Slippery Thriller in Rotax Senior at RMC Quebec Opener

The first of four rounds in the new RMC Quebec kicked off this weekend in Mont-Tremblant as part of the second stop on the Coupe de Montreal calendar. Extremely challenging conditions prevailed over the weekend, with cold temperatures and rainy conditions keeping everyone on the lookout for any opportunity to gain an advantage.

The RMC Quebec is one of three programs this year in Canada to determine who will represent Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, held this year in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This opportunity saw an increase in entries in the core Rotax Max categories as Mini Max, Junior Max, Senior Max and DD2 all have tickets up for grabs.

The biggest draw was Rotax Senior with 41 drivers on the entry list. This meant the drivers would be split into two groups for Qualifying and the PreFinals, along with a Last Chance Race to determine the starting grid of 36 drivers.

On Saturday, Qualifying took place on slick tires, but a drizzle fell throughout the session, really challenging the drivers to get heat into their MOJO tires and put their best time on the scoreboard. Incredibly, there was a tie at the top of the timing charts as Racing Edge Motorsports teammates Ryan Maxwell (REM/Kosmic) and William Bouthillier (REM/Kosmic) posted identical lap times. Although the groups were merged after Qualifying, REM drivers posted the four quickest times with Antoine Lemieux (REM/Kosmic) and Olivier Mrak (REM/Kosmic) helping lock out the front row for both PreFinal races.

The track dried up just before the Rotax Seniors returned to the track Saturday afternoon for their PreFinal races, and the first group was able to run their entire race without interruption. Major Makovskis (REM/Kosmic) moved from seventh on the grid to lead after a chaotic opening lap. Nolan Bower (Premier/CS55) traded the lead with Makovskis in the opening laps before Ayden Ingratta (Pfaff/Gillard) took his turn in the race lead for the second half. A little contact on the final lap between Ingratta and Maxwell allowed Makovskis to sneak through and take the PreFinal win.

The second PreFinal rolled off the grid on slick tires, but after a short delay for the red flag on the opening lap, the drizzle returned. Staying on track, the conditions saw karts slipping and sliding their way around the TAG Karting Academy circuit for ten laps. Mrak handled the conditions best and pulled away to a 3-second victory. Carlo Sasso (CS/TonyKart) moved up from eighth on the grid to finish in second place, just ahead of Antoine Lemieux, Laurent Legault (BCR/BirelART) and Arnaud Sabourin (Prime/BirelART).

The top 15 from each PreFinal transferred directly to the Final, while the rest had to run the Last Chance Race on Sunday.

Following a P6 Qualifying effort, Leopold Schrevel (PSL/BirelART) had a DNF in his PreFinal that forced him to the LCQ. Back on rain tires, he was no match for the rest of the group as he dominated the race, winning by 12.5 seconds. Joining him in the transfer spots were Mindy Croteau (BirelART), Jesse Lambert (PSL/BirelART), Ryan Weigel (DMG/BirelART), Joseph Valentino (REM/Kosmic) and Jack Stokley (BCR/OTK).

A sea of REM at the start of the Rotax Senior Final (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

The slippery conditions on Sunday lasted all day, and the Rotax Senior category was the final to take to the track for their main event. Suffocated in a cloud all day, the skies finally started to break up late in the day, and the mechanics were scrambling to select their best setups for the changing conditions. Two drivers even opted for slick tires, but that decision was premature as the track was still very wet.

The opening corners were mayhem as two separate incidents clogged up the track and hurt the chances of many drivers early.

Mrak got the jump off the start with Makovskis slipping in behind him. Sasso had a challenging opening set of laps, falling well down the order while Timothe Pernod (PSL/BirelART) was the big mover early, advancing up to third place after starting outside the top ten.

Makovskis attacked Mrak for the lead on lap two, but he slowed enough that Maxwell was able to take advantage of both drivers to gain the race lead. Falling back to P5, Makovskis now had to contend with Sabourin and Pernod to get back to the race leaders.

Maxwell led the majority of the 12-lap race from there, but Makovskis was the fastest, driving his way by Sabourin, Pernod and Mrak to move back into P2 at halfway. Closing the gap to the race leader, Makovskis pressured Maxwell on lap ten and pulled off the pass with two laps to go.

Unable to fight back, Maxwell had to watch the new race leader pull away from him on the final lap and settle for second place as Makovskis celebrated the race win, his first as Senior.

Well behind the race leaders, Ingratta won the battle for P3 after a hectic race, crossing 8.9 seconds adrift. Pernod and Mrak rounded out the top five.

Rotax Senior podium (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

Next up for the RMC Quebec will be round two at the ICAR Circuit in Mirabel on July 4-5. A reminder, the event will be run on Friday and Saturday, as series organizers were forced to adjust the weekend schedule due to a conflict at ICAR.

Registration will open around June 23, and racers are reminded that pre-registration is required to compete. Online Pre-Registration closes two days before the event starts, so don’t wait to get your entry in.