After showing progress through the season, Ryan Battilana has asserted himself as one of the early contenders for the Living Lighting OSCAAR Pro Sprint Championship this season.

“I think the championship is up for grabs by anyone,” he said. “It’s going to be an exciting year for both the drivers and the fans of the sport.”

His team will be focused on the chassis of his No. 4 Pro Sprint with the engines all being equal due to the series motor program.

“It’s taken some time, but I think we’re very close to nailing down where the car is happy being,” he said.

Being able to bring his A-game will be important, as the series competition level is right now at “it’s highest” since the inaugural campaign of the series.

“James Stanley and Daniel Hawn were both able to raise their cars to another level,” he reflected. “And the mid field cars are only getting better each race. What Rob Summers was able to do this year was great.”

Battilana in his own right put together a solid season as he was able to place fourth in the year-end standings with 10 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes over the season.

“Last year was a tough one,” he reflected. “I had a good car for most races but things never seemed to go our way. Just couldn’t seem to get over the mechanical gremlins.”

Despite those gremlins as he spoke of, he fought the adversity to score a pair of runner-up performances at Sunset Speedway, with the Fall Velocity in September being his personal favourite.

“(It) was a tough year and that was like getting the monkey off our backs,” he commented.

Battilana hopes there’s good things to come in 2020, as he will not only have the usual suspects ready to do battle, but a host of rookies chasing after him. For the new drivers, Battilana’s advice is they should take it easy at the beginning, and learn how fast these cars are.

“Things happen real quick in these cars,” he explained. “As Daniel Hawn once said, ‘Little cars, big guts,’ or something along those lines.”

Be sure to keep up with OSCAAR by staying tuned to the series website at http://www.oscaar.ca. Also, make sure to “like” the official OSCAAR Racing Facebook page, while following both the Twitter and Instagram accounts (@OSCAARRacing) to keep up to date on everything you need to know.

OSCAAR’s 2020 racing season was supported by several dedicated partners including Queenston Chevrolet Buick GMC, Knightworks Design, Living Lighting Canada, Scott Reinhart Trailer Sales Ltd., American Racer, and Grisdale Race Products.

By: Ashley McCubbin