Lessard concludes stock car season with 9th place finish at the Snowball Derby

By:
On:
In: Racing News

Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver Raphaël Lessard had one goal in mind entering Sunday’s prestigious 300-lap Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida: improve on his 10th place race result from last year. Starting 18th in a field of 37 cars, Lessard kept his promise to himself by securing a ninth-place finish after passing Brandon McReynolds on the very last lap.

The driver of the #99 Toyota Camry prepared by David Gilliland Racing, was competing for the coveted Tom Dawson Trophy among the top Super Late Model drivers in North America including NASCAR Monster Energy Cup star Kyle Busch, who won the race ahead of Jeff Choquette of Florida.

The weekend started on a positive note for the St-Joseph-de-Beauce, Québec, native when he qualified on the outside of row 9 on Friday evening, only 23 one-hundredths of a second from pole position which was claimed by Preston Peltier. With this accomplishment, he avoided Saturday’s dreaded Last Chance Race, in which he had to compete last year to qualify for the Snowball Derby.

Race Recap

Lessard spent the first third of the race on the Five Flags half-mile oval racing mid-pack. He began his run through the field on lap 95 moving steadily into 10th position by lap 105, and by lap 188 was running in fifth place. But a bump by former teammate Chase Purdy on lap 206 pushed the Quebec teenager back into 8th place and forced him to give up two subsequent positions by lap 210. Lessard began to lose time, but no position on the track, and between laps 190 and 221 lost 15 seconds on the leaders. After the final pit stop on lap 221 he remained in or near the top 10 and was in the 10th spot from laps 284 to 299. On the final lap he attacked McReynolds to secure the ninth-place finish.

“All things considered it wasn’t a bad race. I was happy to finish inside the top ten which was my goal going into the weekend. There was an awful lot of bumping going on and I found myself trapped on the outside on my than one occasion making it difficult to move. On the last lap I saw an opportunity to pass McReynolds and took it,” said Lessard.

“Another season is now in the books,” he added. “I couldn’t do what I do without the help of so many people. While I may be the one driving the car, racing is a team sport. I want to thank David Gilliland for his faith in me and for surrounding me with a great team at DGR; Michelle, Chris, Tic-Tac, Kathy, Seth, Derek, Mark, Ed, Austin, Sam, Jeremy, Mojo, Don, Todd and Cole.  I also am very grateful to Toyota-TRD, David Wilson, Tyler Gibbs and Jack Irving for their continuous support. I am looking forward to working with them in the future. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of my parents, my agent Robert Desrosiers, and the business persons from the Québec City area and from the Beauce region that have invested in our limited partnership and who are with me every step of the way. To my friends and all the fans who took the time to come and watch me race this season, I say thank you. It’s been a good year and I am already looking forward to next season.”

This race was Raphaël’s 23rd and final race of the 2017 season. Information on the 2018 season will be available shortly.

RLR PR

Speedway Digest Staff
Follow Me
Latest posts by Speedway Digest Staff (see all)
Post Views: 65