May 16 2016
Toronto, Ontario – Driver for Rice Racing, Lindsay Rice, grabbed multiple podium wins this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, ON at the BEMC Spring Trophy Races.
After driving in four races during the Spring Trophy Races at CTMP this past weekend, Lindsay Rice took home trophies in the GT3 class for both the GT Sprints and the GT Challenge categories.
On Saturday, May 14th, the track at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park saw a lot of rain and overcast skies. Rice Racing was ready to compete in the first GT Sprint race of the weekend, which was at 2pm that afternoon (GT Sprints Race #1). Lindsay Rice qualified third in her class for the race that morning during the rain, on rain tires, and secured herself in second place during the race that afternoon. This was Lindsay’s first competitive race ever, and her first ever podium win.
“I raced in my first ever race. It is hard to believe that it finally happened. My goal had been to race competitively, and there I was. It is what my team and I have worked for, and I couldn’t be more proud or more ecstatic at this moment,” said Lindsay Rice.
Sunday morning brought in even worse weather, and Lindsay Rice was entered in three races for the day. The first race was GT Sprints Race #2. GT Sprint races are 20 minutes long, and in that time Lindsay endured rain, snow, and a very cold track. Unfortunately, after leading the first 4 laps in second place overall; Lindsay lost her position due to a small spin. After her recovery, she was able to still grab a podium win as third in her class, and place 11th overall.
“The weekend was a big learning curve for me. The weather conditions made it that much harder to adapt all situations that came my way during my first ever race weekend. But, I actually really did like the rain. I have to say that it was intimidating coming up the back straight and realizing that it has started to snow in turn 8, and you need to be on the brakes ASAP,” Lindsay stated. “Now that was the biggest learning curve.”
The second race for Lindsay on Sunday was a one-hour long GT Challenge race just after lunch. Luckily, the weather had cleared slightly. With this being her first ever attempt at racing in an endurance race, and also her third race ever, Lindsay showed an impressive display of dedication with securing a third place win in her class, and 7th overall.
Lindsay’s last race of the weekend was the GT Sprints Race #3. She displayed intelligent and aggressive driving and was able to succeed in a tight battle for positon. Lindsay secured another second place win in her class, meaning another podium for Rice Racing!
“The last GT Sprints race on Sunday was a battle. I was able to clinch second in my class near the start of the race, but I had cars on my tail from that moment on. I just kept my line, tried to stay as consistent as possible, and pushed harder,” Lindsay said. “Apparently this battle created most of the excitement for the crowd that race!”
Saturday: GT Sprint Race #1: 2nd Place
Sunday: GT Sprint Race #2: 3rd Place
GT Challenge Race: 3rd Place
GT Sprint Race #3: 2nd Place
Rice Racing is a group of motorsports professionals based out of Toronto, ON. They hold the talents of their driver, Lindsay Rice, their team coach and three-time Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada Master’s Champion, Marco Cirone, and their professional support team, Bestline Autotech. Rice Racing would like to thank their main sponsors for the 2016 season, Italform Structures and Quagmire Holdings, Ltd.
To follow Lindsay Rice throughout the race season, please visit www.riceracing.ca, www.facebook.com/RiceRacingTO and follow her on twitter at @RiceRacingTO.