MONTREAL, QC – After confirming driver and television host Benoît Gagnon’s return to the line-up for the upcoming Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) season, the Lombardi Honda Racing Team announced today the recruitment of young driver Jérimy Daniel, who will be at the wheel of one of their Super Touring class Honda Civic Si’s for the duration of the season.
A promising driver who has gained respect in open wheel in the Formula Tour 1600 where he earned four victories in 2009 and 2010, as well as in the United States in the Star Mazda series, Jérimy Daniel is returning full-time to a Canadian championship with high ambitions of aiming for nothing less than victory with the Lombardi Honda Racing Team.
“It’s a whole new challenge for me, with a new car that will require a new driving style,” explains Jérimy. “I will need a period of adaptation in the beginning but surrounded by Tony Lombardi and Benjamin Distaulo, I should be able to quickly learn the subtleties of the car and of the series.”
Jérimy Daniel’s decision is well supported: “Climbing the ladder in open wheel has become impossible without extreme budgets. On the contrary, in the Touring Car series, a young driver can still hope to progress. The CTCC is a very competitive series and looking beyond our borders, there is also the World Challenge series in the United States and the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). I think it’s a good way to progress without having to spend millions of dollars,” confides Jérimy Daniel.
He adds, “the possibility of entering the CTCC with a team as prestigious and professional as Lombardi Honda Racing definitely weighed heavy in my decision making and was actually the determining factor.”
Winner of the 2009 and 2010 Canadian Touring Car Championship, the Lombardi Honda Racing Team will entrust one of their Super Touring class Honda Civic Si’s to Jérimy Daniel, who will be making his debut in the series, as well as with a front-wheel drive. This challenge does not worry team owner Tony Lombardi,
” He knows all the tracks and he’s a good fit with our desire to promote younger drivers. Don’t forget that in the early years of Lombardi Honda, my father signed drivers in the 1970s and 1980s that were up-and-comers in motorsport and went on to have good careers, namely Richard Spénard, Didier Schraenen and others.”
Concludes Lombardi, “Jérimy has the driver profile that we were looking for and I’m very pleased with this new association.”
The 2013 Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) season will kick off in Ontario, at Mosport on May 18th. On June 8th and 9th, the CTCC drivers will find themselves at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, as part of the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada. This will be followed by rounds at the circuit ICAR in Mirabel (July 6th and 7th), the Circuit Mont-Tremblant (July 27th and 28th), the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières (August 8th and 9th), back at Mosport (as part of the NASCAR Camping World series on September 1st), and at the Calabogie Motorsports Park, near Ottawa, on September 7th and 8th, for a total of 14 races over seven weekends.
From Lombardi Honda Racing
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