2011 TM Lights Round of Quebec

The 2011 TM Lights Round of Quebec was the fourth race of six in the TM Lights North Division schedule. It was held at the Circuit Trois-Rivi&egrave;res in Quebec.

Summary
Shinji Tanaka led from the pole and by the end of the first lap he had a three-second lead. In the midfield, however, the infamous accordion effect saw his teammate, Kunimitsu Kasumoto, spinning before the field got to the treacherous fourth corner. Kasumoto sustained no damage and the field somehow avoided creating a huge pileup. At the end of the first lap, Hawk Slider and Lisa Pardo found the Turn 9 tire wall and were eliminated on the spot. Both started well down the order.

Tanaka blew what became a nine-second lead after whacking the wall in Turn 9, causing enough damage for him to lose that lead in the pits to Bruce Wilkinson, who despite qualifying well, seemed awfully erratic on-track...

Brandon Baker took a swipe at Kevin Dwyer on Lap 3 for no good reason, however Dwyer saved his car from wrecking and instead caused Baker to spin himself into the inside wall in turn 1. Dwyer also found the turn 9 wall, but his situation wasn't helped when Kazuki Toshima piled into him.

On Lap 4, Thomas Duke spun into the Turn 4 tire wall, eliminating himself instantly.

Carter Davids spun into the turn 4 tire wall 4 laps after dodging the Dwyer/Toshima silliness. Again, instant DNF.

Estell Dusak was running 6th, with Greg Woodard making his TM Lights debut in the No. 61 car for Dan Timothy in 9th coming to the first round of pit stops. Dusak crashed into the pit wall, and then when he was correcting himself, hit Woodard, causing Woodard to hit the same pit wall. Both were eliminated.

Sam Morel and Packer Carroll stayed out an extra lap and gained significant track position as a result.

Wilkinson assumed the lead after the pit stop cycle, with Hamilton West in second, that is, until West decided to become acquainted with the Turn 4 tire wall. Wilkinson had built a very comfortable lead, however it was largely due to a good pit stop rather than anything Wilkinson himself had done on the track (he was two tenths of a second slower than Jacob Kard and Dan Mackay, who assumed 2nd and 3rd after West crashed).

Mackay and Kard were spectacular, with Mackay passing Kard in an awesome move on Lap 16. Julian Alexander, Chris Davenport, and Louis Tellez were also having good races, with Tellez coming from the last row!

Wilkinson ate the turn 9 wall twice and it cost him valuable time in the pits to Mackay and Kard. Leaving the pitlane, Wilkinson pulled right into the side of Curtis Darcy on the pit exit sending both cars spinning down the main straight. Darcy was also leaving the pits, and had a huge head of steam leaving the pitlane... but Wilkinson still had no business turning into him. Wilkinson continued on for awhile longer before ending his day against the turn 9 walls.

In the meantime, Nathan Ferguson met the turn 4 tire wall. So did Dean Rickenbacher and Martin Boltano, Jr.

Mackay assumed the lead of the race and had a four second lead over Morel, with Kard running in fifth place.

On Lap 26, polesitter Tanaka finally ends his day against the Turn 4 tire wall from 7th place, 8th and 9th place DeAndre Berkowitz and Shlomo Feinstein have nowhere to go but into Tanaka's car, but both continue on. Berkowitz didn't bother pitting to fix the damage on his car. Holden Roberts was involved but he continued on.

Alex Neszmary eventually gave up around this point after hitting the walls numerous times.

Belen Koumoundorous was running 14th but a series of blown tires and mechanical problems ended what appeared to be a good day for the Greek driver. Koumoundorous distinguished himself as the only mechanical DNF that wasn't caused by hitting a wall at some point.

Mackay blew his lead over Morel by hitting the Turn 9 wall pretty hard. Whoops.

Sam Morel went on to win the race from Kard and Darcy in third. Carroll finished in 4th, and Alexander rounded out the top five.

The top 10

 * ''For the full results, click here.

Points

 * ''Combined points standings can be found here.

Chris Davenport leads the division standings with 165 points, 30 ahead of Julian Alexander. Davenport is five points off the overall series lead held by Lorne Roth.