TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Quebec (August 10, 2013) – Like many of his fellow Canadian competitors today, Maple, Ontario-native David Ostella is no stranger to the tight confines of the circuit at Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. The experience would prove helpful as the 10-turn, 1.5207-mile (2.433 km) temporary street circuit was the first of its kind for the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin Series and the first in North American Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge competition.
Ostella entered the weekend with a plan to protect and extend his Series points lead at the legendary circuit – perfection of laps.
“There’s no making mistakes at this course,” Ostella said. “There are no run offs, no grass and the pressure is on to run perfect laps. I love that you have to run it perfectly. My plan was to race clean, take car of the car, and lay down perfect laps.”
After starting fourth, that’s exactly what the 21-year-old did for 40 laps, after he and two other competitors passed polesitter Chris Green on the first lap of the race.
The points leader held onto the position while Green pressed him hard for the next 20 laps. Ostella surrendered the position to Green on Lap 21, but Green couldn’t hold on for long, getting involved in some deep braking issues with Ostella’s SpeedMerchants teammate Darryl O’Young in Turn 6.
Ostella grabbed the second-place spot and held onto it until the finish. Green would ultimately finish eighth after pitting for a tire change.
“It’s great to be here at Trois-Rivières again,” Ostella said. “This is my fifth time here now. I’ve been here in open wheel, but to be here in a Porsche GT3 Cup is just phenomenal. The Michelin tires were amazing. They lasted and were very consistent through the whole race. JF (Laberge) had a great race and I have to congratulate him on his second win now in a row. It was a great battle with Chris (Green) in that race. It’s unfortunate what happened to him. The championship is huge for me and that’s what we’re focusing on and that’s exactly what we did this race. Hopefully the same thing will happen again tomorrow.”
Today marks Ostella’s third second-place podium finish in a row and sixth podium of the season, helping him extend his points lead over Green going into tomorrow’s race. Race Two at Circuit de Trois-Rivières begins Sunday, August 11 at 11 a.m. ET.
For the latest updates follow SpeedMerchants Motorsports on Facebook and David Ostella on Facebook and Twitter at @DavidOstella.
For the most recent race updates and news regarding Ostella and Speed Merchants Motorsports, follow @OstellaCorsa on Twitter.
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From: Gene Cottingham/ GRand Solutions
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