Audette Racing Team’s 2011 Programme…
Mathieu Audette Not to Continue in Canadian Touring Car
Mirabel (Québec), March 9, 2011.– The Audette Racing Team and driver Mathieu Audette announced today that they will not return to the 2011 Canadian Touring Car Championship due to their disagreement with the new regulations recently imposed, without ample notice, from the series promoters.
” We will not be participating in the 2011 Canadian Touring Car Championship. We were already burned by certain decisions in the past two seasons concerning rules that were creating an even bigger gap between the normally aspirated cars and the turbocharged cars. This time, the series heads decided to impose a new type of fuel for the season, only one month before pre-season testing and less than ten weeks before the first racing weekend. Had this decision been announced in the months following the end of the 2010 season, we would’ve been able to adapt but to get this news now is a lack of respect towards teams like ours. As a result, today we made the only decision we could, that of withdrawing our initial plans for the 2011 season ” explains Mathieu Audette, 2010 Super Touring’s third placed driver.
The newly mandated fuel for the 2011 Canadian Touring Car Championship is incompatible with several Super Touring class teams’ engines, including the 2.4L Acura used by the Audette Racing Team. ” Whether we use the new motor that we had planned for this season or even if we use our older motors, this 98 octane fuel is not compatible ” indicates Mathieu Audette. “What disappoints us the most is that our questions regarding this “2011 spec” fuel all went unanswered. We tried on several occasions, without success, to contact the series promoter and the technical director by phone and by email. If this is how the Canadian Touring Car Championship wishes to have relationships with its drivers, the very same clients who have taken part in its races since the championship’s beginnings, then this is not the series for us ” adds Mathieu Audette, disappointed to see the Canadian Touring Car Championship, where he won several times during the past seasons and challenged Nick Wittmer last season, head in this direction.
In lieu of the Canadian Touring Car Championship, Mathieu Audette will take part in the Circuit Mont-Tremblant’s Spring and Fall Classics as well as certain rounds of Ontario’s Mobil 1 GT series. Quebec’s new Super Production Challenge does not currently figure into the team’s plans due to the series’ stock engines requirements. The Audette Racing Team is also exploring the Grand-Am Continental Sports Car Challenge in the United States as an option for 2012.
Rémy Audette, Mathieu’s brother, will ensure that the Audette Racing Team is represented this season in the American Formula 2000 Championship, where he will contest the entire series with the goal of winning the title.
The Audette Racing Team benefits form the support of Portes Dimensions, Novatech, Acura Plus Blainville, Les Extrusions du Nord, Verre Select, Jeld Wen, OPM, Amusements Spectaculaire, Les Moulures PFJV, Gulf, Mec-Inov and Omnitech.