A Race To Be Forgotten for Raphael Lessard at The Seekonk Speedway

Bad luck struck Raphaël Lessard at the Seekonk Speedway as the young driver from St-Joseph-de-Beauce was obliged to abandon mid-way during the 200-lap race. Raphaël called it a night at the 112th lap of the U.S. Pro-Stock/Super Late Model National Championship, a race recently added to his schedule. The Seekonk Speedway race was the first of two races in three days for Lessard this week.

Originally scheduled to take place last Wednesday, the race was postponed by a week due to rain in Seekonk. In any case, success was not on the agenda. The 16-year-old driver from St-Joseph-de-Beauce had two 100-lap segments ahead of him. Lessard started the race from 12th position despite a relatively good performance during the qualifications. A problem with his differential led Raphaël to complete the first 100 laps in P13. Seeing that the Toyota Camry #99 FRL Express/Toyota-TRD/JBL Audio prepared by David Gilliland Racing was not doing well, the team made every attempt to fix the issue during the pause between the two segments.

Resuming the race in 13th place for the second 100-lap segment, it was decided after the 12th lap that calling it quits was the only option. “The differential broke during the first half of the race, we tried to fix it during the break but it didn’t work,” explains a disappointed Lessard. “We opted to stop the car rather than taking the risk of damaging it further. I want to thank the team for their excellent work last Wednesday and today. I have no doubt that we will win in North Carolina!”

The Toyota Development Program (TRD) driver was racing a teammate’s car tonight in order for the team to have Lessard’s regular car ready for the next race to be held July 21-22, for the CARS Tour’s Mid-Atlantic Classic race in Rougemont, North Carolina.

RLR PR