The second round of the 2013 Coupe du Quebec hit the track this past weekend at SRA Karting International as drivers and teams entered the beautiful facility north east of Montreal. The second race of the fifth race championship sets the tone for title contenders and pretenders and this weekends action was exciting. The weekend started out with bright sunny skies for Satuday’s official practice, and the sun resumed Sunday morning but for a short time. Clouds rolled in as the first round of heat races hit the track and just as round two was on grid the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down for the remainder of the day. The conditions at SRA are very challenging to begin with, but the heavy rain made for some tense moments as drivers navigated the 1.2km track.
The Rotax Mini-Max category continues to impress even with a relatively small grid of drivers. But on Sunday at SRA it was the TonyKart of Charles Deschenes who would set himself apart from the rest. Deschenes cruised in the dry heat one. Tackling the rain the youngster was only able to muscle a third place result in the wet heat two, won by Samuel Lupien (CSL Racing/Birel), but from there he was nearly unstoppable. When the heavy rain fell in heat two, Deschenes battled to get our front by lap two after falling to third at the start, and then cruise to win.
The final was very much the same for Deschenes are he would lead flag-to-flag en route a ten-second victory, his second of the year. Charles Robin (SH Karting/Zanardi) worked his way into second on lap two, but was forced to settle in the runner-up spot as Deschenes had already checked out. In a great battle for third, Lupien, Alexandre Foteas (Tecno) and Thierry Cote (PSL Karting/CRG) all took turns in the final podium position, but it would be Cote who played it patient and took third at the finish ahead of Lupien and Foteas.
Round three of the Coupe du Quebec happens July 13 and 14 at Karting Grand-Mere and will be the final event at the facility. A special ceremony will be held in part to celebrate the many years at Karting Grand Mere.
CKN will have a full photo gallery from the event online on Tuesday.
Final Results:
| Pos |
Number |
Driver |
Laps |
Diff |
| 1 |
188 |
Charles Deschenes |
12 |
|
| 2 |
155 |
Charles Robin |
12 |
10.909 |
| 3 |
122 |
Thierry Cote |
12 |
18.15 |
| 4 |
194 |
Samuel Lupien |
12 |
20.15 |
| 5 |
121 |
Alexandre Foteas |
12 |
23.781 |
| 6 |
139 |
Andres Felipe De Alba |
12 |
26.758 |
| 7 |
115 |
Michael Granmond |
12 |
44.184 |
| 8 |
127 |
Marc-Andre Poirier |
12 |
45.065 |
| 9 |
178 |
Tommy Simard |
12 |
51.432 |
| 10 |
150 |
Vincent Berthiaume |
1 |
11 laps |
