If anyone had any doubts about Raphael Lessard being the
real deal, they were quickly crushed.
Lessard, who grew up minutes from Autodrome Chaudiere in St.
Joseph de Beauce, Quebec, made his presence known, winning the Budweiser 300 in
dominating fashion in his series debut. The 17-year-old Kyle Busch Motorsports
and Toyota Racing Development driver became the first to claim the checkered
flag in their series debut since Don Thomson Jr won the inaugural NASCAR
Pinty’s Series race in 2007.
Lessard’s No.07 Societies Louis Jacques/ FRL Express Dodge
used its speed on the restarts to take the lead from teammate LP Dumoulin on
Lap 137 and never looked back. Lessard was able to hold off all who challenged
him, until the race was called on Lap 286 when rain came pouring down.
“I didn’t expect it at all,” Lessard said. “At first, I
thought our car was okay, and on new tires it wasn’t great but as the race went
on it just seemed to get better and better. Everyone seemed to fall off and we
just didn’t.
“I’m super pumped and can’t thank everyone enough,” Lessard
added. “It’s just awesome to do a deal like this for one race and dominate.
I’ve never worked with those guys before, it just feels great.”
Kevin Lacroix started fifth and slowly fought his way up the
field before settling for his second straight runner-up finish.
“We always have a hard time here and we were targeting top 5
maybe top 6 and we would’ve been really happy,” Lacroix said. “And now second
place, top contender. Everything is very nice for us, we’re really happy,
gaining a lot of points, taking the points lead.”
Pole sitter and 2016 Chaudiere winner Alex Labbe led the
early going before being passed by Dumoulin and Lessard. Labbe would fight his
way to a third-place finish, his first podium since his one-off race at GP3R
last season.
Jukasa winner Andrew Ranger and Alex Tagliani rounded out the top-five.
Mark Dilley scored his second top ten of the season in
sixth, followed by CBRT’s Brett Taylor in seventh, notching his best career
NASCAR finish.
Despite being laps down at certain points in the race,
Brandon White was able to defy the odds and score his best career finish in
eighth. Simon Dion-Viens also recovered after numerous spins for a ninth-place
finish, with Donald Theetge completing the top ten.
Lap 271 saw a turning points in the race after LP Dumoulin
and Jason Hathaway crashed in turn three to draw the red flag.
The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will take a few weeks off before arriving in the heart of Canada’s largest metropolis for the Pinty’s Grand Prix of Toronto live from the Streets of Exhibition Place.
- Raphael Lessard
- Kevin Lacroix
- Alex Labbe
- Andrew Ranger
- Alex Tagliani
- Mark Dilley
- Brett Taylor
- Brandon White
- Simon Dion-Viens
- Donald Theetge
- Marc-Antoine Camirand
- D.J. Kennington
- Jason White
- T.J. Rinomato
- L.P. Dumoulin
- Jason Hathaway
- Anthony Simone
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