This year, the Grand Prix of Montreal was just as dramatic and intense as any other year. It was filled with crashes, tension and emotion as the top 40 racers from Quebec, Ontario and the United States fought to finish the races and make it through the weekend with their car in once piece.
Friday was an exceptionally rainy day. The Paddock location for Formula 1600 was just beside the Jacques Cartier Bridge, in the dirt. Of course, because of the rain, that dirt became slippery mud that just seems to get everywhere no matter how many times you clean up. It was a very messy day and this was reflected by qualifying, which took place at six o'clock in the evening. Unfortunately I was not there, but from what I was told and what I saw on the video, Duncan decided to become the Flying Scotsman. Another racer and Duncan were running very closely together during qualifying. On the approach to turn 3 the other racer started braking earlier than Duncan thought he would and Duncan ran over his rear wheel. Duncan and his car were ejected into the air and then smashed back down onto the track. Duncan was uninjured, but the car suffered a broken steering arm, among other things. By the time Duncan, Jim, Corey and Corey finished repairing the car; it was around ten-thirty in the evening.
As a result of Friday, Duncan qualified eleventh. After some final adjustments the car was ready for the race, which was at two-thirty in the afternoon on Saturday. A lot of us were quick excited because Massa made an appearance on the false grid! The race was very eventful and by the time it was over, Duncan had finished in eighth place. Some racers were not so lucky. One racer crashed into the wall in three spins and his car was totaled. He walked off the track uninjured.
On Sunday, we found out we had qualified eleventh for the race. Unlike at Tremblant, there is no qualifying Sunday morning, so the officials take the best times from the race on Saturday. When we got onto the pit lane at the appropriate time to start the race, we found out it was delayed because the track needed to be fixed. There had been an oil spill and a broken barrier, during the race before. This gave us the time to walk around the pit lane and take a look at some of the Formula 1 garages. Unfortunately, the drivers were at a driver's meeting. When the race finally started, we were quite excited. Duncan had spun on the first lap, which dropped him to sixteenth place. Unfortunately for one driver who crashed, the pace car had to come out, but fortunately for us, the racers all came together and we had a chance to close the gap. Duncan moved from sixteenth place to eleventh in shortened twenty minute race. We were very impressed and very happy with his effort and perseverance.
This weekend was not as dramatic as the last few for our team, when people were run over and the car caught on fire. The car finished in one piece and we were very grateful the weekend was as successful as it was. Now, we have to focus our efforts for the next race... at the ICAR Circuit in Mirabel at the beginning of July!
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