TORONTO, ON – Kevin Lacroix took to the streets of Toronto last Friday, finishing second to Alex Tagliani in the renowned ‘Toronto Indy’ event.
It was an exceptionally busy day for the NASCAR Pinty’s drivers, who had to take to the track for a practice session, followed by a qualifying session immediately afterwards. The event itself, the Tiffany Gate Grand Prix of Toronto, took place later in the afternoon.
Lacroix qualified in 4th place, starting from the second row of the grid. Right from the start, he came up against Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, and pulled off the overtake to climb up into 3rd place. Half of the race was spent behind the two frontrunners as he tried to capitalize on their mistakes.
The driver of the #74 NAPA Synthetic Motor Oil |Valvoline car delighted the thousands of fans in the grandstand as he went wide, leaving only a sliver of room between his car and the wall. It was the maneuver of the race, as he lost no time compared to the other drivers ahead of him.
With less than 10 laps remaining, he gave it his all to hunt down the car ahead of him and stole away 2nd place. In the closing laps, Lacroix began to close in on the leader, Alex Tagliani, while also watching his back as Marc-Antoine Camirand began to close in.
In the end, Lacroix was unable to claim the victory, finishing in 2nd place. “The car was good, but not the best around the city circuit,” said Lacroix. “I fought hard to try and keep up with the first two, then Andrew Ranger started to slow down, which allowed me to overtake him. Alex (Tagliani) was faster than me, so it was very difficult to catch him. However, at the end of the race he made a few mistakes, so I was able to close in on him, but he had a good last lap, so there was nothing I could do. Still, I’m very happy with 2nd place.”
The next NASCAR Pinty’s event is July 22nd as the series prepares for its annual trip to Western Canada. The first stop will be at Edmonton International Raceway in Alberta.
