ARCA - Maryeve Dufault Making Strides At New Jersey Motorsports Park

MILLVILLE, May 21, 2011: Tony Marks Racing (TMR) pilot Maryeve Dufault in the No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger made huge strides Saturday at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) giving her rookie team confidence heading into tomorrow’s ModSpace 150.

Dufault, the Sorel, Quebec Canada native originally hails from experience that includes road racing so, for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Rookie of the Year contender to be a sleeper in her first tango with the track’s 12-turn, 2.3-mile Thunderbolt Raceway isn’t a surprise.

Despite limited practice Saturday after some mechanical setbacks, the female sensation rose to the attention in Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying where she maneuvered the 21st quickest lap, the fastest of the three female competitors entered for the fifth race of the season.

“It’s a shame that we didn’t get as much practice as we wanted to, but we had to make sure the car was right,” offered Dufault. “As always, the Tony Marks Racing team delivered and fixed the car and we were able to make some laps at the end of the final practice heading into qualifying. The car felt good in qualifying and I think we have a lot more left, we just needed some more laps.”

If laps is what Maryeve Dufault wants than laps is what she shall receive as the former NASCAR Canadian Tire Series pilot will look to complete all 67 laps or 150 miles in the lone road racing event of the season as opportunity to boost the entire team’s confidence but also propel the freshman driver in the championship standings.

“I have a good feeling about tomorrow,” added Dufault. “The No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger is fast. New Jersey is a very diverse track; it has some fast parts, some extremely slow parts and even some elevation which makes it very technical. I have some notes from today that I’m going to study and hope it will pay off with a good result tomorrow.”

Tony Marks, owner of TMR’s No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger offered his thoughts on today’s action NJMP. “I heard a lot of people really enjoy coming to New Jersey Motorsports Park and I see now why. Maryeve and the TMR did a good job overcoming the setback we had in practice to deliver a solid qualifying run. We know we can go to the front tomorrow, we just have to use some patience and a little luck to make it happen.”