From Way Out There...
Mont Tremblant Preview
By Tommy Brolsma
Circuit map: http://www.racingcircuits.net/Canada/qu/MontTreblant2000.html
Track website: http://www.lecircuit.com
Entry list: http://www.grandamerican.com/race_results/view_entry51.html
Schedule of Events
Television coverage: SPEED, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., then 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (EST)
This is probably the most picturesque track on the Grand Am schedule, and a driver favorite. I know I like driving it on the computer (Grand Prix Legends)! Cruising around this place for 2 or 3 hours would be a joy, and I'm sure the drivers are looking forward to it. It has a good mix of corners and elevation changes that challenge a driver.
The weather is supposed to be awesome up there this weekend, with only a small chance of rain on Saturday evening. That should not be a factor, it will just make those of us who have to watch it from the couch more jealous!/p>
There's lots of guest drivers this weekend, too, like Sasha Maassen and Mad Max Papis for Brumos, Andy Pilgrim at Bell, and Joao Barbosa at Heritage. It will be interesting what all of the above think of their rides after the weekend is over.
It will be interesting to see the Daytona Prototypes on this course, as I think it will be a good test for them, both speed and endurance wise. We won't see a whole lot of lapping with only 24 cars on the 2.65 mile circuit, but there should be some great inter-class racing.
In the DP's, there will be 7 cars battling for the top prize. It's hard to pick a winner out of the bunch! The Doran cars (both Bell and Lista) have been wind tunnel testing since the last race, so they should be faster with what they learned, the Cegwa car has a new Toyota power plant installed, and the SpeedSource has had more time to work on (and paint!) their Focus. I'm sure the Brumos team hasn't just sat on their hands, and the Picchio gets better each race, so we'll see.
To pick a winner? It's hard for me not to go against the Bell Motorsports car at a circuit like this, but I think we may have another first time class winner this weekend. That's all I'm saying!
There's only 2 GTS cars, the Heritage Motorsports Mustang and the Georgian Bay Motorsports Corvette, which I believe is a local car. Since Georgian Bay is a unknown for me, I'm guessing Heritage will continue their winning ways, but maybe the local boys with local track knowledge will show them a thing or two?
For GT, there's some good cars in the field. There's the stalwarts Ferrari of Washington and Marcus Motorsports, but also making the trip up north are the Rennwerks and Acme Porsche 911 GT3RS's and the "new school" Horizon Mustang. These cars will make the top 5 in class, but in which order? My picks are Rennwerks, FoW, Marcus, Acme, and the Horizon car. Hopefully they've worked some of the new bugs out of the Horizon car.
Overall, it should be a great weekend of racing up north!
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