Testing at CTMP For Road Course Debut

Cole Powell is set to compete in his first-ever road course event at the season opener for the Nascar Pinty’s Series coming up on Sunday, May 20 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP).  The event, which is also his series debut, will be a big change for a driver who has had great success on ovals.  To get ready, Powell took to the track on Thursday to put some laps down on the road course.

 

Jason Hathaway (left) coaching Cole Powell (right) behind the wheel of a Corvette at CTMP.

“My overall impression was that road racing is no joke: especially at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park”, Powell said after his first road course practice run on Thursday.  “It’s a really fast speedway with high-speed blind corners, and a few lower-speed but technical corners.”

 

In oval racing, once you get the car up to speed there is no more shifting through the gearbox.  Powell remarked that on the road course, shifting eleven times a lap was actually a lot of fun as he worked to optimize his speed on the track.  The transmission in the car was specially built for road racing but Cole was a bit worried about how it would perform when down-shifting at higher speeds.  As it turns out, there was nothing to worry about and the car handled great.

 

Before getting behind the wheel of his NASCAR Pinty’s Series ride, Cole took some laps around the track in a Corvette provided by team owner Ed Hakonson.  Along with coaching from Jason Hathaway the afternoon proved to be a great learning day.

 

Powell will return to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Wednesday for more testing in preparation for his NASCAR Pinty’s Series debut on Sunday, May 20th.