BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO – Kevin Lacroix finished fourth commandeering his #74 Adaptive One Brake Calipers | NAPA Auto Parts car during the NASCAR Pinty’s event at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP) last Sunday.
The weekend didn’t go as planned as rain and fog invited themselves to the party on Saturday. While it seemed uncertain if the drivers would bring out their cars, the series elected to build the starting grid based on last year’s championship points, cancelling the qualifying session. The drivers had the opportunity to run a practice session later in the afternoon, but most teams decided not to take any unnecessary risks while the track was still wet.
Lacroix started the 51-lap eBay Motors 200 from the second position with Marc-Antoine Camirand at his side. Very quickly, he found himself in a thrilling battle with the leader for a good part of the race.
His success quickly turned into misfortune as he stopped in the pits on lap 15. Kevin left his pitbox too quickly, thinking that the order was given for a safe release while the team was still in the refuelling phase. This incident forced Lacroix to stop on the pit lane and go back on track without the right amount of fuel.
Lacroix had to return to the pits to put the missing fuel into the tank. Then a third and fourth time for tires. “We made an unscheduled stop, which cost us a lot of track time,” said Lacroix.
Then, on a restart with just over 30 laps completed, Kevin found himself behind a much slower competitor, “I tried to pass him, but we touched, and the front wheel was damaged. The car’s alignment was compromised, which prevented me from making my way up the field”.
He held on to the fourth place for the last few laps, not without pressure from Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, who was eyeing the position. Lacroix finally held on, collecting precious points in the standings.
The next NASCAR Pinty’s race will be held on June 10th at Autodrome Chaudière in Vallée-Jonction.
