A Top 5 and several laps led for Louis-Philippe Dumoulin at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

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The NASCAR Pinty’s series presented this weekend the second of 14 events of the 2023 season, on the permanent road course of the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, in Bowmanville (northeast of Toronto). On this track, which is an integral part of Canadian motorsport’s history and appreciated by most drivers for its ultra-fast corners, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin returned to the Top 5 in addition to leading the event for several laps at the wheel of the car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare.

If the overall result is positive and even very promising for the upcoming events on road tracks with the car prepared by Dumoulin Compétition for its driver prove to be very fast and reliable, the three-times Series’ champion would have clinched an even better result. “Car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare was perfect. Our strategy for our pit stops and tire changes was also good. Of course, I stopped two or three laps later than our direct rivals for the victory. They probably bet on full course yellows to save fuel afterwards and they were lucky that it was the case. For our part, we wanted to avoid any bad surprises by refueling on the scheduled lap to have enough fuel to reach the finish-line, whether or not there were cautions,” mentions Louis-Philippe.

The rain and mist having forced the Series’ officials to cancel practice and qualifying sessions the day before, it was from seventh place on the starting grid (his position in the 2022 standings) that Dumoulin started the race. He quickly climbed into fourth and made his two pit stops after the race was briefly stopped (following an accident in the peloton) on the 16th and 30th laps.

Louis-Philippe seemed in a position to fight for victory with tires in very good condition during the last 20 laps. However, an unprecedented element came to disrupt the race: the live timing system had stopped working since the red flag on the 12th lap. At each restart, there was therefore some confusion as to what position the drivers should start from, considering some of them had pitted and rejoined the race. “I really think I started a few places back from where I should have been at least once or twice, but I quickly moved up in the standings” adds Louis-Philippe Dumoulin.

Despite the time lost in these overtakings, Louis-Philippe could legitimately hope for a podium spot when an incident on the 38th lap compromised his result: “I went inside the #99 in turn 10. Maybe he didn’t see me, I don’t know but one thing is certain, he hit my car when I was on the inside of the curve and he spun on the track. It blocked my way for a few seconds and two other drivers passed me,” says the driver of car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare.

Despite a car slightly damaged in the incident, Dumoulin managed to regain the lost positions in a few laps to make the junction with the driver in 4th position. Crossing the finish-line, it was only three tenths of a second apart the two drivers. “We could have finished even higher in the standings than this Top 5 but the contact with the #99 car on the 38th of the 51 laps ruined our chances. It’s a bizarre incident but it can happen in motorsports, for us the main thing is to have brought back very good championship points” adds Dumoulin.

The problems due to the lack of live timing and the incident on the 38th lap were definitely the elements that prevented Louis-Philippe to battle for the podium: “We really had an excellent car, our mechanics also worked very well. It’s a bit frustrating at the moment but the season is still long. I can see that in two races, on two very different tracks, we were among the leaders each time”.

Now fifth in the championship

With the Top 5 achieved this weekend, combined with the bonus point scored for leading the race, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin is now fifth in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series Drivers’ standings, just six points from second place. The next event will take place in Quebec, at the Autodrome Chaudière in Vallée-Jonction, on June 10.

Louis-Philippe Dumoulin PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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