Twelfth of the fourteen 2023 events in the NASCAR Pinty’s series, the race presented at the Complexe ICAR in Mirabel was also the third and last of the year in Quebec.
For the three-time series champion Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, it was an opportunity to offer attending fans a spectacular 20 position rise, to clinch his seventh Top 5 of the season.
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. Then the fantastic comeback of the driver of car #47 WeatherTech Canada/Groupe Bellemare/Omnifab started.
“I think we gave 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 others had to do. A full course yellow around the 40th lap created a bit of confusion on this subject but on 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.
The next race will be held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario on September 3rd.