By: Ashley McCubbin

TORONTO, Ontario — No matter the weekend on-track, every driver wants to score a trip to victory lane. However, a little confidence boost can go a long way, and that is the case for both Andrew Ranger and L.P. Dumoulin. Although neither picked up the checkered flag on the streets of Toronto, the pair posted podium performances in running up front all day long.

Ranger turned a pole qualifying effort into pacing five laps of competition before scoring a runner-up finish to Kevin Lacroix.

“I was trying to save my stuff and at the same time, drive the car hard, and overall, it was a great race for us to get the second position,” he told NEWS FROM THE PITS. “I’m very happy with my car, my team – everybody did a great job.”

Looking back at the day, Ranger feels a little bit more speed certainly would have helped, feeling he pushed both himself and the car to the limit through the 35-lap event.

“Overall, it was a good race for us,” he added. “The GM Paille Chevrolet was really good. My team did really good job and sometimes it’s a little bit better than him in corner 3, 4, 5, but he was better than me in 1, 2, so overall, it was a good podium finish.”

A trio of drivers led laps throughout the day, with L.P. Dumoulin taking his turn on Lap 5 following pit stops, backing up the speed he’s felt they’ve had on a weekly basis in 2022.

“We showed a lot of speed and everybody is working really hard to improve moving forward,” he commented. “We worked so hard to be up front. But for the team, it was just a good testament for everybody in the shop and give us some good momentum moving forward. Unfortunately, we wanted to win, but we’re on the podium so it’s a good weekend for us.”

Both drivers have won at Edmonton International Raceway with Ranger winning in the series’ last appearance at the oval in 2019.

“Both tracks (Edmonton and Sutherland Automotive Raceway) out there out west we’ve run well at,” Ranger shared. “The track in Edmonton was a track that I really liked and Saskatoon. The series is very competitive so anything can happen, but for us to finish on the podium, it’s good for us.”

Dumoulin echoed the sentiments, noting momentum is always important.

“It feels good to run well here in Toronto ahead of the west coast,” he added. “We are very excited about these upcoming races out west.”

The pair will be looking to put together another solid performance, ready to break into the top-five in points.