[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: Todd Lewis” align=”alignright” width=”200″]
[/media-credit]May 20, 2012. This past weekend was the debut event for the new Martin Roy race team and the #90 Veloce/Gamache Truck Centre Dodge with driver Isabelle Tremblay also participating in the #07 Frank Lyman Design Dodge in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. The two drivers each took to the challenging road course at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and gave a wonderful effort in their first event of the season.
Roy and Tremblay have developed an instant chemistry and are along with veteran Crew Chief Mario Gosselin have worked very hard to be ready for the season. During Saturday afternoon practice the learning continued and Tremblay and Roy were both pleased with their cars performance. In qualifying both had some difficulties, Roy had a right rear tire blow and damaged the bodywork. Tremblay’s car did not have the same good handling characteristics it did during practice.
Despite the setbacks both began the race Sunday afternoon with a great deal of optimism. Tremblay had her best career finish at this track a year earlier and in the early going she drove the #07 Frank Lyman Design Dodge smartly and looked to be consistent while improving on every lap.
Tremblay’s day would end early when contact with the #15 car would damage the trailing arm on the right rear of the car. “It was very disappointing” said Tremblay. “I tried to leave room for the other car but he just hit me. I found out after the race he had lost his brakes. It was a disappointing result but the positive energy we have with the team is very good. Working with Martin Roy and everyone on the team has been a wonderful partnership and I’m very excited about our future” she stated.
Roy drove the #90 Veloce/Gamache Truck Centre Dodge smartly in the early going and seemed to be running a smooth and consistent race. Roy will compete for the rookie of the year title and wanted to start the year in the right direction.
The #90 Veloce/Gamache Truck Centre Dodge driver continued to make good progress after his scheduled pit stops for service until a late race difficulty. “I lost the brakes” said Roy. “The car became very difficult to drive and I got off course at one point” he added. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get the finishing result we hoped for, but the car was very good and I’m excited to get back racing at the next event” he added.
Martin Roy & Isabelle Tremblay will be back in action next in their home province at Circuit ICAR in Mirabel, QC on June 3rd. While Roy is competing in the full season with support from Veloce & Gamache Truck Centre’s, Tremblay is currently scheduled for only four events. “We are still hopefully of finalizing some arrangements with more partners” said Tremblay. “We have a great opportunity for someone to occupy the hood of my car” she added.
Photos: #90 Martin Roy & #07 Isabelle Tremblay at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Photo Credit: Todd Lewis
