Valérie Limoges Makes Canadian Motorsport History
The 2022 Nissan Sentra Cup celebrated a new champion, Valérie Limoges, who made history this past weekend by becoming the first female racer to clinch an all-category title in Canadian road racing. Simon Charbonneau claimed victory in both races held this weekend at Circuit Mont-Tremblant.
"This is a big day for me. I'm delighted to have won the title and to have been so consistent all year long. That was key to my success," said Valérie Limoges after the race. "I hope my title will encourage other female drivers to join this series and to get involved in motorsport in general. I'm certainly hoping to be back in the Cup next year and to carry No. 1 on my Groupe Gabriel/Total Quartz Sentra."
The Saturday race turned into an epic battle for the lead involving the three most serious contenders for this year's overall title. However, Simon Charbonneau stayed ahead of the pack during the entire incident-free, 40-minute race. Charbonneau captured a victory in front of Valérie Limoges who battled it out with Alexandre Fortin at the beginning of the race. Valérie moved into second place when Fortin was forced to retire. Éric Chaput completed the podium but taking third ahead of Nicolas Barrette and Normand Boyer who had the most exciting of the battle of the race.
However, Boyer was disqualified, therefore promoting Sylvain Ouellet to fifth place, thus losing his last chances for the title. André Lapointe, Daniel Fortin, Paul Dargis (who took his maiden start in the Sentra class) and Frédéric Chaput followed in order.
The second race of the weekend held on Sunday was to decide the 2022 titles. Charbonneau led all laps of this ultimate race of the season with Alexandre Fortin glued to his rear bumper. They crossed the line in that order with Valérie Limoges taking third and claiming the overall title by three points over Charbonneau.
In the final standings of the overall drivers' championship, Valérie Limoges captured the title with 482 points. Simon Charbonneau is second with 479 points and Alexandre Fortin is third with 417.
The 2023 Nissan Sentra Cup season will start on Canadian race tracks next May.
