BRP Loans 40 Can-Am Vehicles for F1 Grand Prix Du Canada

Lucas Cooney
by Lucas Cooney
Can-Am Commander

BRP will have a significant presence at the upcoming Formula One (F1) Grand Prix du Canada. While BRP had designed and produced the winning trophies for the third straight year, it will welcome the public at its booth and has loaned 40 Can-Am vehicles to be used by F1 teams and race administration.

“We are very pleased to have BRP as a partner this year,” says François Dumontier, president and CEO of Octane Racing Group Inc., promoter of the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada. “To have a Québec-based manufacturer and reputed company like BRP exhibit its products and have access to their high end vehicles is certainly a great help.”

BRP will further host all F1 fans at its booth, and provide an opportunity for all to have their photograph taken with the 2013 F1 Grand Prix du Canada 1st place trophy at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal, Québec, June 7-9. A display of many of its products will be presented to the general public, and they will have the chance to participate in a contest. BRP will also have a special karting display, including a kart simulator, to highlight the 30th anniversary of Rotax kart engines.

“All F1 pilots started their careers on racing karts. Considering that BRP’s Rotax engines have been powering karts for the past 30 years, many F1 champions, such as Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen, participated in the Rotax MAX Challenge,” says José Boisjoli, president and CEO. “Racing goes back a long way at BRP. We started with Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobile racing, Sea-Doo PWC World Championships, and the Grand National Cross Country series for ATVs and SSVs. It is a logical–and thrilling–step for us to participate in such a premium powersports event.”

Car racing and BRP are closely linked. BRP organizes the annual Rotax MAX Challenge racing series that culminates with the Grand Finals, playing host last year in Portugal to over 275 racers from among 60 countries. The winner of these Grand Finals over the past two years were racing for Canada – Ben Cooper (2012) and Pier-Luc Ouellette (2011) – and they will both be on site during a special karting event on Friday. This year’s Rotax MAX Grand Finals will be in held in New Orleans, La. – the first time in North America.

Forty BRP vehicles will be circulating at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve during race weekend. Three of these, Can-Am Commander side-by-side vehicles, have been on site for three months now helping to prepare the scene for the race.

Lucas Cooney
Lucas Cooney

I have been working exclusively in digital media since 1997. I started out with TSN.ca, spending nearly nine years creating and editing content on Canada's leading sports website. I left to join VerticalScope, Inc., one of the world's largest online publishers, to start a number of powersports publications. While at VerticalScope, I've helped create and oversee content for a wide variety of different publications, including ATV.com, Off-Road.com, ArcheryTalk.com, Tractor.com, RVGuide.com, and many more.

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