L.P. Dumoulin Capitalizes on Misfortune of Gary Klutt, Captures NASCAR Pinty’s Series Victory at CTMP

In professional motorsports, even on the days where your car is the fastest on the track, it’s still important to have luck on your side.

On Saturday Afternoon, L.P. Dumoulin didn’t just the fastest car in Bowmanville, Ontario, but he was also the luckiest driver in the field, capitalizing on the mechanical issues of race dominator Gary Klutt to capture his 11th NASCAR Pinty’s Series victory at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

The final pass for the lead was made inside the last 10 laps of the race, when Klutt’s No. 59 suffered mechanical issues on the Mario Andretti Straightaway, shuffling him back into the runner-up position before the a full course caution came out for TJ Rinomato.

Dumoulin was able to run away from the pack on the final restart, holding off a hard-charging Marc-Antoine Camirand for the race win, despite making a last-lap bobble in turn five, which costed him the majority of the gap he had built over the field.

Camirand slid through the final corner to finish in the runner-up spot, with with Treyton Lapcevich, Alex Tagliani and Gary Klutt rounding out the top-five. DJ Kennington, Andrew Ranger, Dexter Stacey, Brett Taylor and Matthew Scannell also notched top-10 finishes in the first half of a doubleheader at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

Ranger – who ultimately ended up in seventh-place — had a huge cloud of smoke trailing his Rick Ware Racing entry throughout the entire race, and was forced to come down pit road to try and address the issue. After restarting from 20th at the halfway point, Ranger was able to claw back into the top-10.

Circuit ICAR winner, Kevin Lacroix, was running inside the top-five throughout the first portion of the event, before being invovled in an accident on lap 10, which would force his to retire his No. 74 Bumper-to-Bumper Dodge in the first event of the weekend.

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will return to action tomorrow at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, for the Clarington 200. Qualifying will kick off at 10:45am / ET with the event beginning at 1:30pm / ET.

Olymel Grand Prix of Ontario Results:

1. No. 47 – L.P. Dumoulin
2. No. 22 – Marc-Antoine Camirand (-0.523 seconds)
3. No. 20 – Treyten Lapcevich (-1.052 seconds)
4. No. 18 – Alex Tagliani (-5.061 seconds)
5. No. 59 – Gary Klutt (-6.517 seconds)
6. No. 17 – DJ Kennington (-6.827 seconds)
7. No. 51 – Andrew Ranger (-7.757 seconds)
8. No. 92 – Dexter Stacey (-7.814 seconds)
9. No. 3 – Brett Taylor (-8.894 seconds)
10. No. 99 – Matthew Scannell (-9.129 seconds)
11. No. 42 – Peter Klutt (-11.126 seconds)
12. No. 52 – Alex Guenette (-11.408 seconds)
13. No. 64 – Mark Dilley (-17.193 seconds)
14. No. 80 – JF Laberge (-18.500 seconds)
15. No. 98 – Sam Fellows (-22.230 seconds)
16. No. 84 – Larry Jackson (-22.442 seconds)
17. No. 77 – Jocelyn Fecteau (-27.670 seconds)
18. No. 8 – Ray Junior Courtemanche (-28.742 seconds)
19. No. 67 – David Thorndyke (-50.740 seconds)
20. No. 61 – Brent Wheller (-1 Lap)
21. No. 56 – Malcolm Strachan (-2 Laps)
22. No. 7 – Kyle Marcelli (-10 Laps)
23. No. 2 – TJ Rinomato (-11 Laps)
24. No. 74 – Kevin Lacroix (-20 Laps)

2021 NASCAR Pinty’s Series Point Standings After 5 of 11 Races:

1. L.P. Dumoulin – 207pts
2. Alex Tagliani (-3)
3. Treyten Lapcevich (-21)
4. DJ Kennington (-24)
5. Kevin Lacroix (-30)
6. Andrew Ranger (-30)
7. Alex Guenette (-34)
8. Larry Jackson (-45)
9. Mark Dilley (-47)
10. Brett Taylor (-47)
11. Dexter Stacey (-48)
12. Marc-Antoine Camirand (-49)
13. TJ Rinomato (-74)
14. Raphael Lessard (-82)
15. Ray Courtemanche Jr (-118)