Motorsport News
Bernard Franke Adds 2 More Podiums for his S60 Racer, a Total of 7 in 4 Months!
By source: Franke Racing
Sep 10, 2006, 09:08

Racing for the first time at Mosport Internartional Raceway, Bernard Franke once again drove with speed and consistency to finish second on both races held at this prestigious circuit.

Driving on the track during Friday’s test session, the pilot quickly realized how fast and technical the track was, especially in turns 2, 3, and 4. Saturday morning Bernard Franke qualified second in his class and was ready for the great moment. At the start a record of 61 GT cars racing in 8 different classes lined up. At the drop of the green flag all the racers went flat out. It was a miracle that after the 2 first laps all the cars where still on the track racing hard. By the half way point, while Franke was driving hard to pass the slower cars ahead of him, at the same time the unlimited GT1 class cars such as the Corvette, Viper and Porsche began passing the Volvo driver. At the checkered flag, the pilot finished well within the GT field and a stong second in GTO.

“The first race was quite difficult” said a tired Franke. “I could not get a good rhythm since I had to focus on passing the slower GT cars while being passed by the super fast GT1 cars.”



For the second race held on Sunday, Franke changed the suspension settings and decided on a different strategy for the race. At the drop of the green flag the Volvo driver quickly began charging up the field even catching up the leader in GTO, Georges Moutafis. However after 5 laps the pilot overheated his tires and began experiencing vibrations. The silver and blue Volvo pressed on and still managed to finish in second in GTO.

“ Mosport is truly a very fast track. I was able to reach 220 km per hour on the Andretti Straight and maintain 170 km per hour in corner 8. Presently we are about 60 horse power short versus the winning GTO car. Hopefully we can find some speed for the season finale September 23rd and 24th at le Circuit Mont-Tremblant. “

Since the mid-season, Bernard Franke and defending 2005 GTU Champion Georges Moutafis have pulled well ahead of the other GTO cars in terms of cumulated points. So the battle for the championship will be between those two on the last week-end of racing of the 2006 season. Being on his home ground for the race, the Volvo driver is optimistic to finish the season on a high note.

This year’s new sponsorship partners include “Care by Volvo” from Volvo cars of Canada and Castrol oil products. The Franke Racing Team also benefit from long term sponsors such as Franke Volvo, Wurth Canada, Vitro Plus Ste-Agathe, Fix Auto Ste-Agathe, Infographie Boréale, and X-Vitres tinted glass.


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