The 2026 CASC-OR road racing season rolled on this past weekend with something Ontario open-wheel racers have been asking for: a weekend with no tin-tops on the entry list. The inaugural Open Wheel Invitational, presented by the British Automobile Racing Club – Ontario Centre (BARC-OC) and run in cooperation with CASC-OR and VARAC, took over Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport) July 24–26. An optional test day ran on the 24th, Saturday the 25th brought practice, qualifying, and Race One for every group, and Races Two and Three followed on Sunday the 26th.
F4 Canada cars ran as part of Group 2 – Formula Libre, sharing the grid with F1000 and Indy Lights — a genuine open-wheel mixed bag, and a good measuring stick for where our cars stack up against faster company. Only one F4 car made it to the grid this time: James Morton was the lone Canadian F4 runner, after two other registered F4 cars couldn’t complete repairs from earlier testing incidents in time for the race weekend.
How it went
- Saturday (practice, qualifying, Race One): James Morton, the sole Canadian F4 entrant on the weekend, had a dramatic end to Race One. On the last lap, coming up the back straight, an oil level warning light lit up on the Gamma car’s dash. Worried about a possible oil leak, oil starvation, or engine damage, Morton immediately shut the engine off and coasted into the pits rather than push on. [Confirm: official Race One classification/result.] Once back in the paddock, no oil leak was found and the oil level checked out fine — but the team discovered a crack in the frame in the engine bay, right near the sensor/gauge wiring. The working theory: flex from the cracked cross-member was enough to trip the warning. Either way, that was it for Morton’s and the Gamma car’s weekend — loaded onto the trailer and off home for repairs ahead of the next event. Mark Brannon (Indy Lights) topped the overall Group 2 result in Race One. Mike MacNeil, originally entered in his own Elan F1000, had already blown that motor in qualifying — he borrowed Dr. Michael Cross’ Van Diemen F2000 (Cross himself was entered in a different run group) to take the Race One start, then blew that motor too before the finish.
- Sunday (Race Two & Three): No Canadian F4 entry on track — Morton and the Gamma car were already homeward bound for repairs. Marc Giroux (Indy Lights) topped Group 2 overall in Race Two, and Mark Brannon (Indy Lights) topped it again in Race Three.
Morton’s fastest lap of the day was: 01:23.653.
By comparison, the Indy Lights fastest lap was 01:17.355
The weekend at large
Beyond our own class, the event delivered on its “open-wheel only” promise — five run groups covering everything from vintage Formula Ford and Monoposto classics to the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship and F1200s, plus a visiting U.S. Challenge Cup Series contingent. Event organizer and race director Paul Subject called it a strong debut for the format, and drivers who made the trip in from out of town were impressed with what CTMP’s 3.957 km, 10-turn layout asks of an open-wheel car.
It was genuinely awesome to see so many varieties of open-wheel machinery on track together. The FV/F1200 field was especially strong, mixing Canadian and American rulesets on the same grid for some great racing. The Toyo Tires F1600 Championship put on great races, as it always does. There were some wickedly cool FB and Club Formula Ford cars out there too — Stephen Adams was turning lap times that would have had him running at the front of the F1600 field. And it was very cool to see classic/vintage Formula Atlantics out on track as well. Good times were had by all — hopefully this becomes an annual fixture on the calendar.
Looking ahead
The Formula Classic Race Series heads to Calabogie Motorsports Park August 22–23 for the Calabogie Summer Classic, hosted by the Ottawa SportsCar Club. It’s shaping up as a big weekend on the CMP road course, sharing the bill with the Formula Prototype Sprints, Miata Canada Cup, Pirelli Grand Touring/Super Touring, the Toyo Tires F1600 Series, and VARAC. [Add: which F4 drivers/cars are planning to run, championship implications, anything else worth flagging.]
In paddock news, Graham Dewhurst has put his Gamma F4 up for sale — 
email: f4canada@gmail.com for more info.