Godin: mechanical failure at Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières

Courtesy Sportimage Communications

Trois-Rivières, QC August 6, 2006 – Sportimage.net Québec driver Bertrand Godin was taking part this weekend in the Canadian CASCAR championship round held during the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, at the wheel of a Monte-Carlo prepared by Mid America Racing and sponsored by Artic Cat.

It was a short-lived experience for the south shore driver who was forced to retire after 26 of 42 laps, because of clutch problems. Scoring the 11th time in Friday’s free trials, The Mr. Muffler spokesman couldn’t do better during qualifying on Saturday because of handling problems. On Sunday, he started from the 17th place and began moving up. “The idea was to gain places while saving on the car”, explained Godin. “My strategy was to save the tires for the first 30 laps, and then attack during the last 12. Unfortunately, the clutch gave out before we got there. It’s too bad, because even though I’m still getting to know the car, I felt more and more confident and I feel I could have moved into the top 8. Ontarian on Thomson Jr, CASCAR Super-Series champion for the past five years, has won the race.

Godin, also sponsored by 24 power drink, was taking part in his very first race in the CASCAR series. “I immediately fell in love with this series because you have to manage your race. It’s very different from a Formula type series, it’s more like an endurance race.” Bertrand Godin will participate in three more races until the end of the season, starting this coming weekend, where he will race for the first time on the Mosport Oval, next to the Mosport Speedway, in Ontario. Godin will be back two weeks later in Montréal with about 30 other drivers in this series, as a support race for the Grand Prix Champ Car de Montréal, on the Gilles-Villeneuve racetrack.

For more information on Bertrand Godin, visit his website at www.bertrandgodin.com, or visit that of Cascar series, at www.cascar.ca.