TROIS-RIVIERES, Quebec – In the 50th running of the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, and the 50th year of Dumoulin family racing, hometown hero L.P. Dumoulin grabbed perhaps the biggest win of his career on Sunday with the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.
To make it even sweeter, he was surrounded by his family from start to finish.
Prior to the race, family patriarch Richard Dumoulin paced the field in the car he raced during the first GP3R. At the end, J.F. Dumoulin finished third, joining L.P. on the podium for the first time in their Pinty’s Series careers.
“There’s no way to describe the feeling,” L.P. Dumoulin said. “I’m on the podium with my brother J.F. in front of all our family and friends.”
Dumoulin’s No.47 Weathertech Canada/Bellemare Dodge was locked in a fierce, late-race battle with Alex Tagliani with the laps winding down.
The two-time champion needed help, and it came when T.J. Rinomato spun with five laps to go, causing Tagliani to run wide and allowing Dumoulin to steal the lead.
“It’s perfect. My team has worked so hard to give me a great car all season long and we proved once again that we are capable of winning on both ovals and road courses,” L.P. Dumoulin said. “In the end, we caught a little bit of traffic and that helped me pass Tagliani, we set some quick laps and we won.”
It was the second win for Dumoulin at his home track, and ninth of his career.
Tagliani, who was in prime position to score his third straight at GP3R win, finished second. The Lachanaie, Quebec driver took the lead on lap 20 after Andrew Ranger came down to pit, going on to lead 25 laps en route to his second podium of the season.
“It was a great finish for our sponsors,” Tagliani said. “Unfortunately, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was a spin and we took evasive action through the marbles and second place was able to take advantage of it.”
The elder Dumoulin, J.F., mounted a hard charge late in the race to catch the leaders. His No. 04 Spectra Premium Dodge, which was shifted to a part-time schedule in 2019, had this race circled on the calendar.
In the end, the Trois-Rivères, Quebec driver ultimately ties his best career finish in third, scoring his third career podium in the process.
“It’s awesome. It’s our first podium at Trois-Rivières in the Pinty’s Series,” he said. “I’ve been fourth a lot of times, so I’m really excited to be up on the podium with my brother. It’s a great day for us and our sponsors.”
Kevin Lacroix came into Les 50 Tours Hotel Le Concorde trailing Ranger by 18 points. Lacroix started from the outside of the front row and would lead the first 15 laps, before being hit with a penalty after taking his fuel can out of the pit box.
Lacroix’s No. 74 eventually fought way all the way up to fourth. D.J. Kennington completed the top five finishers.
Jason Hathaway and Raphael Lessard were sixth and seventh, respectively.
After leading four laps, Ranger ended up finishing eighth. Ranger will now carry a 14-point lead over Lacroix heading into Riverside next week.
Simon Dion-Viens and Donald Theetge rounded out the rest of the top 10.
The finish:
L.P. Dumoulin, Alex Tagliani, J.F. Dumoulin, Kevin Lacroix, D.J. Kennington, Jason Hathaway, Raphael Lessard, Andrew Ranger, Simon Dion-Viens, Donald Theetge, Alex Guenette, Mark Dilley, Raymond Guay, David Michaud, Larry Jackson, J.F. Laberge, T.J. Rinomato, Marc-Antoine Camirand, Alex Labbe, Anthony Simone, Jocelyn Fecteau.