Omnifab Sprints Set the Field for Sunday’s 45 Tours CarGurus

The NASCAR Canada field took part in two 15-lap Omnifab Sprints on Saturday on the streets of Trois-Rivières, determining the starting positions for Sunday’s 45 Tours CarGurus.

While Qualifying earlier in the day secured Kevin Lacroix in the No. 74 NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet and Marc-Antoine Camirand in the No. 96 GM Paille/Chevrolet Canada Chevrolet the first two positions on the starting grid, the Omnifab Sprints determined the remainder of the field. Duel 1 established the outside row, while Duel 2 set the inside row.

Championship points were also awarded during both Sprints, with the top five finishers earning five, four, three, two and one point, respectively.

In Duel 1, Marc-Antoine Camirand set the pace from the opening laps as drivers battled for positions on the outside row of Sunday’s starting grid.

Simon Charbonneau behind the No. 88 TransGestion/Complexe AutoPlus/NAPA/IAI Chevrolet remained close behind Camirand in the early stages, while Louis-Philippe Dumoulin in the No. 47 WeatherTech/Bellemare/Omnifab Dodge steadily worked his way toward the front. Dumoulin eventually made his way past Charbonneau, who spun shortly afterward and dropped several positions.

Camirand remained out front to secure the Duel 1 victory, with Alex Labbé in the No. 36 Groupe Boissonneault/FlorDeco/GBI Chevrolet finishing second and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin completing the podium in third. DJ Kennington finished fourth, with Will Larue in the No. 45 Larue Industrial Snow Blowers/Macpek Chevrolet in fifth.

“We were lucky in a way. We’ll be running on the same tires tomorrow, so it was quite difficult to push for a good starting position in the Duel while also preserving the car. I think we did a good job of managing that,” said Camirand. “Tomorrow, we still have a 45-lap race ahead of us, and we’ll be looking to come away with a good result.”

Kevin Lacroix started Duel 2 from the front after clinching pole position earlier in the day, with Andrew Ranger second in the No. 27 GM Paillé/Chevrolet Canada Chevrolet and Alex Guenette third in the No. 39 Mise au Jeu+/GL Électricité Automatisation Chevrolet, putting three previous GP3R winners at the front of the field.

The leaders maintained their positions through the opening corners. Guenette remained close behind Ranger, while Ranger was not letting Lacroix out of his sight. The top three gradually built a gap over Italian driver Vittorio Ghirelli, driving the No. 50 Rousseau Metal/Festidrag.tv/XPN Chevrolet, in fourth.

As the Sprint approached the halfway point, Alex Tagliani in the No. 80 St. Hubért/UPS Store/Bet GRW/Olymel Chevrolet passed Ghirelli for fourth and began closing the gap to Guenette.

With five laps remaining, Tagliani caught Guenette and began challenging for third. The two made contact before Tagliani moved ahead in Turn 1. Guenette regained the position at Porte Duplessis, but Tagliani passed him again on the following lap and remained in third through the finish.

Despite smoke coming from Ranger’s car in the closing stages, he finished second behind Lacroix, who secured the Duel 2 victory. Tagliani finished third, followed by Guenette and Ghirelli to round out the top five.

“I’m very happy. I think that with a competitor like Andrew right behind us in the opening laps, we were able to get a good sense of whether we had a competitive car for tomorrow, and I think we do,” said Lacroix. In the second half of the Duel, we backed off a little to preserve the car, but I’m very confident heading into tomorrow.

Fans can watch the 45 Tours CarGurus tomorrow live at 2 p.m. ET on REV TV, TVA Sports, TVA+ and the NASCAR Canada YouTube channel.