The seventh and final round of the DMCC series took place at the Sanair racing facility south of Montreal. It is the first time DMCC has held an event at this track to minimize driver familiarity. The track layout was a simple but, a very exciting one that was made to have crazy tandem battles.
The weekend started how the season first started, rain! But after only a few hours the rain was gone and the track dried up. For the last round, a few drivers made their return after missing the last couple events, such as Jeff Laflamme, Marc Andree Fontaine and Bob Patinka. Practice went really well with some really smoky runs; this track setup was fun to watch. The first incident of the day was when Alex Gosselin and Paco had a slight run in with each other. The damage was just cosmetic and both drivers were able to make it back out. In his first DMCC Pro event, Phil Bruyere was killing in his Toyota Soarer. One person not having as good a time was Simon Schaffner who ran into engine problems during the practice session.
After the practice session, it was time for the qualification runs. Joe Thiffault put it down and got the third spot. Always driving hard, Marc Landreville got second and with two crazy runs, Bob Patinka got the number one spot.
During the ‘Top 16’ practice we really got to see the drivers start stepping to get comfortable. Pat Cyr is a chasing machine and showed just how close he can get to people. Another driver that really impressed me in tandem was Eric Paradis, but during the ‘Top 16’ practice, however disappointingly, his engine let go and took him out of the main event early. Phil Bruyere almost had to forfeit when his tranny blew in his Soarer, but luckily he was able to borrow one and make the show.
‘Top 16’ started with Bob facing Dom Desrosier. Dom was looking great while the pressure got to Bob causing him to make a few mistakes costing him the win. The rest of the ‘Top 16’ was action packed and moving into the ‘Great 8,’ the tandem battles were insane, door-to-door action. One could tell it was the end of the season; the guys were really going all out. The cars were pushed to their physical limits as Brad Carlton’s engine blew and Francis Tasse’s car broke down rounding out the ‘Final 4’ to Pat Cyr, Marc Landreville, Tomy Bellemare and Jeff Laflamme. Pat faced Tomy and showed that he was out for the win. He stuck to Tomy’s door like glue and pulled it out. Marc faced Jeff who stepped up his chasing game in his IS300. They both put down crazy runs, but in the end, Marc’s engine let go, sending Jeff into the final battle against Pat while awarding third place to Tomy by default. The final battle was epic; the season was on the line. Jeff was all over Pat, which is not an easy feat and getting the win. If Pat would have won, he would have taken the championship from Marc Landreville by a single point. In Pat’s last season with his trusty AE86, you could tell he wanted the win. Next season he will be driving a brand new Scion FR-S.
The day’s final standings stacked up like this: Jeff Laflamme, Pat Cyr, Tomy Bellemare, and Marc Landreville and the championship results were: Marc Landreville, Pat Cyr, andFrancis Tassee.
The 2012 season was gritty, intense and action packed. I feel confident in saying we all look forward to 2013.
To see the full results of DMCC 2012, visit www.dmccdrift.com