Trois-Rivières, Quebec - Alex Tagliani, who drove the #80 St-Hubert / BFL Canada / 440 Laval Chevrolet / Qwick Wick / Arobas / La Petite Bretonne Chevrolet in this past weekend's 60 tours Rousseau Métal, finished 18th in the NASCAR Canada race on Sunday afternoon.

 

It was an event that started on a very positive note, with Tagliani setting the 6th fastest time in the practice session. In qualifying, he further climbed up to 3rd place with a time of 1:07.536, just 0.574 seconds off pole position.

 

"Although we had some minor problems, my car was very fast," said Tagliani. "I have to highlight the efforts of the Theetge Motorsports crew who worked incredibly hard all weekend long."

 

The driver of the yellow car, adorned in St-Hubert's primary colours, started Sunday’s race from the second row, sitting just behind the one in pole position. He took advantage of the contact ahead between Kevin Lacroix and Marc-Antoine Camirand, brilliantly manoeuvring around them to take the lead.

 

However, he only led for two laps before being forced into pit lane due to a mechanical problem. His chances of securing a fourth victory on the streets of Trois-Rivières had been dashed.

 

"We’re still hungry for more in Trois-Rivières," he admitted. "We're leaving a bit sad, because we had a good car. It's a shame we weren't able to show just how good it was."

 

He explained that, "I’m shocked at myself because we had some brake issues throughout the weekend, so I had to run three different brake balance settings for each lap. However, after taking the lead, I decided to leave it on the same setting for one lap since the car was full of fuel and heavy at the rear. I was trying to avoid front-end slide, given that the tires were at low pressure."

 

"Unfortunately, I got caught out in Turn 1; I locked the rear, counter-steered to correct, and as I approached the corner, I was too tight and hit the inside wall. This affected the suspension. I’m disappointed in myself for getting caught out; I should have continued doing what I had been doing all weekend. I was very bummed for the team. Additionally, throughout the race, we were losing brake fluid, so I wouldn’t have been able to fight at the front."

 

"I had great difficulty under braking. It was just a matter of getting the car back in good condition and then scoring points for Theetge Motorsports."

 

Although the car was not optimal in terms of braking, Tagliani confirmed that it was plenty quick enough; "We were able to run reasonable times. It was surprising to have a car that was affected with brake problems also be able to put in those times."

 

He concluded by saying, "We have to turn the page and forget about that race. It's sad for the team because I'm still looking forward to giving them a good performance because they deserve it, but everyone was in good spirits by the end of the race. On the positive side, we've got a good machine. So we just need to sort out the little problems and then I think we should be able to do well. I'm looking forward to the ICAR race. We've got a bit of work to do to sort that out, and then we'll try to finish the season strongly."

 

Alex Tagliani's next NASCAR Canada Series event will be the Evirum 100 at Complexe ICAR on August 24th.