Double Top 5 for Louis-Philippe Dumoulin at the end of the tripleheader in the Maritime Provinces - Speedway Digest

Events 3, 4 and 5 of the 2024 season of the NASCAR Canada series were grouped into two weekends in the Maritime Provinces, at Eastbound International Speedway, in Terre-Neuve on June 22, then during a doubleheader initially scheduled for June 29 and 30 and finally presented on Saturday the 29th, at the Riverside Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. A successful tour for Louis-Philippe Dumoulin at the wheel of car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare | Omnifab, the three-time Series’ champion having collected a 4th and a 5th place, in addition to an 8th place finish following a racing incident.

Louis-Philippe Dumoulin was constantly at the forefront during the three races, fighting for a podium after qualifying among the Top 5 three times. These points scored allow him to secure the fourth spot in the championship standings, but only eight points of the first place. 8 points is the margin that separates a first from a fourth place in a NASCAR Canada race, proof of the very tight gaps currently in the championship, after 5 of the 13 events completed in the 2024 season.

“The overall results are excellent even if I would of course have liked to clinch at least one podium. It’s not a secret to say that we had some stress before these races because they represented the real response to all the work done during the off-season on our oval car. And the result is positive: we went in the right direction, the very right direction in fact because the car has always been competitive. I was comfortable behind the wheel during the three races. We only have one aspect to correct, and that is the brake balance. I had too much of brake at the front and too little at the rear without being able to correct this adequately over the laps, which undoubtedly affected our results but overall, big points were scored and I’m very proud of it,” said Louis-Philippe Dumoulin.

Despite these brake balance problems, Louis-Philippe recorded the 5th best time in Newfoundland in free practice, then the 7th in qualifying session and finally the 5th place at the end of the 250 laps of the race. “There’s a lot of contacts between the drivers, no one gives their place. I am very respectful on the track but I am a little disappointed that others are not a little more. In Newfoundland, some battles on the track were really tough but I preferred to be patient and the Top 5 was a good result” mentions the driver of car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare | Omnifab.

In Nova Scotia, the doubleheader was concentrated on a single day due to rain forecast for Sunday. In addition to the logistical headache for drivers and teams personal to change their return trip from the province, both races themselves were also disrupted!

Qualified third in the first event, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin finished the race in eighth place. Less than four hours later, he started the second race from 4th to finish 4th after 150 laps completed. “I fought for 2nd then for 3rd place. It was around halfway through the race, in the first race, that I had contact with #36 (Alex Labbé). A non avoidable contact, especially as it appeared during television replays that I was lightly pushed towards his car. I suspected that I had been pushed because I didn’t understand why my car had suddenly become so understeer,” explains the Trois-Rivières driver. This incident caused him to lose 5 places. “At the end of the race, I could have tried everything to regain one or two positions but it would have been very risky to damage the car with the second race which arrived shortly after” he adds.

Antigonish’s second race was spectacular. “No one was giving his place. I could have finished 3rd but I could also have retired because there were so many contacts in the pack. I was hit several times but I was able to keep control of my car and, apart from this brake balance problem which came back during this race, the car was really competitive. Under the circumstances, this fourth place is very promising and it keeps us in the contenders for the title,” concluded the driver of the car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare | Omnifab.

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