The NASCAR Canada Series headlined another edition of the prestigious Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, where Marc-Antoine Camirand recorded his second straight victory at the track, winning a race of attrition that was extended by 12 laps.
Camirand started on pole for the 60-lap race on Sunday afternoon. On the start, Camirand was pushed wide by Kevin Lacroix in turn two, allowing Alex Tagliani to take the lead as Camirand dropped to seventh.
Two circuits later, Lacroix took the lead, as Tagliani faded and pitted with issues, going laps down. The leaders made scheduled fuel stops between Laps 8 and 11, with Lacroix cycling back ahead.
On Lap 16, caution as Andrew Ranger lost control and spun in turn six, hitting the tire wall; Ranger was running second and only lost two spots, though his rear bumper panel was left on track, causing the yellow flag.
Camirand worked his way around L.P. Dumoulin for second, a lap after the restart, before a caution for Frederik Ladouceur stalled on the frontstretch a few laps later. Lacroix led the field back to green before Camirand took the top spot at the halfway point.
On Lap 31, caution as J.P. Bergeron spun into the turn three tire barriers, with oil left on track; it appears that his engine expired before the spin. A six-minute red flag was called for cleanup, before Dumoulin pitted for a fresh set of tires, having dropped further back in the field.
On the restart, Jason Hathaway tagged the wall as cars shuffled for position, causing him to get into D.J. Kennington, who then spun, but the race stayed green. The drivers were battling for fifth.
Ranger worked his way to second and Dumoulin returned inside the top-10 before an issue for the third-place driver. Lacroix experienced a mechanical issue with 15 to go, pulling into the turn two runoff area with what appeared to be a broken axle.
Four laps later, caution for fluid on track from Thomas Nepveu’s car. Camirand led the field back to green, two laps before a caution for Hathaway’s car stuck in the turn six tire barriers, after clipping the inside wall.
With the scheduled distance reached, Camirand, Ranger and J.F. Dumoulin led the field back to green for a two-lap NASCAR overtime. It didn’t take long for more carnage, as J.F. and Alex Guenette made contact, causing Guenette to bounce off the wall and into J.F.; the two drivers wrecked, collecting L.P. Dumoulin and Alex Labbé.
Labbé continued with a crushed hood, while L.P. ultimately pitted with a flat tire. On the second NASCAR overtime attempt, Ranger wasn’t able to accelerate, as he ran out of gas on the frontstretch, causing further damage for Labbé, who got into the back of Ranger’s car in the stack-up.
The second attempt was called off, while Herby Drescher also ran out of fuel elsewhere on track. The next attempt at overtime was clean, with Camirand staying up front to claim his second straight victory at the track. Labbé and Raphaël Lessard rounded out the podium.
“I was not surprised about (Lacroix), I knew he was trying to be aggressive on the start, but first lap and second corner of 60 laps, I was upset a little bit,” said Camirand. “We didn’t hurt the car during that (incident) so I was able to come back…when I asked my crew chief if we were good on fuel (near the finish), he said maybe for one more lap, so I was nervous at the end but we got lucky to pass the start-finish line in first place.”
Camirand had 14 wins in other series at the GP3R before his NASCAR Canada victory last year; he now has two straight wins and three straight podiums, with this being his 11th NASCAR start at his home track.
“The GM Paillé team and Camirand Performance worked really hard to race here, because it’s the biggest race of the year for us,” said Camirand. “I’m so proud of the team to do it again this year.”
L.P. Dumoulin recovered for fourth, followed by Kennington in fifth. Only 10 of the 31 cars finished on the lead lap, with notable damage on some of the lead lap finishers as well.
Ranger finished 14th and Lacroix finished 23rd, making it a big points day for the race winner. Camirand has unofficially stretched his lead to 29 points over Ranger. Next up for the series is a race at Delaware Speedway on Saturday night.
