Trois-Rivières, Quebec - Marc-Antoine Camirand clinched a brilliant victory at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, after an exhilarating race in the NASCAR Canada series. Andrew Ranger also had a fast car and was on his way to a Paillé Course//Racing double podium, but had a tough break at the end as he ran out of fuel after multiple overtime attempts.

 

Marc-Antoine Camirand has been very quick all weekend at the wheel of his GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada n°96 Camaro. Fastest in practice, he also signed the pole position in dominating fashion, on Saturday afternoon, with a lead of over three tenths of a second.

 

Camirand was aiming at back-to-back wins at GP3R, but knew that it would be a long 60-lap race.  “Right at the first lap, I have been pushed outside the racing lane at turn two and dropped to seventh place. But I knew that I had a very fast car. I focused on climbing back the field. After our stop for fuel, I was in a good place to fight for the leading positions,” stated Camirand.

 

He took the lead back just before the mid-race, and then led the field through the end of the race. Although Camirand was the fastest car on track, the last laps have not been so relaxing. “The race went to overtime, with multiple attempts for a green-white-checkered finish. At the beginning, we were not so worried about fuel, but as the race kept dragging on, we started to be concerned about it. And it turned out well for us, because we ran out at victory lane!”

 

Camirand wins his fourth victory of the season, and increases his own record of 16 wins at GP3R. “This is a huge victory for me and all the Paillé Course//Racing team. This is definitely our biggest event of the season, so I’m very happy to win back-to-back here,” concluded Camirand.

 

Andrew Ranger also showed great speed throughout the weekend on the historic street circuit. Seventh in practice on Saturday, he improved to fourth place during qualifying later that day.

 

At the start of Les 60 Tours Rousseau Métal, he quickly managed to get in second place, and kept himself in the leading pack for most of the race.

 

“I know that I could achieve a podium finish and I was running in second place at the end of the race. Unfortunately, I ran out of gas after the race went into NASCAR overtime,” told Ranger.

 

The GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada n°27 Camaro lost two laps before he could come back running. “It’s a shame because I know that we could achieve a great podium finish and battle for the win during those last green-white-checkered finishes,” concluded Ranger, who scored a 14th-place finish.

 

Paillé Course//Racing leads the NASCAR Canada drivers’ standings, with Camirand increasing his lead to 29 points over Ranger.

 

The NASCAR Canada series resumes next weekend, as Paillé Course//Racing drivers Marc-Antoine Camirand and Andrew Ranger will race at Delaware Speedway, near London, ON, next Saturday.