NASCAR Pinty's: 2022 Season opener for Alex Tagliani (01)
For immediate release Opening round of the 2022 NASCAR Pinty's season in Ontario ALEX TAGLIANI FINISHED SEVENTH AT SUNSET SPEEDWAY Montréal, May 15, 2022 - Tough day for Canadian driver Alex Tagliani at the launch of the 2022 NASCAR Pinty's Series racing season at the 1/3-mile paved oval Sunset Speedway located in Innisfil, Ontario. The 2022 season got underway Saturday, May 14 with the NTN Ultimate Bearing Experience 250 run in two segments with a five-minute break on Lap 125. There were no live pit stops. Qualified on the fourth row, Tagliani completed the 252-lap race in seventh position, but not without a mechanical problem. During the lone practice session held at noon, Alex posted the sixth time, one hundredth of a second off the leader, his teammate and eventual race winner Treyten Lapcevich. He then qualified his number 18 22Racing Team VIAGRA / St-Hubert Chevrolet Camaro in eight place. "We survived today's race," said Alex Tagliani following Saturday night's NASCAR Pinty's season opening race at Sunset Speedway. The results are a bit deceiving because the Team 22Racing VIAGRA / St-Hubert Chevrolet Camaro was a missile on track even though it was running with a lack of power. All day long Saturday during the practice session and qualifying the team tried to find and repair the engine problem that showed lack of power, without knowing where it came from. At one point, they realized that one of the cylinders was not firing properly. So all day long, the engine was only running on only seven out of the eight cylinders." "To be able to finish seventh under these conditions in a race that was hotly disputed enables me to be very hopeful for the upcoming season. The team did a colossal job getting this Chevrolet ready for the opening race. Probably the best car I have ever driven on this track. And God knows that I drove many good cars here because I won twice at Sunset Speedway. But this time the handling of the car was fantastic, a missile. When you realize that the results are not what you expected at the end of the race, it is a bit deceiving that you were not able to showcase what the car was really able to do. But, that's life. I think it is a valve or a spring compressor that is defective because the mechanics changed everything without tearing up the engine, something that can not be done during a one day race affair." "According to me, there were a least 1,000 rotations (RPM) missing on the engine. That's a lot of power on a short one-third mile oval track, but I still managed to overtake a lot of cars during the race because when I made a pit stop to check on the engine, I had to restart at the back of the pack, and I made two of these stops. The car was able to easily follow the pace and pass cars even with this lack of power," continued Tagliani. "It has been a while since I have felt so positive. I am really excited by the handling of the car. I was able to overtake many opponents and I was gaining positions on each lap with a car that was running on seven cylinders. It is still a shame that I lost two laps on the leaders. Everything will be repair for the next race." 2022 NASCAR Pinty's season schedule The 13-race schedule features races at 11 different tracks in Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It includes six short tracks, three road courses, and two street courses, including a return to the Honda Indy Toronto and Trois-Rivières, and the series debut at Eastbound International Speedway and on a dirt track at Ohsweken Speedway. All races will air on TSN and RDS. Start times and a complete broadcast schedule will be released at a later date. - End - Photos of Alex Tagliani's car at Sunset Speedway Photo 1 - The VIAGRA - St-Hubert Chevrolet Camaro in the pits as his crew is trying to solve his mechanical problem. Photo 2 - The VIAGRA - St-Hubert Chevrolet Camaro on track at Sunset Speedway. Photo credit: TAG Motorsport Source: TAG E-karting Max d'Orsonnens for Alex Tagliani 514-246-8909 maxdo@videotron.ca
 |
 |
 |
 |