Bowmanville (June 27, 2015) – Polesitter Phil Wang led every lap of today’s Formula 1200 race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park except one: the last.


In a well-timed pass out of the final corner, Kevin Kapelke pulled to the inside of Wang and set off a drag race to the finish line, which Kapelke won by just 0.042 seconds to claim victory in race 1 at this weekend’s BARC Grand Prix of Ontario.


Kapelke had spun in the first turn on the first lap and had to recover 10 positions to put himself back in position to challenge for the victory in the last.


“Phil was in fourth gear and I downshifted to third,” Kapelke said of his final move. “I didn’t know if I was going to make it out of the corner, but all of a sudden it gripped and I got the run to the finish line.”


The conditions for the event were highly challenging as the competitors took the green under a downpour that lasted through the entire running.


“This is probably about the worst condition that I’ve raced in,” Kapelke said. “If you had someone in front of you, you couldn’t see anything at all. It was rather brutal. It was fun, though.”


Joining Kapelke and Wang on the podium was Van Peter Hanson in 3rd, who was also the top finisher in Masters class.


Several racers faced arduous circumstances in today’s race, including Matt Garwood, who was spun out by early contact and recovered to finish 8th, and Johan Wasserman, who brought out the event’s only caution period after being forced to stop on track due to a mechanical issue. Wasserman’s damage was reparable, and he is expecting to take part in race 2 of the weekend on Sunday.


Formula 1200 returns to action at the BARC Grand Prix of Ontario on Sunday with a 10 minute practice session and a pair of 20 minute races. Fans can follow live timing of all the weekend’s action at racehero.io.