Tõnis Kasemets, born in Estonia in 1974 is the only Estonian driver in the Toyota Atlantic Championship series. Entering its 32nd season of competition in 2005 the series is the longest running development series in North America. Owned by the Champ Car World Series with headquarters in Indianapolis, it also owns and operates the Trans-am Road Racing Series. The Toyota Atlantic cars have 1.6 liter engines developing 240 H.P. at 9500 R.P.M., and a raceweight of 1265 lbs and are equipped with Brembo braking systems allowing the cars to decelerate from 80 Mph (130 to 0 kph) in 90 Ft. (27 meters). Tires are regulation Advan slicks (for dry conditions).
To allow for fair competition the race weight with the driver included is standardized so the total package weight is equal for all the competitors. A specific formula is used to accomplish this end. The exact same conditions also apply for the Champ Car drivers.
Tõnis Kasemets emigrated to the U.S. in 1994 and settled in Mundelein, Ill. (near Chicago) after a successful racing career in Europe. In 1995 he competed in Formula Opel Lotus and was named Estonia's best racer. In 2000 he made his Ford Formula Zetec debut at Road America, best result was 11th. He also competed in SCCA Club Racing U.S. National Championship and was victorious in the Valvoline runoffs. In 2001 Tõnis finished 10th in points in the Ford Zetec Series and had a total of 5 podium finishes. Year 2002 and 2003 saw him 4th in the Ford Formula Zetec along with 5 podium finishes.
Then in 2004 after joining the Toyota Atlantic Series with Brooks Associates Racing, rapid improvement earned him top 5 finishes in both Road America and Laguna Seca. In 2005 Tõnis formed a partnership with owner/driver Dan Cobb on a 50-50% basis. Dan also races with the Toyota Atlantic C2 classification (an older model racecar with less expensive features and less horsepower). Since this association Tõnis' career has been on a steady upswing.
Here are his achievements in 2005: Long Beach: season rank -8; Monterry, Mexico -4; Portland, Ore .(race 1) - 2; Portland, Ore (race 2) -1; Cleveland , OH (race 1) - 1; Cleveland, OH. (race 2) -2; Toronto = 2.
His fiercest competitor during 2005 has been Dutch driver Charles Zwolsman, who after the Toronto race July 10th still holds the number 1 position in the season standings, while Tõnis is in the 2nd place overall.
Following are the highlights from the recent Toronto 35 lap race:
Starting positions for the race are as follows: 1 Charles Zwolsman, 2. David Martinez, 3. Antoine Bessett (Québec), 4. Andreas Wirth, 5. Tõnis Kasemets, 6. Katherine Legge (U.K.) 7. Al Unser III.
At 10 am Sunday the flag waves to start the race. Martinez tries to go around Zwolsman in turn 1, and Bessette tries to brake on the inside to take advantage of the two front runners but Zwolsman keeps the lead.
Lap 1. After the first lap the running order is: Zwolsman, Martinez, Bessette, Wirth, and Kasemets. Lap 2: Legge passes Kasemets for fifth position, the frontrunners Zwolsman, Martinez and Bessette keep posting the fastest lap times. Lap 14: Kasemets is right behind Legge trying to pass. Lap 16. Zwolsman posts the fastest lap time of the race a 1:07.835 (93.138 mph). Lap 17: Car # 56 Souliotis makes contact with the wall, a yellow flag comes out to allow the rescue crew to deal with the situation.
Lap 21: green flag to restart the race. Legge passes Wirth for fourth place and Kasemets does the same a couple of turns later. Legge comes into the pits to serve a stop-and-go penalty for blocking Kasemets on lap 17.
Lap 22: Martinez and Bessette overtake Zwolsman for the number 1 and 2 positions respectively. It is obvious that Zwolsman has a problem and he comes into the pits on lap 26 with electrical problems.
Lap 27: with Zwolsman out of the picture the running order is now: Martinez, Besette and Kasemets in 3rd place. Both front runners battle for the lead and Bissette is only .5 seconds behind Martinez.
Lap 30: Bessett tries to pass Martinez unsuccessfully. Lap 31: Kasemets on pit road and his crew is working on the left rear wheel (turns out to be a loosened lugnut). Kasemets emerges from the pits right in front of the two leaders but 1 lap behind. Lap 33: Bissette passes Martinez for the lead at turn 2 as Martinez runs wide. Lap 35. Checkered flag signifies the end of the race with Bissette the winner, Martinez second and Wirth third.
Despite the mishap Zwolsman is still leading the series with Kasemets in 8th place.
Note: Tõnis was not happy with the handling of his car after qualifying 5th on Saturday. The set-up was not correct for this track for him and the read end of the car got loose on some turns.
Since this was the first time at this track for him and his crew there was no previous experience available to fall back on. The set-up is always a compromise between high speed handling on smooth surfaces and bumpy uneven pavement conditions. The rear end got loose on a couple of turns preventing proper throttle application upon exit and consequently losing valuable time. I understand that his crew worked late into the night and changed all possible settings. Tõnis said it definately felt better but not perfect. In contrast Zwolsman’s crew hit upon a perfect set-up despite no previous experience on this track. Such is racing luck.
***
The main Cart race had some very exiting moments as reported already by the media. Walking around the track scouting for some good camera positions (I didn't find any) as the whole track is surrounded with a wiremesh fence for the safety of the spectators which is several feet high and has a few cutouts for the photographers with the proper credentials (unavailable to me), provided some interesting experiences. The tremendous sounds the powerful Champ cars make while in close formation reminded me of WWII antiaircraft cannon fire. We were also treated (if that's the correct word) to a low level fly-past of 2 Canadian F18A fighterjets directly overhead just before the start of the Champ car race which shook the ground. This was probably designed to wake up the Tiffiosi in the stands and prevent any possible sunstrokes.
It was very pleasant to interact with Tõnis and his family and also with his crew members, who are doing a terrific job of keeping his car in top condition. I understand that Tõnis and his family left shortly after the race ended to travel to Edmonton for the 8th round of the Toyota Atlantic series. So there is still time for Tõnis to take back his number one position that belonged to him after the Cleveland races. I also asked him about his sponsors and the requirement to do public relations work for them. His surprising reply was that they are only interested in his racing success rather than anything else.
Estonian racer competes at Toronto Indy
Archived Articles | 16 Jul 2005 | Udo RobiEWR
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