It was a trip north of the border to Canada for TJ Speed Motorsports driver Christian Weir as he competed on the bumpy streets of Toronto. Taking on the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires program, Weir battled hard on the 1.786 mile, 11-turn circuit in his quest to score valuable championship points.
With only one practice session Friday morning that led into qualifying later that afternoon, Weir was able to improve his results. Finishing practice in 14th, Weir improved in qualifying for race one to clock the 12th quickest lap of the session and outside row six starting spot.
Returning to the track Saturday for the second qualifying session that set the grid for race two of the weekend on Sunday, Weir once again showed improvement clocking the eighth fastest lap of the session.
“We had very few laps in practice and qualifying due to all the red flags for incidents,” explained Weir. “With 12 laps total before we took to the grid for qualifying, it was not ideal as I was still looking to get into a rhythm.”
Weir continued, “It was good to improve in the first three sessions of the weekend but now we need to shift the focus to racing. The goal remains the same from the beginning of the weekend: to finish every lap, stay out of trouble and move forward.”
Taking the first green flag of wheel-to-wheel racing Saturday afternoon, Weir rolled off the grid P12 as he looked to move his way forward. In a race that featured a short red flag for drivers to switch to wet weather Cooper Tires late in the race, Weir fell one position and crossed the line in the 13th position.
Weir added, “It was an ok race but obviously not the result we wanted. I had to spend much of the race playing catch up, but we survived. We start in the top-ten tomorrow and aim to rebound from today’s result.”
Returning to the track Sunday, Weir started the second race of the weekend from the eighth position, but it ended on the opening lap with contact.
“The Streets of Toronto did its best to be as challenging as it could be,” added Weir after the weekend. “There were red flags during our one and only practice and during both of our qualifying sessions. The extremely bumpy track was different every time we went out, but I did improve with each session. The rain in race one was just one more curveball. I went into race two feeling very confident and comfortable, but unfortunately was hit in the opening lap and was not able to continue. I may not leave Toronto with the results I wanted, but I gained valuable experience in what I consider the most difficult circuit in our calendar. I still don’t know if I will be able to continue the season, but our long break gives us some extra time to work on finding the budget for the last five rounds.”
Photo Credit: RTD Media
