Caledon residents team up to tackle high-profile sports car series

Photo by peterbrand.ca John Lockhart drives at the Steelback Grand Prix.

Caledon residents John Lockhart (Caledon Village) and Jason Sharpe (Bolton) have recently completed a very successful season of racing together in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship - Canada's highest profile sports car series.

The pair has been racing most of their lives, but only met half-way through last year during an event at Mosport. Lockhart had just recently acquired factory support from SAAB Canada for his JL Racing Team and Sharpe was competing in the Ontario GT Sprints driving for his own team. They were parked next to one another and the need for some borrowed equipment prompted an introduction.

Lockhart and Sharpe, realizing they were both from the same area, met up for some refreshments one evening later that summer and started to discuss the opportunity of working more closely together for the upcoming year.

JL Racing entered a SAAB 93 sport sedan in the newly formed and incredibly competitive Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship. The series regularly sees more than 50 cars entered per race and features three classes of competition that all race on the track at the same time.

Photo by Phil Reilly Bolton's Jason Sharpe rounds corner 5 at Mosport.

Races were held all over Ontario including Mosport, Shannonville and Calabogie. The highlight of the season was the series first participation as one of the support races for the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.

The team's sponsorship portfolio also has a Caledon flavour to it as Flex-Mor Trucking, of Bolton, has been a long-time supporter of Lockhart.

The season started off with some challenges as the new car needed some development to transform it from a luxury sport sedan to an all-out touring car that regularly reaches speeds over 235 km-hr.

"We spent a lot of time and money on the development of this car," said owner Lockhart. "I am really happy with our progress as we started out the year a little behind the eight ball but our rigorous testing program, coupled with our consistent finishes, rewarded us with a 5th place in the championship. At some tracks, like Toronto and Calabogie, we were actually very competitive even though we had a horsepower deficit which is a testament to how well these cars handle," he added.

The new driver pairing worked very well as they both have similar driving styles and chassis changes seemed to work well for both of them, making it easier for the team to find the ultimate setup on the car.

"I really enjoyed my first season with SAAB and JL Racing," said Sharpe. "They are a great bunch of guys and we had a lot of fun even though there was a lot of hard work involved in making the car as competitive as we got it."

In addition to the 5th place in the Touring Car Championship, JL Racing won the War Bonnet 3-hour endurance race a few weeks back with guest drivers Diane Dale, Alex Toth and Kyle Marcelli behind the wheel.

The team is now busy designing and building the next generation of SAAB 93s for competition and will increase the number of cars entered in the championship to two. The car will most likely be unveiled at the Montreal and Toronto Auto Shows.

The Touring Car Championship itself is in an aggressive growth mode and will take the JL Racing Team and their SAAB's to two events in Quebec next season in addition to the six Ontario events.

For more information on JL Racing log onto www.jlracing.net.