Local circuit racers and riders took the opportunity to shake down their cars and bikes at the Wallerfield International Raceway on Sunday. It was the only local event before shipping their machines to Guyana’s South Dakota Circuit for the final leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) 2018. The Trinidad and Tobago team is currently on its way to claiming the Championship title for the third year in a row, after almost doubling their point lead on Barbados coming out of the third leg of the competition in September.
On Sunday 14th October 2018 however, drivers and riders constituted all competition classes including the recent addition of Time Attack, as the local championship also comes to an end with a final event tentative for December.
The day’s racing activities started early with qualifying. Events are now condensed to one day, as opposed to 2 day race weekends, in order to keep operating costs down. The race program for the day got going with three races of each run group ranging from Groups 1-4, Bikes, Time Attack and an Open Wheel exhibition session with Zachary Boodram’s Suzuki Radical RSX.
Isa Deen took the checkered flag in Group 1 for all three races but was heavily challenged by fellow youngster Arvin Singh, who exhibited some of his best driving for the season thus far. The relatively quick eight-lap races weren’t enough for Singh to get past Deen. However, the pair had the most exciting battles of the day. A combined Group 1 and 2 race at the end also resulted in both Deen and Singh on the podium.
Group 3 and 4 also consisted of combined races with Ronald Wortman and Franklyn Boodram easily claiming pole positions in each class respectively. Trinidad and Tobago Automobile Sport Association (TTASA) President, Mr. Fyzool Madan returned to shake down his Group 4 Audi DTM TT after a collision earlier this year. Meanwhile, due to attrition, Group 2 driver Keeva Seegobin found himself in GP3/4 combined races with his Group 2 car as he valiantly volunteered to help constitute some of the classes, while also adding to his seat time.
On two wheels intense action built up as Nicholas “Gonzo” Gonsalez challenged his off-track friend and on-track rival Kiel Abraham for all three races and emerged victorious in the final race, a goal he has been pursuing all year long!
Time Attack competition brought the day’s activity to a close as Sean Shairsingh lead the pack with consistent 44s lap times in his Porsche GT3 RS. Sean commented that worn tyres kept him from being one second quicker. Other cars in the Time Attack class included Japanese favourites such as Mayank Ramlakhan’s Mazda RX7, Uttam Jogie’s Mitsubishi Evolution, Adrian Bynoe’s Subaru Impreza and Shiva Maharaj’s Honda Civic, which raced against the clock for the fastest time around the 1.4km track. Time Attack currently bridges drivers from the street or feeder events such as Autocross to get both seat and competition time on the racetrack, after attending mandatory driving school sessions.
The Trinidad and Tobago Automobile Sport Association (TTASA) would like to thank all that made this event a success, and would like to wish good luck to all competitors taking part in the final leg of the CMRC competition on November 11th & 12th, 2018 in Guyana.
