Open Shifter Win for Nathan Gilbert at the Canadian Open

The Canadian Open weekend for Nathan Gilbert (CENA/Kosmic) couldn’t have gone much better. The Open Shifter pilot never finished lower than second in all of the official sessions and he capped off the weekend with a convincing victory in the Final, taking the checkered flag by more than eight seconds after fifteen laps.

American Cooper Becklin (PSL/BirelART) started from the pole position for the Final, but he was very slow off the line when the green flag flew and that sent the entire grid scrambling to get around.

Gilbert won the drag race into corner one, followed by Frank Launi (Innisfil/GP Kart), Charles Robin (CENA/Formula K) and Dominic LeGrand (Maison du Roti/BirelART), while Becklin was all the way back in sixth.

Putting down fast laps, Gilbert quickly began to pull away while Becklin was on the move. By lap eight he was back to third and pressuring Launi. The two came into contact exiting the bowl section and both ended up in the grass before reaching the following corner. Launi was visually upset but both were able to get their karts restarted and retired from the race a lap later.

With Gilbert out of reach, Robin was solidly in second place and he cruised to the finish line while LeGrand just barely held off Henry Knox (Nonstop/BirelART) and Xingran Tang (Prime/BirelART) at the finish line.

Catching the race for third in the final laps, Christian Gysi (BirelART) had to take it easy to ensure he didn’t risk his lead in the Open Shifter Masters division. He would slot into the middle of that pack and confirmed himself as the winner, over Michel LeGrand (Maison du Roti/BirelART) and Thierry St-Onge (PSL/BirelART).