The battle for the 2004 Toyota Atlantic Championship enters the final stages this weekend, as the series heads to Canada for the Molson Indy Montreal, the penultimate round of the series.

Two weeks ago in Denver, Scotsman Ryan Dalziel closed the gap on series leader Jon Fogarty to a single point but his recovery from 19 points behind at one stage hasn't been without controversy.

Round nine at Road America saw Dalziel claim his fourth win of the season, but after the race both Dalziel and his Sierra Sierra Enterprises team were penalised when an internal part of the shock absorbers on the #28 car were found to be out of compliance.

While the team was fined, Dalziel was docked five championship points, handing the advantage in the title race back to his opponent.

However, the team won an appeal which gave Dalziel his points back allowing him to continue digging in to Fogarty's championship lead.

Things took another twist a fortnight ago in Denver. Starting from pole, Fogarty led all the way, only to come under pressure in the closing stages of the race from Dalziel and rookie driver Ronnie Bremer.

With only four laps to go, Fogarty was given a drive through penalty for blocking his title rival – dropping Fogarty to sixth as Dalziel took second behind Bremer.

Still in the title hunt in third place behind a season of consistency is American Danica Patrick. Nine top-five finishes in ten races have given her an outside chance of the title, although the 30 point gap to Fogarty means she will need a good result this weekend to be in with a chance of winning the championship at the season finale at Laguna Seca next month.

Bremer, the rookie point leader, is riding high after his win in Denver and with three podium results in the last four races, he also looks primed for a successful weekend north of the border. The Danish ace is fourth in the overall standings and he leads fellow rookie Andrew Ranger by just two points in the battle to be crowned 'Rookie of the Year.'