop/Ricciardo) recovered from the rear of the grid to earn a top-five finish.