Star Mazda: Last-lap pass gives Ardoin victory
By Andy Darley
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
The Americans came out to play as the Star Mazda Championship headed north of the border into Canada, Louisiana’s Alex Ardoin overtaking Texan Rusty Mitchell on a last-lap restart to win the Grand Prix of Trois Rivieres on a day in which the Brits and Irish faltered.
Ireland’s Peter Dempsey, winner of last year’s race, was supposed to line up on the front row beside pole-sitter Mitchell but was made to start from the pitlane after failing to get on the grid in time.
That opened the way for Adam Christodoulou to close the gap on Dempsey in the championship hunt, but the Englishman was not able to take full advantage of his second-row qualifying position and finished only fifth, behind Californian Joel Miller and 16-year-old local star Mikael Grenier, who had qualified 19th.
Dempsey fought back to ninth place before pitting with a loose nose cone, only to be sent out on track with no nose at all as his team attempted to avoid his being lapped. He eventually finished a disappointed 13th, but retains a 10-point championship lead.
Richard Kent’s race was brief, as the Andersen Racing driver from near Milton Keynes did not complete a lap before retiring.
Following his pole, Mitchell had said his plan would be to “get a good start, pull out a gap and try to run away with it”. Had it not been for a late full-course caution, the plan might have worked.
Winner Ardoin said: “We had a really good car in the race, but Rusty was driving extremely well and I had to hope for some re-starts to give me a chance to get by. I got my wish in the last few laps when there was a full-course yellow and when they re-started we were all bunched up tight and had to get it done in one lap before the chequered came out.”
Three races remain in the championship: Mosport on August 29th, Road Atlanta on September 25th and Laguna Seca on October 10th.
Related posts:
- Star Mazda: Adam Christodoulou wins championship showdown
- Star Mazda: Ireland’s Dempsey knocks Christodoulou off top spot
- Star Mazda: Dempsey steamrollers opposition at Joliet
- Star Mazda: Kent wins as Christodoulou slips back
- Star Mazda: Christodoulou regains championship lead
Read more about Adam Christodoulou, Peter Dempsey, Richard Kent, Star Mazda Championship.
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 8:29 pm and is filed under Star Mazda Championship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Author: Andy Darley. Ex-journalist, fan of David Coulthard and anyone who ever drove or tested for Minardi and didn't say rude things about the team afterwards. Owns a Triumph Spitfire and hopes that, one day, it'll be on the road again. Andy has written 606 articles for us.
