Racing For Kids visited young patients and their families at Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in a special outdoor program on Tuesday, July 15. Canadian sportscar racer Peter Hanson & rookie racer Francesco Esposito engaged the young patients, signed autographs, talked about their experiences on the race track, and welcomed all to sit in […]
A brand-new season is underway for me and the Racing For Kids team with Sanders Motorsport. I’m
thrilled to be representing and working with Racing For Kids again as the 2025 racing season presents us with some new challenges. There was a late change in the off-season as we switched from the FEL Series to the SPC Series. A different Series, with different rules & regulations, and different competitors. There
was much to learn about the SPC Series.
The SPC organizers were very welcoming and happy to have myself and the Racing For Kids team joining them in 2025, but you never know where you sit in the pecking order until you get to the first race weekend of the year. How would we fare? Our new race car livery for 2025 was revealed to the public this
weekend to many positive comments. One recurring remark is that our car definitely stands out and is easy to spot on-track.
New for this year and incorporated into our livery is the Helping Hands concept whereby the Kids can sign their names on a “Hand” decal and apply it to the race car. The kids at the track loved seeing their names on the race car!
The weekend got off to a good start during Qualifying. I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable
qualifying sessions because of the way it played-out. Not knowing how competitive we would be
amongst this group of unfamiliar competitors, I was pleasantly surprised when team manager
Alan told me over the radio that we were P1 on the timing chart. This was shortly followed by another
radio message saying #7 and #41 have gotten ahead. Alan gave me the delta to P1 so we set off on
another flying lap and managed to regain the P1 spot. This continued for the remainder of the qualifying
session as the three of us kept going quicker and trading positions on the timing chart. On the last lap
of the qualifying session I managed to set the fastest time for the P1 spot, but it was brief as car #7, who
had not yet completed his last lap, managed to edge ahead for the P1 starting position. It was rewarding
to be able find a little more speed each time I went for a flying lap. Qualifying was over and we are
starting 2nd on our SPC debut; I was feeling pretty good.
A unique feature of the SPC Series is the “standing start”. Not many racing series use a standing start due to the higher risks involved. A “rolling start” is much safer by comparison. Believe it or not I have never done a standing start in competition. All my years in other Series such as IMSA and the World Challenge were done with a rolling start. This was going to be interesting! Race 1. I had a good getaway from the grid but got blocked behind a spinning car in Turn-1. This allowed some cars to get by and dropped me down to P6. The rest of the race was a grind to regain those lost positions as I worked my way up to finish on the podium in P3.
Race 2. Another unique aspect of the SPC Series is the inverted grid, so I found myself starting 3rd from
the back of the field. Another good getaway from a standing start and some exciting passes saw me in the lead before the end of the first lap. However it became obvious that cars #7 and #41 have a power
advantage as they motored by and opened a substantial gap on the back-straightaway. The rest of the
race saw me comfortably in 3rd place; another podium finish in P3. Race 3. It had rained prior to the
start of Race 3 and the track was still wet but drying; this was going to be challenging. The inverted
grid saw me starting 3rd from the back of the field again. And again another good getaway from a
standing start and some exciting passes saw me in the lead before the end of the first lap. But true to
form, once on the back-straight the #7 and #41 cars easily powered past me. Third place wasn’t a
given as this time around the #42 had found some pace and was battling hard. We traded positions
(and paint!) throughout the race. I was determined to keep my podium streak going and managed
to get by the #42 towards the end of the race to hold on to another P3 finish.
Next we head to Nova Scotia for the Maritimes Speedfest at Atlantic Motorsport Park.
