Victory for Lauzière in Trois-Rivières!



(Montréal) – After two exhausting weeks where the team had to repair damages suffered at the last event at Mosport in Ontario, Team Octane brought their 3 MINI Cooper to Trois-Rivières to compete in round 11 and 12 of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship.

Having been the victim of a crash that took the Touring Class front-runners at the last Mosport event, Michel Sallenbach driving the #46 Carrosserie Touchette MINI, arrived in Trois-Rivières with a repaired car, not a small feat considering the extent of the damage suffered, as he did not finish the last event, As a result of this incident, Sallenbach slipped back in third position in the Touring Class Championship after the last Mosport event.

Lauzière in the #47 GENUINE MINI PARTS Cooper S benefited indirectly from the #46’s mishap as he was able to overcome Sallenbach in the second position in the standings, despite an encounter with the wall at the last Mosport event’s first race; he still managed a solid fourth place the next day after starting from the back of the pack.
Joining the team in Trois-Rivières is local veteran Claude Houde, contesting his 44th consecutive edition of GP3R in the team’s new #45 MINI Cooper S JCW.

The team showed good pace in qualifying as Lauzière qualified in second position while Sallenbach finished the session in fourth position.

Race one would run under the lights, as the main event of the Friday night`s program of this year`s edition of GP3R. Lauzière and Sallenbach benefited from a great start to pull in first and second position after the first corner. Lauzière was able to manage a comfortable lead to pace the race with competitors putting the hammer down to catch the #47 without success. Meanwhile Sallenbach was doing his best to finish the race in a car with intermittent electrical issues. His car would eventually quit just in front of the VW of PJ Groenke who was caught by surprise by the rapidly decelerating pace of the MINI. Groenke would collect the back of Sallenbach, sending the VW in a spectacular roll. The incident would end the race as the red flag was displayed to end the show. The #46 managed to finish in fifth position while Lauzière was declared the winner.

During the second weekend race that ran on the Saturday afternoon, Lauzière had a great start but was caught by two competitors at the restart after a yellow was displayed on lap 1. Lauzière was able to maintain his third position for a podium finish after a battle with championship-leader Tom Kwok, gaining precious few points over his competitor for the second day in a row. Sallenbach wasn’t so lucky, his car still plagued with technical issues. Claude Houde would finish his race without any incidents.

The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship next stop will bring competitors to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 18-19 for round #13 of the championship.

Team Octane is supported by GENUINE MINI PARTS, Castrol, Simone Performance Imports, Carrosserie Touchette, Lettrage Raoul and revolutionmini.com.

Photos by Sylvain Lachapelle (slachapellephoto.com)