DMCC Round 4 - Autodrome Montmagny

For the forth round of DMCC, the series came back to Autodrome Montmagny which is about 45 minutes outside of Quebec city. The series has been coming here for a number of years and it’s always a great venue that gets the grandstands completely jam packed! For this round the series decided to do something different and change the track layout.

Here Dave Briggs talked over the new layout with his crew chief Ardo

After his wreck in RD3 Pat Cyr was back and ready for action.

We also had a few new drivers to the event. XDC driver Tanner Munson decided to come up to Canada and see what it was all about.

It was a super nice day for the event! The sun was out and it was nice and hot. Drivers were getting ready to head out for the open practice session. But right before practice was about to start the sun and blue skies started to go away…

And then this happened!

It stared to pour hard – everybody was trying to find shelter.

Then it went from bad to hurricane!

At this point I had to find a place to stash my camera out of the rain. Luckily I was next to Miro’s car (one of the only cars around me that still had windows in it) so I threw my camera in his car and went to help hold down Dave Briggs tent from flying away. The storm only lasted maybe an hour or so, and as soon as it started it was over. The crowd cheered as the sun started to poke back out of the clouds.

The storm left a lake in the area behind the pits. This is Pro Am drivers Eric Warnet’s set up sitting in the water.

With the storm over practice was now actually about to start. Babu was already in his car, and on his phone as usual.

The new track layout was really cool and fun to watch – everybody was putting down some good runs.

Another new driver was Peter C. He competed in a few events last year but this was the first event he had competed in this season. Not only was it his first event this season it was his first time driving his car on track this year too – it sure didn’t show though!

Marc Landreville was sporting some new graphics this round thanks to picking up a new title sponsor. He was doing great all day but some engine issues late in the event meant he was unable to qualify.

Continuing with his season of bad luck. Marc Andre Fontaine’s R32 Skyline suffered mechanical issues again and his car sadly ended up being parked for most of the event.

Two drivers that seemed to get over their car gremlins was Carl Nadeau in his BFG V8 M3 and Babu in his LS powered G35. Both were able to make more runs at this event than they have all season.

As practice went on the runs got crazier and crazier as drivers learned the track and started to push it’s limits.

Newcomer Tanner was having no issues and was really impressive to watch.

His fellow American was also killing it. Miro has always been a very consistent driver but lately he has been really driving balls out!

Practice went on with out a hitch, and with the sun starting to go down the drivers got themselves ready for qualifying to start and the grandstands were packed.

Except for a few drivers that had car issues everybody put down some solid runs.

After his win at Round 3, Dave Briggs was looking great.

But the top qualification spot went to Miro who drove like a mad man on his second run.

With the sun completely set it was time for the Top 16 to start under the lights! First up was Carl Nadeau and Jo Thiffault. The battle went to a OMT and on the second run Jo lost it on his lead run and Carl wound up hitting him. The damage wasn’t too bad, but enough to move Carl on.

Next up was JF Chiasson and Eric Paradis.

This also went to a OMT and on the second run JF went a little too high and met the wall – Eric moved on.

Tanner Munson had to face off against Dom Derosier. Dom has been getting better and better in tandem, but Tanners XDC experience shined through and he took the win.

Crowd favorite Babu went up against Brad Carton. Babu was having a great event but Brad is a beast in tandem and put the pressure on forcing Babu to make a mistake.

In a Top 1616 rematch from the last round, it was Simon Shaffner VS Dave Briggs. History did repeat itself and Dave advanced.

The next match up was two members of the Drift Posse, Pat Cyr vs Peter C. Peter put up a great fight considering this was his first event all season but Pat Cyr was able to take the win.

And with that it was time for the Great 8! One of the best match’s up of the night – Carl VS Miro. The tandem battle was crazy and resulted in a OMT. It was a very close call but Miro got the nod.

Brad had to face Jeff Laflamme. This was promising to be a good battle and it sure was. On Jeff’s lead run he started to over rotate and with no where to go Brad slid up into him. It was pretty exciting and Brad was given the win.

I was looking forward to this next battle – Pat Cyr VS Dave Briggs. Two drivers that push the limits! But to my surprise it was not as exciting as I hoped. Pat Cyr made some slight mistakes and gave the win to Dave.

Next was an all American battle – these two have battled each other in other US events. It was really close seeing both these V8 s13’s going at it. In the end Miro took the win to go to the battle for 1st.

Dave Briggs took the win against Brad Carton (who seemed to start having car issues) to move on to face Miro for 1st.

The battle for 3rd was Brad going up against Tanner. It ended going to a OMT but Brads car had other ideas and stopped running properly, giving Tanner his first DMCC podium in his first DMCC event!

Now for the Final battle of the night – a rematch from Round 3 of Miro VS Dave, but this time Miro won it, putting him in the lead for the championship.