The Driver - Summer 2016 The Driver - Summer 2016 | Page 10

“The Micra Cup featuring the Nissan Micra
road car is billed as the most affordable
racing series in Canada, offering the lowest
running cost of any Canadian series.”
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has
two races on the 2016 calendar, which
will provide a good window for Nissan,
as well as the spectators at the track.
“With the expansion to Ontario, we
now have four-to-five new Ontario
drivers or teams in the mix,” adds
Marsaud. “We will use our stops in
Ontario to bring sales components to
the track in order to display our Nissan
products to more consumers.”
For Nissan, the racing series is a
marketing tool and a brand builder; a
smart way to get more people interested
in everything Nissan. However, for the
field of characters racing in the series,
it’s all about a one-car racing series that
levels the playing field and allows the
cream to rise to the top.
During my weekend stay in
Calabogie, I was able to get to know

10

THE DRIVER

these cast of characters that make the
Nissan Micra Cup series what it is. There
are the exceptional drivers like Stefan
Rzadzinski, Xavier Coupal and Kevin
King that battle at the top hunting down
defending champion Olivier Bédard; but
the great stories reside a little bit down
the driver standings list.
We sat down with Nicolas Touchette,
CEO of Groupe Touchette—the largest
tire distribution company in Canada that
owns and operates TireLink Canada,
a division of the group. Touchette not
only owns a two-car team under a side
company called Touchette Motorsports,
he races one of the cars, alongside the
aforementioned Rzadzinski.
Touchette is no stranger to the racing
track, but he saw the Nissan Micra Cup
as an opportunity not only for him to
fulfil his racing bug, but a chance to gain

more exposure for his tire company,
especially in Ontario. Big plans are made
for each race, as Groupe Touchette will
be hosting some of its customers and
employees during most race weekends.
“The expansion into Ontario is a big
opportunity for us,” said Touchette.
“I loved the affordable racing concept
from the start, and now that we’re
involved, we want to create internal
engagement with the employees,
provide an opportunity of fun for our
customers to come out and meet the
team, and of course gain new clients
with this added exposure.”
Touchette has another tie-in to the
series and that’s with his tires. Groupe
Touchette supplies the tires for the
entire series, providing an opportunity
for the company to learn more about
the tires they sell.
Touchette’s story and business plan
has a lot of win-win involved, and that’s
exactly what newcomer Nic Hammann
is hoping for with his one-year allexpense-paid ride in the Nissan GT
Academy car. Similar to the 2015 stories
of Thanaroj Thanasitnitikate of Thailand
and Abhinay Bikkani of India, Hammann