Rice Takes Podium at BARC Canadian Touring Trophy Race Weekend

Toronto, ON –

This past weekend brought a very eventful and successful race weekend for Rice Racing driver Lindsay Rice at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Driving the Rice Racing Porsche 911 in the GT3 class at the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy races, Lindsay clinched a well-deserved 3rd place win in the GT Challenge endurance race, placing herself in the running for the Race Ontario Championship.

Lindsay’s 911 Carrera was well prepared by her support team Bestline Auto Tech for the weekend’s four races. After having only a couple of days in the car since their last race weekend in May, the team was eager to test out the Porsche 911 in Saturday’s busy agenda, which included qualifications and Race One.

Due to lap time breakout bracket rules in CASC racing, and after some confusion regarding the Porsche 911’s class designation within the CASC rules, Lindsay was classified as a GT4 car briefly based on lap times. In qualifications, she placed herself first on grid, in front of nine other GT4 racecars. She set her fastest lap record ever in this session, which was a mere .4 seconds faster than her previous record.

When Lindsay arrived to the grid for Race One that afternoon, she had received a penalty for breaking out of her class by .3 seconds, and setting a faster lap time than allowed in GT4. Consequently, she was placed 35th, otherwise known as third last in the field.

Although she started behind the GT4 class, as well as far behind her new class of GT3 cars, this did not inhibit her success during Race One. The race ended up rewarding Lindsay Rice with more career firsts. Starting as 35th on the grid out of 37 cars, she advanced 17 positions to land herself the Hard Charger title. Along with this, Lindsay put down another fastest lap ever during the race, and clinched a 6th final position in GT3 out of nine GT3 cars.

Sunday was even more successful, even though it included a minor bump in the road for the Rice Racing team. Beginning with Race Two in the morning, Rice kept consistent and strong and finished 4th overall in her class. She advanced 3 spots overall during the race and set yet another best lap time, shaving off 2.1 seconds from her best lap time in Race One.

Shortly after Race One, Lindsay Rice was required to set down qualification times for the GT Challenge one-hour endurance race. With limited tire supply, Lindsay went out for a short ten minutes and was able to lay down a decent qualification time, placing herself second on grid in GT3.

The final GT Sprints race was next on the team’s busy schedule, which was the bump in the road for Rice Racing. After only 6 laps into the race, Lindsay Rice felt vibrations in her car coming out of the back straight, which led to her being unable to steer. She came into the pits immediately with a flat tire, giving herself a DNF for Race Three.

Lindsay Rice’s last race of the weekend, the GT Challenge, came around 5:30pm on Sunday. Starting second in class on grid and 3rd overall for GT cars, Lindsay pushed hard to retain that spot and go for the win. A very long and hard battle for a podium spot brought Lindsay fighting with a Cayman GT4 Clubsport, and a Porsche 911 Turbo who both overtook her shortly after 20 minutes into the race. Not being able to compete with the horsepower, Lindsay fought hard with the Porsche 911 Turbo for the later half of the race, finishing just tenths of a second behind the Turbo’s bumper.

The one hour race brought tough competition, clean passing, a bump in the 911’s rear end, and unobstructed focus, allowing Lindsay to secure her 3rd place finish and podium win, another one to add to the books for Rice Racing.

Lindsay speaks out about her successes in the endurance race, “The GT Challenge race was incredible. I was bumper to bumper with two or three cars in my class for the majority of the race. Luckily, I was able to keep steady and push myself forward, claiming my third place win. I have to give it to my competitors – we played fair and very tough. This was the best racing I have seen yet, by far.”

Lindsay will be competing next at the Porsche Club of America race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next weekend, August 6/7th in the 911. The following weekend, the team will be competing at the famous Grand Prix Trois-Rivieres in the Canadian Touring Car Championship series.

To get involved with Lindsay Rice and the team throughout the 2016 season, follow her at @riceracing on Instagram, and @riceracingTO on Twitter. Or visit her website at: www.riceracing.ca.

Race photos provided by Static Light Photography. Instagram: @staticlight

About RICE RACING

Rice Racing is a group of motorsports professionals from Toronto, Ontario. Founder and driver of Rice Racing, Lindsay Rice, is a female race car driver from Mississauga, ON who drives the #18 Porsche 911 in the Canadian Touring Car Championship. Technical and mechanical support for the car is provided by Bestline Auto Tech, a professional motorsports technical support team based in Vaughan, ON.

Rice Racing would like to thank their main sponsors for the season, Italform Structures and Quagmire Holdings, Ltd. for their efforts and support in 2016, as well as their additional gold-level sponsors, TEAMLTD and LIQUI MOLY.