Andrew Ranger wins the Ecko Unlimited 100 at ICAR
Andrew Ranger captured victory on Sunday at the Ecko Unlimited 100, Round 4 of the 2016 NASCAR Pinty’s held at Circuit ICAR in Mirabel.
Photo by: Paolo Pedicelli
Alex Labbé – a genuine oval specialist – clinched pole position Saturday afternoon, lapping the ICAR road course in 1m34.868 in the No. 32 Ford.
Driving the No. 27 Dodge, Andrew Ranger, took second place. Kevin Lacroix (Dodge No. 74) and Élie Arseneau (Dodge No. 03) shared row 2 in front of Gary Klutt (Dodge No. 59) and Alexandre Tagliani (Chevrolet No. 18).
The race
The field completed the two parade laps behind the safety car. At the green, Labbé jumps into the lead, followed by Ranger and Lacroix.
Patrick Dussault (No. 71) is penalised for having moved out of position at the start. At the beginning of lap 2, Ranger moves ahead of Labbé in Corner 1.
Arseneau is fourth followed by Tagliani. But one lap later, on lap 5, they trade places. On lap 7, Jason Hathaway re-joins the fray after long repairs in the pit lane.
On lap 9, Arseneau starts putting pressure on Tagliani. After 10 laps the order is Ranger ahead of Labbé, Lacroix, Tagliani, Arseneau, Gary Klutt, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, D.J. Kennington and Jean-François Dumoulin.
At mid-race, Ranger is still first, closely followed by Labbé. In third place, Lacroix has lost a bit of time on the leaders. Behind them, Tagliani, Arseneau and Klutt are running together. Further back, young points’ leader Cayden Lapcevich is battling fiercely against Anthony Simone.
On lap 10, Labbé is running right on the back bumper of Ranger as they go through the hairpin. Moment later, the race goes under full course yellow for debris in corner 1.
At the restart, there’s a lot of pushing and shoving at the hairpin. Ranger powers in front while Labbé keeps Lacroix behind him.
Louis-Philippe Dumoulin suddenly starts losing pace. We suspect a slow tire leak.
Last lap: Ranger leads with a narrow margin over Labbé. Ranger crosses the line in first place, scoring his second victory of the season. Labbé finishes second, just 0.854 second down. Kevin Lacroix is third.
D.J. Kennington crossed the line in fourth place ahead of Arseneau, Tagliani, Gary Klutt, Cayden Lapcevich, Jean-François Dumoulin and Patrick Dussault who drove a strong race after his penalty.
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