This is the last leg of the Champ Car Atlantic series’ trip to Canada and this trip ends on a doubleheader. After racing on the magnificent road circuit of Mont-Tremblant and avoiding the traps of the demanding Toronto street circuit, the drivers of the series will face the challenges of a track layed out on an airport tarmac. Kevin Lacroix approaches this weekend with a lot of optimism. The Edmonton circuit presents a nice mix of fast and technical turns.

We know that Kevin Lacroix adapts easily to new circuits and this trait will come in handy since he has never raced on the Edmonton circuit. He will also have little time to learn the track, since the qualification session, which will determine the starting grid of race 1, will be held after the single practice session.

The atmosphere in the team will surely be better than in Toronto The Brooks Associates Racing team, who was assured to finish the season with only one driver, was apparently over staffed. One of their mechanics was dismissed on Saturday morning in Toronto. The announcement downed the team’s morale all weekend long. This occurred at a very bad moment, but John Brooks insisted on rendering his decision that weekend in order to allow the mechanic to offer his services to other teams who were there.

Two races this weekend
“I’m not too keen about doubleheaders,” says Kevin. “If everything goes well from the start on Friday, it can become an advantage, but if we have to look for the right setup, we have little time available to improve the car. Furthermore, we usually have two qualifying sessions to form the starting grid, in a doubleheader, we will only have one qualifying session for each race. There is no room for mistakes,” says Kevin. “However, my physical condition is a strong advantage. We often hear drivers complaining that a race weekend is physically demanding and it’s even worst when it’s a doubleheader. I don’t have any problems with that and that may give me a certain advantage by the end of both races.”

A unique race track
We remember that the Cleveland circuit caused Kevin a few problems and it was also a track layed out on an airport tarmac… “We definitely had a car that was misadapted to this kind of track, but the team’s engineers assured me that the track in Edmonton is very different than that of Cleveland’s, which cannot be compared to any other tracks. I hope it’s true!” concludes the young driver.

Getting ready for Edmonton
We encountered all kinds of problems at the Toronto Grand Prix. “We discussed with the engineers prior to the Edmonton race, because we do not want to have another weekend like Toronto’s,” explains Kevin. “So we forget Toronto and we start anew, our enthusiasm renewed and I’m convinced that we will be stronger here in Edmonton.”