Steven Laporte Wins The Opening Round Of The Canadian Civic Championship Series At Mosport

Courtesy Civic Championship

Bowmanville, Ontario - May 21, 2006: Steven Laporte of Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs enjoyed a near perfect race weekend in the season opener of the Canadian Civic Championship held at Mosport International Speedway. The Lombardi Honda Racing Team driver put his Civic DX Coupe on the provisional pole on Saturday. He then confirmed his fourth-career Mosport track pole on Sunday morning prior to winning the afternoon 16-lap race.

"What a great way to begin the season," Laporte said. "I was on the pole but nest to me, my teammate Robert (Boyer) had a much better start than I did and he took the lead going into the first corner of the race. Instead of fighting for first place, I had to deal with Didier Schraenen until he went slightly off-course at mid-race. I then decided to follow Robert in order to build a lead on the rest of the field. With two laps to go, I drafted him on the long Mosport straight and went by him in corner eight. After that, all I had to do was to keep him at bay until the finish line."

Mother nature did its best to test the drivers as they were greeted with cold temperature and snow flakes prior to the start of the race. It drizzled until mid-point, but fortunately the field enjoyed better weather at end of the event. With track conditions improving, Laporte made his move for first place on teammate Robert Boyer of Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs on lap 15 of 16.

Boyer finished a close second behind his Lombardi teammate after leading much of the opening round. Didier Schraenen of Mont-Saint-Hilaire (QC) finished third, 10 seconds behind the winner. The Énergie/NAPA/RDS driver fought for second-place with Laporte, who was holding the position at the time, until he spun following a race restart midway through the event. Normand Boyer of Sainte-Agathe (QC), who was assessed a drive-through penalty for passing during the formation lap, finished fourth ahead of Emmanuel Boivin-Moreau of Longueuil and Kris Rams of Toronto.

About the Series
This type of single-marque car racing Championship has seen Canadian drivers like Ron Follows, David Empringham, Richard Spénard, Frank Allers, Jacques Villeneuve, brother of Gilles, and more recently Kuno Wittmer, coming through the ranks on their way to making their mark on the national and international motorsport scene.

The 2006 Canadian Civic Championship Series continues with the Spring Classic double-header next weekend at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, QC. The eight-race schedule also includes events at Mosport International Raceway on June 18, at the Canadian Grand Prix on Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on June 24, Shannonville Motorsport Park on July 16 and at Circuit Mont-Tremblant on September 24. The season finale will be held at Mosport on October 1.