Photo By: ©Ray MacAloney / cdn-r.com
Bowmanville, ON, September 5th, 2022 – Marc-Antoine Camirand clinched a brilliant victory to increase his point lead, as the NASCAR Pinty’s series was at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend. His Paillé Course//Racing teammate Andrew Ranger scored an eight-place finish after leading some laps in the race.
Marc-Antoine Camirand came to CTMP as the NASCAR Pinty’s championship points leader and aimed at securing as many points as possible with two races to go in the season. He showed great speed throughout the weekend. Camirand scored the pole position after being second in practice earlier Saturday, and for the third race in a row, he started first on the starting grid.
He kept the first place for six laps, before he was passed by Kevin Lacroix but kept putting pressure on the leader. Then, when the first caution occurred, he stopped for fuel first, and stopped a second time to change the left tires but didn’t take fresh right-side tires. The GM Paillé/Chevrolet Camaro n°96 Camaro was tenth at the restart, in front of his championship opponents who took four tires.
This strategy turned out good for Camirand. He managed to climb back the field in no time, and when he took back the lead from his Paillé Course//Racing teammate Ranger, he never looked back. He held Kevin Lacroix who was tailing him for the lead, and won his third race of the season, his first this year on a road course.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better weekend. We were looking to secure our championship place, but we ended up increasing that lead with that win. I couldn’t thank my Camirand Performance crew and the whole GM Paillé family enough for that victory,” said Camirand after the race. He now holds a 33-point lead over Kevin Lacroix with one race to go.
His Paillé Course//Racing teammate Andrew Ranger experienced a more difficult weekend on the fast road course located near Bowmanville, ON. Ranger qualified in fifth place on Saturday, after having issues finding some speed on his GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada n°27 Camaro during practice. He was hoping for a strong top-five finish in the 51-lap race.
After a timely pit stop for fuel just before the first caution, he took the lead of the race and ran good lap times in front of the field. The team chose to pit later in the race to change tires.
“This strategy didn’t turn out like we were hoping to. Even with newer tires, I had some trouble climbing back the field,” explained Ranger. He scored an eight-place finish at the end of the WeatherTech 200.
Paillé Course//Racing, Marc-Antoine Camirand and Andrew Ranger will be back on track for the last race of the NASCAR Pinty’s series 2022 season, on September 25, at Delaware Speedway, near London, ON.