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Trois-Rivières, QC – You might have heard of Nissan's new spec-series, the Nissan Micra Cup. It's in its inaugural season with 12 races on the calendar throughout the province of Quebec with stops in historic and popular venues such as the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant and the Circuit Trois-Rivières.

The Nissan Micra Cup features the least-expensive new vehicle in the market, the Micra (starting at $9,998) that has been race-specced for the low price of $19,998. Inside, every racing subcompact gets the exact same set-up: a Nismo suspension kit, roll cage, safety equipment and racing seat. It's marketed as the most affordable racing series, and that's not a word of a lie.

The 26-person field is littered with former and current race car drivers, amateurs and racers from Nissan's own global GT Academy. But a certain driver at the Trois-Rivières race I attended stood out in the paddock. It was Elvis Stojko, the Canadian figure skater that was a former three-time World Champion, two-time Olympic silver medallist and seven-time Canadian champion.

The man, who was the first to land a quadruple jump combination and stun the world was competing in the Nissan Micra Cup? As an auto journalist and racing enthusiast, I needed to find some answers, and talk to the former champion.

It ends up he was piloting one of the four Albi Nissan Micras competing at Trois-Rivières (GP3R) in a deal that his manager Jason Sharpe had set-up with Albi Nissan and Nissan Canada. But this deal only came about after a casual conversation with one of Stojko's friends who manages a Nissan dealership in Stouffville, ON.

Stojko was conversing over his promising rise in the karting world with events at the national and international level when the Nissan Micra Cup was brought up. His friend mentioned that the series has had a big buzz around the office, and thought it could be a good fit. Considering that Stojko has never competed in a race car before, the Micra Cup seemed to be a logical next step, and maybe that opening he's longed for.

It might sound crazy to compete in a race car for the first time with professional racers, but karting provides the perfect experience that can prepare you for it. Sure, it will be different, but if GT Academy drivers can do it straight off simulators, why not kart drivers? And perhaps, Stojko's ace in the hole is his history of mental preparation in figure skating.

“The mental process between racing and figure skating is the same,” said Stojko. “It's all about preparing yourself, breathing techniques and being in the zone. The big difference is that in skating if you make one tiny error, it's all over. In racing, you can make an error and still recoup, which is a nice breath of fresh air. Skating has helped my mindset for this, where I can just train, pound some laps and be consistent.”

Ahead of the Micra Cup double race, Stojko had two days of practice at Saint-Eustache, and one practice session at GP3R to familiarize himself with the race-specced Micra.

“This is a lot faster than Saint-Eustache,” said Stojko ahead of his first race. “I still need to figure out the braking points, and how the brakes and tires will handle. It's a steep learning curve, but I'm pretty confident in my abilities and have so much to learn. I have loved every minute so far.”

After qualifying in the middle-to-bottom of the pack, the race wouldn't go as expected as a collision with driver Kevin King would end both their races and send Stojko to a 25th place finish out of 26. Clearly, there was room for improvement, and Stojko showed what he's capable of with a tenth place finish in Race #2. During the race, Stojko would gain eight positions and place ahead of GT Academy driver Abhinay Bikkani, as well as all other Albi Nissan drivers on route to that top-10 position.

The GP3R Micra Cup race was a one-off for Stojko, but possibly the car racing seed has been planted in him. He might have mentioned a desire for a Porsche Cup race next on his wish list...