2016 Challenge Canadian Grand Prix

**2016 Challenge Canadian Grand Prix**
Race details
Round 7 of the 2016 Formula Challenge season

Date	17th May, 2016
Event	2016 Challenge Canadian Grand Prix
Location	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal
Course	Semi-Permanent Racing Facility 2.710 mi / 4.361 km
Distance	18 laps, 48.78 mi / 78.498 km (each race)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Antonio Hreljanovic	Bastvik Grand Prix
Time	1:26.861
Race One Podium
First	Carlos Fernandez	Tēafor Motorsport
Second	James Johnson	MadCape Racing Team
Third	Mike Kwint	Scuderia Basilea
Race One Fastest Lap
Driver	Carlos Fernandez	Tēafor Motorsport
Time	1::27.359
Race Two Podium
First	Carlos Fernandez	Tēafor Motorsport
Second	Hansko Mebius	YTF1
Third	Terence Grech	Zedderick Racing
Race Two Fastest Lap
Driver	James Johnson	MadCape Racing Team
Time	1:27.278

The 2016 Challenge Canadian Grand Prix - the Seventh round of the season - took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve course in Montreal, Canada on the 17th of May.

Report

Background

After the previous round, which took place in Monaco, it was James Johnson at the top of the drivers standings however his lead was cut short by the impressive Stephane Rouault who dominated the race meet, taking both race wins and pole position. The Dutchman entered the Canadian round on the back of three straight wins, one shy of the all-time record for consecutive wins (4, Petar Brljak 2013) and few would be against him taking the record for himself. Jonathan Holmes also enjoyed a highly competitive Monaco race meet, finishing with two podium positions to maintain his championship challenge.

Qualifying

It was a two horse race for pole position, with the familiar sight of a rapid James Johnson going up against the returning to form Antonio Hreljanovic, the two of them a quarter of a second ahead of the rest of the field. However it's would be the Croatian Hreljanovic that would pip the championship leader to pole, setting a time of 1:26.861, six hundredths ahead of Johnson. However it was revealed afterwards that Hreljanovic was carrying over a grid penalty from Turkey which resulted in him lining up in fifth place. Johnson therefore would line up on pole with Carlos Fernandez being promoted to the front row alongside him. Row 2 featured the impressive Niranjan Kumar (SDEv with his career best grid position of third and Stephane Rouault in fourth, well within strike of the consecutive wins record.

Race One

It was Carlos Fernandez who put an end to Rouault's winning streak with a determined performance, managing to find a way past James Johnson with a superior straight line speed over the Englishman and then maintaining a steady gap for the remainder of the race. The two finished ten second ahead of third placed Mike Kwint, again impressing for Scuderia Basilea. It became a disaster of a race for Rouault who was running well within the top 5 when an uncharacteristic mistake put him into the wall coming out of turn 6 and out of the race, his first retirement of the season. Antonio Hreljanovic finished fourth for his best result since [2016 Challenge Russian Grand Prix|Russia]] just ahead of Jonathan Holmes, registering his eighth top 5 finish of the year.

Fernandez also set the fastest lap of the race, 1:27.359.

Race Two

Michael Barnard had a pretty quiet season since joining Deltec in Turkey two rounds ago but he suddenly found himself on pole when it was the top 13 that were selected for reversal, however the American couldn't capitalise, being caught out in a first turn melee. Instead it was race one victor Carlos Fernandez who recorded a double victory in Canada will another fantastic performance built around a stonking straightline speed in his Tēafor Motorsport machine. Despite starting 13th on the grid, the Spaniard carved his way through to restart his championship charge. Hansko Mebius repeated his reverse grid heroics from Monaco for YTF1, converting second on the grid to a season's best second at the finish, less than four seconds behind Fernandez whilst paddock favourite Terence Grech finally made a return to the podium in third, enduring a wait of nine races. James Johnson once again had a race two to forget, scrapping into the points in 15th after again having to pit for repairs whilst Stephane Rouault left Canada without a single point after only being able to recover to 19th in race 2.

Johnson did have the last laugh, setting fastest lap with a time of 1:27.278.

Post-race

With both James Johnson and Stephane Rouault having less than perfect race meets, Jonathan Holmes managed to claw himself to a point behind the Dutchman as the race for the title neared it's halfway point. Carlos Fernandez's perfect 50 points catapulted him up to fourth, just ahead of Geoffrey Fournier who again suffered a quiet race meet. In the teams, Tēafor Motorsport replaced Epic Racing in the Top 5 whilst Fanatec Draig jumped ahead of Deltec into second, but still a mammoth 84 points off leaders MadCape.