Twelfth of the fourteen 2023 events in the NASCAR Pinty’s series, the race presented this Saturday at the Complexe ICAR in Mirabel was also the third and last of the year on Quebec soil. For the three-time series champion Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, it has been an opportunity to offer to the fans in the grandstands a spectacular 20 positions rise, to clinch his seventh Top 5 of the season.
Presented on Saturday only, free practice, qualifying and the 55-lap race were an intense day of work for the 25 entered drivers. For Dumoulin, there was confidence on this track that the driver of car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare | Omnifab knows perfectly and where he had the opportunity to test his road course car several times.
But not everything started as planned, as carburetor problems slowed Louis-Philippe’s progress. “This mechanical problem came during practice session and it was all the more problematic as it was coupled with inadequate settings. I had too much understeer and it needed to be corrected. Subsequently, I still had carburetor troubles in qualifying and so we decided to change it after the session,” explains Dumoulin.
By carrying out this repair, the driver however fell under the penalty of the NASCAR Pinty’s new regulations which not only requires the driver concerned to start from the back of the grid, but in addition to losing a lap at the start of the race! Thus, after qualifying ninth, Louis-Philippe had to start 25th and enter the pits twice in order to lose this lap in the first minutes of the race. A sanction that he was fortunately able to recover during the first full course yellow. From then on, the fantastic comeback of the driver of car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare | Omnifab has started, for the pleasure of the spectators on the site.
“I think we gave on a good show,” said Louis-Philippe Dumoulin with a smile, going from 25th to third in less than 20 laps. “I fought the whole race but I also wanted to save fuel to avoid having to pit at the end of the race like some had to do. A full course yellow around the 40th lap created a bit of confusion on this subject but for my part, I was confident of being able to complete the race without pitting and our strategy was good” adds Louis-Philippe who is obviously satisfied with this Top 5 acquired after a few great battles.
Next event: Return to the CTMP for the race on Sunday, September 3!
The next race of the 2023 NASCAR Pinty’s season will be in Ontario, as the series’ drivers will visit the beautiful Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course, northeast of Toronto for the second time this season. A track on which Louis-Philippe Dumoulin has won several times and one of his favorites: “I love this track with its fast corners. We had a weekend disrupted by rain last May, I can’t wait to get back to this track. In addition, the event this Sunday will be the WeatherTech 200. It would be really great to clinch theo victory on this occasion”.
Louis-Philippe concludes: “Car #47 WeatherTech Canada | Groupe Bellemare | Omnifab has only Top 5 on road courses this season! I am currently fourth in the championship standings and the WeatherTech 200 will be the penultimate race of the season. The championship points remain important but it would really be a great reward for the efforts of our whole team, throughout the season, to win this race”.
Louis-Philippe Dumoulin PR
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