Looking back at the entire season, there were so many moments that brought Daniel to this point. His early run of podium finishes, back-to-back pole positions mid-summer, and his breakthrough wins at Calabogie all put him in championship contention. But in two years racing F1200s, he still hadn’t won at The Big Track.
Daniel visited CTMP as a child, to watch ‘Minis VS Mustangs’ on VARAC weekends, and stared through the chain-link fence from the Mosport kart track, dreaming of racing here one day. Of winning an open-wheel race at the same place they’d held those early Canadian Grand Prix in the 60’s.
This Sunday was Demaras’ day.
The Formula 1200 cars were some of the first out on track, before the surface could really warm up. The early autumn weather made Mosport different to drive than in the heat of summer, so the drivers would have to adapt.
Abrams No. 19 lead Sunday’s opening race, by virtue of his win on Saturday. Demaras kept him in sight, all the while being mindful of that veteran, Phil Wang. The top four drivers took turns at the front, with Kenny leading before being overtaken by Jason, and Phil finally taking the lead in the closing stages.
The race came down to a last lap battle. With Phil leading on the back straight, Daniel picked up his draft to slingshot past, but not before Jason made it three wide, taking the lead. Into the Turns 8-9-10 complex, Demaras made a lunge for the apex, drifted through a corner, then had the outside line for the final stretch. Abrams fought hard, squeezing Daniel to the outside of the track, but the higher speed of the outside line on the last corner (an oval racing trick Daniel picked up this year) helped propel him to the finish line in first.
Heading back to the team paddock, the drivers weren’t 100% sure who actually won, but Race Hero confirmed it. Daniel Demaras had taken his first win at historic Mosport, and had clinched the 2023 F1200 Championship.
The Demaras family had all come out to watch Daniel’s final race weekend. His grandmother and grandfather never really came to watch kart races when he was little, but they’d seen him race to a Top-3 finish at Sunset Speedway this summer. But open-wheel racing at CTMP is a completely different discipline.
Bill Vallis have Daniel a little pep talk before the final, reminding him to have fun out there. Starting pole on the last race of the year, with the championship locked up, was an incredible moment for the young racer.
The final would not be a clean one, though.
The No. 19 of Jason Abrams expired in the early laps, leaving him a spectator at Turn 2. One of the fastest Formula 4 cars on track suffered a mechanical failure, when a stub-axle broke, sending its rear left tire bouncing off the barrier at Turn 3, while the car spun into the gravel. The tire then rolled down the hill towards Turn 2 as double yellow flags were shown.
Shortly after the restart, it became a two-horse race between the red No. 115 of Wang chased by the green No. 12 of Demaras. Phil is no rookie, and he knew exactly how to position his race car to protect the lead, and despite a final attempt at victory, Daniel had to settle for P2 against the best driver in Canadian F1200 history. Not bad company.
The cars driven through the pit lane, and into parc ferme, while the drivers climbed out and guzzled water bottles while slapping each other on the back for the safe and clean racing they’d all taken part in. For Daniel it’s been a two year journey from rookie to champion, and he seemed pensive before the podium, thinking about the long racing road that’s brought hi to this point.
Several bottles of champagne later, the Demaras family posed for one more picture with the No. 12 Formula 1200 car, and its champion driver.
