BLOK’S DISASTER AT CALABOGIE ENDS IN TRIUMPH
There was no rest for the wicked at the Super Production Challenge season finale for Nathan Blok at Calabogie Motorsports Park. Running the shorter stadium track, Blok would need a flawless performance, and simultaneously hope for bad luck from the Honda Canada Manufacturing VMC car to secure third place in the standings from Todd Chiappino.
In Friday morning practice, Blok was a dominant 1.5 seconds a lap faster than the 2nd place car, before an electrical issue caused the ABS to fail and Blok crashed heavily into the turn 14 tire wall, rolling the car and trapping him inside. Almost an hour later, Blok was rescued from the car and taken to the Medical Centre. He was unharmed, but the car received extensive damage. Amazingly, nothing critical was damaged or bent in the accident. Blok joined the crew and got to work bending, repairing, and fixing the wounded car. By 11:30pm, the car was back together and ready for race day, although the cars steering alignment was heavily compromised.
Blok would only muster up a 4th place in qualifying, 0.6 down on pole, but critically ahead of Chiappino. An incredibly close and intense battle in the opening 6 laps ensured with Brad Ranson, Arek Wojciechowski, Kurt Wittmer, Guillaume Labee, and Shawn Bernier. All 6 taking turns at the front of the pack. Blok would overtake Bernier for 3rd before the car went into limp mode and come to a stop just after turn 14. After cycling the ignition and trying to bump start the car in reverse down the hill didn't work, a full course yellow was deployed, but the Futec Motorsports team refused to roll over & quit. After the recovery truck towed the car to the pit lane, they found the problem and sent Nathan back on track 6 laps down to score critical points for the championship. Meanwhile, Chiappino would be involved in an accident that would end Shawn Bernier's race. This accident would see Chiappino disqualified from race 1, and banned from race 2. With Chiappino not able to score points in the next race, Blok needed to finish 5th or higher to move into 3rd in the championship.
The crew discovered that the limp mode was caused by a damaged sensor due to a broken motor mount. When it was fixed, Blok was unstoppable, and converted a 4th place starting position into two commanding victories the following day, leading 43 of the 44 laps in the remaining two races, securing the fastest lap, and winning both races by 8 and 11 seconds respectively.
"I knew at some point in my racing career I was due for a big crash and a rollover, but I didn't expect it to happen and then dominate the weekend less than 48 hours later. The crew deserves all the credit for this weekend, they were the ones who worked tirelessly to get the car running again, and they did an amazing job doing so. It was an amazing comeback, I’m happy to end the year on a high and looking forward to keep the momentum up in 2025".
Blok takes revenge to secure first win of the season
Rounds 3 and 4 of the Super Production Challenge left Nathan Blok with a wide range of results and emotions. The 30 year old from Beachburg, Ontario driving the #88 Futec Motorsports powered by Shellbourne Fuels entered the third round of the season at the Grand Prix de Trois Rivieres 4th in the standings, and only 50 points behind the championship leader, Guillaume Labee.
With the weather initially looking to favour the rear wheel drive Nissan 370z, the forecast rapidly turned when hurricane Debby made landfall early Friday morning, handing the advantage back to Blok's competition. In the Friday evening race, Blok’s windshield fogged up and condensed dramatically forcing him even having to pit to clean the windshield. As a result he rapidly fell from 4th place to last.
Starting in 15th and last for the second of three races, Blok picked off the competition one by one, and by lap 8 found himself in 2nd place behind Trois Rivieres native Marc Geroux just before a lengthy caution. The restart would see a one lap dash to the checkered flag. Blok got a perfect restart and overtook Heroux on the final lap to cross the line in first. However, Blok would receive a post race penalty for pulling out of single file line coming to the restart.
Disappointed but determined, Blok would line up in fourth position for the final race of the weekend, but on the 3rd lap, another competitor made contact with him on the run to turn 5, causing Blok to have a major accident into the concrete wall at 160km/h. Blok was uninjured, but the car had major repair work needed, and only a 2 week turnaround to the sundown GP. In only 9 days, the crew put in over 160 hours collectively to repair the car, only finished hours before needing to pack up to travel to the next race weekend at Mirabel, Quebec.
Blok would qualify 2nd with the top four being separated by under one tenth of a second. At lights out, he would pass Gabriel Lacombe for the lead on the third corner, and then never looked back. Thirty minutes later, he would take his first official win of the season. Starting the final race of the weekend in 5th, Blok had moved his way up to the lead by lap 9 and was cruising home to take his first clean sweep in over 10 years. However, on lap 17 the radiator cap broke, dramatically covering the track with water and ending his race .
"In the last 3 weeks I've had a range of emotions from euphoria, rage, and relief. The crash, losing the teams first win, then the crew pulling off a genuine miracle to fix the car in 9 days to come back to win again was all something straight out of a Hollywood script. The repairs were not enough to have the car running at its optimal, but we pushed through and won anyways. The rad cap coming off has now realistically taken me out of the championship for good this time, and our focus is already on development for 2025. But there is still a chance to take a podium in the championship in Calabogie, and I'm not going down without a fight".
"A special thanks goes out to all the crew, Lad's Auto Recylers, Sunsign Graphics and Shellbourne Fuels for helping to repair the car."
Blok still remains 4th in the standings. And the SPC season will be concluded at Calabogie Motorsports Park on September 27th to 29th.
Nathan Blok takes double podium at Super Production Challenge
After a long and busy off season, Nathan Blok returned to the Super Production Challenge with a lighter, faster, and improved Futec Motorsports car for another championship assault in the Super Production Challenge (SPC).
Beginning the season at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Blok laid down the gauntlet early by taking his first pole position in SPC by 0.6 seconds over 2nd place Guillaume Labbe.
In Race 1 after the standing start, Blok faced some early opposition from Labbe before pulling out a gap, and maintaining a small lead in front of a seven car strong pack at the front. By lap 17, unfortunate timing with lap traffic and a loss of power due to a recurring fuel problem caused Blok to drop to 3rd with one lap to go. On the last lap, the lack of power allowed Kurt Wittmer to overtake him entering turn 8. But indeterred Blok attempted a daring pass around the outside, forcing a photo finish for 3rd place with Blok trumping Wittmer by 6 hundredths of a second at the finish line.
Starting 3rd for Race 2, With clouds and rain overhead, Blok would see the power issues again return at the halfway point of the race, causing him to drop to 4th by the chequered flag.
The 3rd and final race of the weekend would see the random grid inversion putting Blok in 6th for the start. Blok passed Mario Charette and Gabriel Lacombe in the opening lap before a lengthy full course caution bunched up the field. On the restart, Blok immediately took full advantage, passing Shawn Bernier for 3rd by putting 2 wheels in the grass entering turn 3, before another full course yellow occurred. The race ended under a full course yellow.
"This is a complete turnaround from last year. We're already fast and competitive, have good pace, and showed it all weekend. The Futec Motorsports car powered hy Shellbourne Fuels does have some recurring gremlins which need sorting, but we have the pace to take a shot at the championship this season once we can sort out our long run pace. We definitely have the best, and most dedicated team in the paddock, and I’m certain we can keep the good results rolling into Calabogie".
Blok;s next race weekend is June 22-23 at the Calabogie Motorsport Park and he goes into it running 3rd in the championship.
2023 Super Production Challenge season comes to a close!
SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR
Setting the 6th fastest time in race 1 with the top 7 places on the grid being inverted, Blok would line up on the front row. After being engaged in a race long battle with Todd Chiappino and Guillaume Labbe for 2nd place, an issue with the differential saw Nathan lose performance with 5 laps to go and although he fought hard, he was only able to muster up a 5th place finish.
We have a plan to work on the differential, and looks like the finale at Complexe ICAR at the end of the month will be our last shot to get a podium and a win in 2023.
Licensed distributor for Shellbourne Fuels
CONTINUING THE FORWARD MOMENTUM
Photo's 
: @cameron_forsythe7 @missmotorsportcoach @s_blok
NATHAN BLOK AND FUTEC MOTORSPORT SPC DEBUT
Futec Motorsports debut to the Super Production Challenge was met with a fair share of new team jitters to he shaken down after the opening 2 rounds to the season.
Event
number 1 saw three time Canadian champion Nathan Blok behind the
wheel for the Victoria day Speed Fest at Canadian Tire Motorsport
Park (Mosport). After some problems with brake management and some
fuel concerns arose during testing, the crew pulled an all night
operation in the pouring rain to get Blok on track. Despite missing
qualifying and starting at the back of the 17 car grid in heavy rain
conditions, Blok made an incredible drive to finish 8th in the first
event, and 7th in the second. The inverted grid would see Blok
starting 3rd for the final event. Unfortunately he lost 5th gear on
the opening lap, and was forced to retire after 5 laps.
After
having the transmission replaced 2 weeks later for the second round
at Shannonville Motorsports Park, the 38 degree weather would see the
Futec 370z deal with overheating issues along with all the other
Nissans competing in the Super Production class. Some overnight fixes
to cool the car, and cool weather helped to relieve the overheating
problems. Starting in 9th, Blok made an excellent drive in race 1 to
finish 8th on track after winning a race long battle with 2 time
champion Olivier Bedard, but was penalized for a camera malfunction,
dropping him back down to 9th.
The
inverted grid for race 2 had Futec Motorsports first pole position.
At the drop of the green, Blok stormed off into a commanding lead for
the first 2 laps, before the fuel starvation issues from Mosport
reared it ugly head again causing him to retire from the race. With
the issue fixed i Blok head back to the track for the final race of
the weekend. However the fuel gremlins appeared once again causing
Blok to fall back to 14th.
Not willing to give up despite the continuing issue Blok climbed his
way up the grid to recover for an 8th place finish.
"We
have had anticipated difficulties with the car, but that is to be
expected in any new team. Every race weekend, every session, every
lap we have gotten faster and more efficient. The crew has been
working tirelessly to get things up and running, and I'm excited for
the rest of the season. The growing pains are slowly coming to an
end, and now we can work at extracting the full potential from the
car to build upon the flashes of success we have been showing".
Blok’s next race weekend is July 7, 8, 9 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville.
Futec Motorsports Quick Facts: Futec Motorsports founded in 2023 is owned and operated by Nathan Blok. The team is currently running a 2009 Nissan 370Z in the Super Production Challenge.