Raphael Lessard - Domination Then Disappointment
Pensacola, Florida, United States - March 10th, 2019. Raphaël Lessard opened his 2019 season last night (Saturday) at the Pensacola 200, aboard his #19 FRL Express Inc. /KBR Development car, a track where he recently excelled, the 0.8 km paved oval of Pensacola (Florida, USA). In the race, Raphael Lessard impressed everyone, starting from sixth on the grid and taking over the lead on lap 39, and then easily keeping it until the first caution period of the race on lap 82. He restarted second, took over the lead again on lap 123 and keeping it until the second caution period on lap 160. Restarting from second place again on lap 163, Raphael Lessard ran into serious oversteer by lap 168 and gradually slipped down to an unsatisfactory 8th place by the end of the 200-lap race.
The team prepared the car thoroughly, including a test day the previous week, helping Raphael Lessard to translate more easily from Super Late Model cars to a heavier and much more powerful ARCA car. The test session went very well, allowing Raphael Lessard to concentrate on his driving in the rough and tumble 20-car pack for the race, which he did in masterful fashion.
In order to take full advantage of last week's practice, Crew Chief Jeff Stankiewicz decided to use the same settings and old tires from the test session for a first run, and push as hard as possible, as if it was qualifying. They found that the car under-steered and the team was able to correct this easily before mounting a set of new tires.
"Once the new tires were on, we worked to make the car quick and consistent over long runs while minimizing tire wear and keeping the car predictable and easy to drive. Our final lap time only 0.442 sec. slower than the quickest driver confirmed that we have a good car for the 200 laps of the race, and especially for the end of the race! " said a satisfied Raphael Lessard after the session.
Raphael Lessard promised himself to go all-out in the qualifying session and delivered the goods, recording the 6th fastest lap (out of 20 participants), 0.12 sec. from pole, and an impressive 0.59 sec. faster than his best time in practice. "Qualifying rules allow only two fast laps, but I was able to confirm that the car remains constant with the right settings we found during the practice, which will be good for the race. I have confidence in our set-up, and I expect a comfortable and efficient car for the duration of the race. I have a winning car and I will push as hard as I can from the first to the last lap, always managing my tire wear", confirmed Raphaël Lessard after qualifying.
After the race, Raphael Lessard was philosophical. "No doubt in my mind! We had the best car on the track today before the last stop. The four new tires we took on at the last stop caused our loss. We suspect that one or two bad tires in the set caused the understeer, which rarely happens and ruined our race. Everything else worked perfectly. I got along well with Jeff Stankiewicz, the Crew Chief with whom I was working for the first time. We were both convinced that we had the winning car, even a dominating one. We certainly ruled this ARCA race, a great achievement, and I am ready to continue in that vein for my next outing, in a NASCAR Gander Outdoors truck."
Next race - Martinsville, in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck series (Martinsville, Virginia, March 22-23)
"I have already turned the page on last Saturday's race and now focus on my next race where I plan to apply my new knowledge to the best of my ability with the Kyle Busch Motorsports team in Martinsville," said Raphael Lessard, who is already mentally ready for the next race.
Read the complete press release here
Photo credit: Kevtron Media
