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 […]
AUGUST 08-10, 2025
La Belle Province welcomed us for the famous Grand Prix de TroisRivières, the oldest and longest operating street race in North America. It has been held annually since 1967 and is one of the most important automotive events in Quebec. The circuit is laid out in the streets of the city and stands out for its construction, which is both permanent for some portions and public roads for the others. The circuit is also famous for its narrow passage under the Pacifique-Duplessis Gate.
Fan interaction this weekend was incredible! There were so many people at the circuit, and they all wanted to come and see the Racing For Kids race car, get their photos taken with the team, pick-up a signed Hero Card, and write their names on a Helping Hands decal. The Saturday afternoon autograph session was the best attended I have seen. For over 1 1/2 hours there was a steady stream of fans.
Many autographs were signed and many Racing For Kids hats and shirts were handed out.
We made many new friends this weekend, most memorable was young Enzo – a blonde bespectacled whippersnapper. We met Enzo on Friday and as customary he got to sit in the race car, collect some swag, and sign his name on a Helping Hands decal. Within a couple hours Enzo was back with some friends who all got to do the same. A couple hours after that he was back again with a new group of friends; and so it went all weekend!
I don’t know if they were all friends of his, or if young Enzo randomly collected kids from around the circuit with the offer of free swag and the opportunity to sign their names on the race car. He wasn’t fluent in English, and I’m not fluent in French. Whatever the case may be, it was a hoot. Another highlight was seeing young Landon and his family who made the trek from Ontario to come and see us. I met Landon last year at CTMP and seeing him in Trois-Rivieres was an awesome surprise. His family shared with me how excited Landon was to hang-out with us this weekend.
During practice it became apparent this was going to be a difficult weekend. The circuit, with a collection of slow 2nd gear corners, only served to emphasize the difference in acceleration between the cars.
Race 1 was held on Friday night and the visibility was not good. The track and marshal stations were dimly lit. It was difficult to judge how close you were to the walls because they were not well illuminated and the apexes of these tight corners were often obscured by the A-pillar of our Subaru BRZ.
Although we lacked acceleration there were several stints of safety-car periods due to various accidents and it afforded us the opportunity to gain some positions on the re-starts. On the last re-start some defensive driving was required but we managed to hold on to P3 and a trip to the podium. Race 2. We started Saturday afternoon’s race in P5 (after the roll of the grid dice). I was mobbed at the start and the majority of the grid easily accelerated away, dropping me back to P6. A few laps into the race and there was a safety-car for an accident. The re-start allowed me to gain a position and move up to P5, but at the completion of that lap there was another accident which brought out the safety-car again. After the second restart there was a little argy-bargy up ahead going into Turn 1 which benefited me and I moved up another position to P4. The next few laps were spent successfully defending from the #94 Honda Civic Si. Another accident brought out the safetycar again, but they could not remove the wreckage in time and the race ended behind the safety-car. Result = P4.Race 3.
We started Sunday morning’s race in P7 (after the roll of the grid dice). I made a good start and moved up to P5 before the end of the first lap. The leaders were squabbling amongst themselves which slowed their pace and allowed me to hang on to the back of their train. The following lap I was able to get by the #61 Mini Cooper S as he made a poor exit out of Turn 3. The #94 Honda Civic Si was also able to get by the Mini and the next few laps were spent defending from the very fast Honda. The Honda was eventually able to power past me on the Rue de Calonne straight and I settled into P5 for the remainder of the race.
I wasn’t happy that Trois-Rivières played to the strengths of our competitors but it was expected on a circuit that favour’s bottom-end torque, something the turbo cars seem to have an abundance of.
All in all, we survived Trois-Rivieres. There was no damage to our car this weekend and we scored a podium finish!
The next round will be at Calabogie Motorsports Park, located near the capital city of Ottawa.
