Camirand Saves the Day at GP3R - Heartbreaking Last Laps for Ranger

Trois-Rivières, QC, August 9th, 2022 - Marc-Antoine Camirand secured a well-deserved podium finish for Paillé Course//Racing at his hometown event, as the NASCAR Pinty’s series was at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. Andrew Ranger was also confident to achieve a good result but was involved in a series of race incidents that thwarted his aspirations.

Marc-Antoine Camirand, who holds the GP3R record for most victories, was looking for his third win of the season when he entered the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières with his GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada n°96 Camaro.

He ran great lap times early in practice session, on Saturday, but the Camirand Performance team had to work hard to fix carburetor problems during the day. He scored a quick time in qualifying, only 0,018 sec. from pole. Camirand knew from that moment that he could be a serious competitor for the win.

On Sunday, the race started after a delay due to lightnings and thunderstorms. He took the lead at the first lap and opted to pit early for fuel. By lap 13, he was back on the top spot and led the field for most of Les 60 tours Rousseau Métal.

“I have had a very fast car all day, but with only a few laps to go, I felt that my GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada n°96 Camaro was more difficult to drive and started to lose some ground”, said Camirand.

With a slow leek in his left front tire, he survived a heated few last laps and a NASCAR Overtime finish but could not hold to the top spots. He scored a well-fought third-place finish after 64 laps.

“I felt like I had the car to win this race and I have been waiting for a NASCAR Pinty’s victory at GP3R for a long time, so it’s a little disappointing. However, I am very happy with a third-place finish, after a very spectacular race and after my flat tire. We kind of saved the day with that podium finish”, Camirand concluded.

His Paillé Course//Racing teammate Andrew Ranger didn’t have the same luck for one of his favorite weekends of the year. Fourth on the starting grid, he had a strong start and was keeping a good pace. After he pitted for fuel, he climbed back the field, running in fourth place for many laps. With 10 laps to go, after a restart, he was hit by behind and was forced to go back to pit but came back on track with a severed back end.

Then, still hoping for a top-10 finish, he took the last restart during the NASCAR Overtime from the eighth place, but he spun and crashed his GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada n°27 Camaro at lap 63.

“We had a strong start and we wanted to be there at the end. I wished to have a strong finish in front of my family and fans here in Trois-Rivières. It’s a shame that we got caught by trouble on track, but it was an intense race. We’ll come back strong for the next event”, said Ranger.

Marc-Antoine Camirand, Andrew Ranger and team Paillé Course//Racing will be back in action as the NASCAR Pinty’s series will be racing on the Ohsweken Speedway dirt oval, on August 16th, for the series’ first-ever event on a dirt track.

Podium for Marc-Antoine Camirand in the Défi Urbain Chevrolet

Paillé Course//Racing was also in action in the Défi Urbain Chevrolet at GP3R, as David Hebert and Marc-Antoine Camirand were at the wheel of Sportsman Modifieds prepared by the ONE Racing team.

Marc-Antoine Camirand secured a second place finish at the wheel of the GM Paillé n°ONEc car in the 25-lap feature on Saturday night. The Great Canadian Champion David Hébert secured a second-place finish in the last chance qualifier race in the morning but had a steering box failure that forced him to retire early in the feature.