RAPHAËL LESSARD ACHIEVES A TOP 5 AT THE ANDERSON MOTOR SPEEDWAY
june 11, 2018
Williamston, South Carolina, June 11, 2018 - St-Joseph-de-Beauce' Raphaël Lessard finishes 4thduring the Racing Brotherhood Foundation Border War 150, a CARS Response Energy Tourand Southern Super Series(SSS) joint event on the Anderson Motor Speedway.
It was in South Carolina that Raphaël was participating in this race behind the wheel of his #51 FRL Express/Mobil 1/Toyota Camry prepared by Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM). The event saw a strong driver line-up from the best Super Late Model series in the United-States. Raphaël was starting from the middle of the field, in 9thplace.
The Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver started the 150-lap challenger from the 9thplace, but after a few seconds of racing, an accident involving 12 cars occurred, preventing the other cars from racing for about 30 minutes.
It was with 10 cars missing from that accident that the race went underway for a second time. Starting from the 9thplace, Lessard proved to be patient in the first stage of the race. Benefiting from a caution flag with 38 laps in the books, he came in the pits for some adjustments on the car which wasn't to his taste.
"I had a hard time finding grip on this track. We came in for a pit stop pretty early on because I wasn't happy with the car," explains Raphaël. "We made some good adjustments, we left pit road in 13thplace and I was able to fight my way back in the top 10."
Having a spirited fight with Steve Wallace and Anthony Cataldi to defend his 6thplace, a Competition Yellow came out. The series put out a Competition Yellow after 50 consecutive laps to give the teams an equal chance to make a pit stop. It is with two new tires and a new set-up that Raphaël came back on the track.
"My car was great on the exterior line, but I had to push a lot for that. We had pretty decent speed, but we were missing it a little bit tonight. With the many caution flags in the end, it was hard to maintain a position because of the many restarts. Most of the time I was on the inside line on restarts where my car wasn't performing well like on the outside line. After all, a 4thplace finish is not bad if we take into account the situation."
Making his way in the leader's pack, Raphaël had an action-packed end of the race. With a few laps to go, Raphaël pushed hard to make sure he could have a shot at victory. He felt short as he finished 4th, but is still very happy with the result.
Raphaël wants to thank his partners FRL Express, Mobil 1, Toyota and Kyle Busch Motorsports who did an excellent job this weekend. "I would also like to thank everybody who came out to la Cage -Brasserie Sportive to watch the race, my parents for encouraging me at every event and my investors who support me."
Next Race:
Raphaël's next race will take place at the Anderson Speedway on July 16 for the Red Bud 400 in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Late Model in Anderson, Indiana.
