Tardif takes ACT Claude Leclerc 150 checkers for second straight year

Where there’s heat, there’s a Fireball.

Alexendre Tardif scored his second career Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour triumph Saturday evening in the Claude Leclerc 150, the Tour’s annual stop at Autodrome Chaudière in Quebec’s Beauce region.

“Fireball” outmaneuvered a dominant William Larue after a lap-120 restart to earn his second straight win in the event that honors ACT’s Canadian Ironman.

Saturday’s trip to Quebec kicked off a frenetic month for ACT, with three out of the Tour’s next four dates to be staged in La Belle Province. With Raphaël Lessard fresh off a victory at White Mountain Motorsports Park, the Tour’s healthy Canadian contingent was primed for three dates that have traditionally favored the Quebec locals.

Indeed, veteran Patrick Laperle and Larue brought the 30-car field to green, though it was the young Larue who nosed ahead in the early laps. Larue, Lessard’s teammate, set a torrid pace at the head of the field, lapping most of his competition before a lap-120 caution flew for Mathieu Kingsbury’s blown tire.

The yellow flag put Tardif back in contention for the victory, and he wasted little time in making a move, taking the top spot from Larue on lap 123. Late-race yellows kept Tardif from skating too far ahead, but Larue could not unseat his fellow countryman for the lead.

A native of Notre-Dame-des-Pins, just a few kilometers south of Chaudière, Tardif held on in the final 27 laps to take his second Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour triumph a year and a month after his first.

Larue, who finished third at WMMP, improved on his last outing with a runner-up finish, his best performance in the American-based Tour. Serie ACT points leader Jeff Côté completed a Quebec podium sweep with a third-place finish.

Two-time champion D.J. Shaw was the best of the American Tour challengers on foreign turf, finishing a season-best fourth. Dale Shaw Race Cars chassismates Jesse Switser and defending champ Gabe Brown were fifth and sixth.

WMMP winner and points leader Lessard was seventh. Fellow Quebecers Michaël Lavoie, polesitter Laperle, and Jonathan Bouvrette rounded out the top ten.

Leclerc, the 83-year-old namesake of the race, finished two laps in arrears in 23rd in his first Tour start of 2025.

With Lessard’s win at WMMP, Tardif’s win is the second straight Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour victory for a Canadian driver, a feat that has not been achieved since 1999.

Tardif’s win was a joint venture of sorts, coming in a familiar car with an unfamiliar number. Car owner Arold Roy, who has fielded Tardif’s entries for the last few years, has been focused primarily on a part-time Pro All Stars Series campaign in 2025. Tardif teamed up with Connecticut-based Team 31 Racing to contest the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour schedule thus far. At Chaudière, Tardif was back in Roy’s familiar black, red and yellow mount, only with Team 31’s number on the doors, maintaining the Jason Glaude-owned team’s position in the crucial owner’s point standings.

With the season-ending points fund paying out to the car owners of record, a few other U.S.-based teams aligned with Canadian teams to keep their full-time status intact. Larue sported the No. 46VT fielded by Brian Hoar and daughter Taylor so far this season. More notably, Steven Boissonneault swapped to the No. 03MA for Derek Gluchacki. The title hopeful was impacted by hard crashes in the last ACT event at WMMP and in last week’s Keith Morse Memorial at Riverside Speedway, sidelining both of Gluchacki’s cars and leaving him short on time to get either one back together in time for Chaudière. While the Canadian absence is devastating for Gluchacki’s title chances as a driver, Boissonneault’s unsuccessful attempt to make the field keeps Gluchacki’s full-time status, and eligibility for a points payout, alive.

The Tour has a tight turnaround for Wednesday’s Spring Green 125 at Seekonk Speedway, though a mostly carnage-free weekend in Canada should leave teams with a lower hurdle to clear. Interestingly, Tardif is absent from the early entry list, with longtime Team 31 pilot Ryan Morgan slated to be in his old ride at Seekonk. If Tardif opts not to race at Seekonk, it will be the second time this year a race winner has not been entered in the following event.

But Tardif, one of ACT’s rising stars, will be back before long.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Claude Leclerc 150
Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, QC
1. (31CT) Alexendre Tardif
2. (46VT) William Larue
3. (51QC) Jeff Côté
4. (60BH) D.J. Shaw
5. (25NH) Jesse Switser
6. (47NH) Gabe Brown
7. (48QC) Raphaël Lessard
8. (78QC) Michaël Lavoie
9. (91QC) Patrick Laperle
10. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
11. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
12. (37QC) Dany Gariépy
13. (9QC) Mathieu Kingsbury
14. (6QC) Félix Gratton
15. (66QC) Simon Roussin
16. (21L) Alex Labbé
17. (54QC) Dave Coursol
18. (36NH) Erick Sands
19. (45NH) Kasey Beattie
20. (72QC) Louis-Philippe Lauzier
21. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
22. (69QC) Vincent Rivard
23. (11QC) Claude Leclerc
24. (19QC) Dany Trépanier
25. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
26. (44QC) Patrick Cliché
27. (15QC) Christopher Bedard
28. (17QC) Maxime Gauvreau
29. (25QC) Pier-Luc Labbé
30. (33P) Philippe Poulin

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