Mirabel, QC – After a start to the season plagued by bad luck, Theetge Motorsport and its No. 80 car, driven by Alex Tagliani, were eager for a positive result as they lined up at Mirabel’s Complexe ICAR for the NASCAR Canada Series event.
Qualifying 3rd in the opening round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Tagliani led the race until an alternator failure ended any chance of victory. At Calabogie, after briefly taking the lead, more issues ruined the team’s efforts. Then, at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, despite qualifying 3rd and staging an impressive comeback, another mechanical problem halted the team’s momentum.
To ease the pressure and strengthen team cohesion, the crew enjoyed a friendly evening at Tag E-Karting before focusing on their fourth NASCAR Canada race of the season at Complexe ICAR, one of five races Tagliani is contesting in the series this year.
Starting 4th, Tagliani quickly moved into 3rd place. The No. 80 car once again proved extremely competitive, keeping heavy pressure on the race leaders. After several cautions and yellow flags, the final sprint came down to the last restart, with Tagliani firmly holding onto 3rd place and fending off late-race attacks from Kevin Lacroix.
“I think all the cautions clearly helped us,” said Tagliani. “We had a very fast car on short runs, but it developed extreme understeer after a few laps, which made us vulnerable. The goal was to limit the loss of pace on long green flag runs and protect that 3rd place, especially after the misfortune of the first three races. It’s an important result for the team’s morale. We still have work to do to stabilize the car and understand why it develops such strong understeer. At Mosport in May, we were extremely fast. Let’s just say Mosport owes us one, and hopefully we can get that win without any alternator issues this time.”
Thanks to the podium finish, TAG and Theetge Motorsport scored valuable points in the owners’ championship. The team is determined to finish the season strong, with Alex returning to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next week before Donald Theetge takes over on the ovals to close out the campaign.
