TAGLIANI CAPTURES HIS FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON AND HIS THIRD IN TORONTO AFTER A HARD FOUGHT BATTLE

Round 5 of the 2023 NASCAR Pinty’s season hit the streets of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, July 16^th, 2023 –

Canadian driver Alex Tagliani, of Lachenaie, Quebec made it look easier than it was when he captured the checkered flag on Friday at the Tiffany Gate Grand Prix of Toronto. It was round 5 of the 2023 NASCAR Pinty’s Series held at Exhibition Place.

Tagliani started the day off with a solid 4^th place practice run. He followed that up by laying down a qualifying lap of 1:16.291, good enough to win the pole and put himself in a favorable position to win his 3^rd race on the streets of Toronto.

When the green flag flew at 5:10pm, Tag took control of the race but was pursued closely by the #27 car piloted by Andrew Ranger. The competition was very strong and Tagliani had to push his car to the limits every lap to stay in the number one position. Tag fell to 2^nd place on a lap 15 caution, but he quickly regained the lead by overtaking the #27 car on turn 5 and he never relinquished the lead again. The final three laps were an epic battle between Tagliani, Kevin Lacroix, and Marc-Antoine Camirand. Tag got everything he could out of his #18 St.Hubert – NTN Bearings – Qwick Wick Chevrolet Camaro and finished the day in victory lane.

“We had a good practice and a great pole run,” said Tagliani. “The race was not easy. It was very tough. We really had to work for this win. I was catching traffic at the wrong time and it caused me to lose my margin of lead on a couple of occasions. I was confused why the 27 was given the lead after a caution came out after a restart, but we were able to regain the lead on turn 5 when the race resumed. We had a really close call when we got into the rear of the #0 car and then there was a car on the backstretch that was losing a tire. I slowed to be safe, but Kevin was able to get close to my bumper and I lost a little concentration and most of my lead. But it still worked out for us and we got the win.”

“This was a really big team win. Everyone worked so hard today. It was a great weekend for our sponsors. We had 200 guests from NTN in attendance all in team shirts. I am so happy we got the win for them.”

“We have some great momentum going into the western swing of the season.”

Up next, the NASCAR Pinty’s Series travels west to Edmonton International Speedway in Wetaskiwin, Alberta on Saturday, July 22^nd. Then off to Saskatoon for a doubleheader on Wednesday, July 26^th.

In the driver standings, Alex Tagliani moved up to the 6^th place position.

The Tiffany Gate Grand Prix of Toronto will air on TSN on Sunday, July 23^rd at 3:00 pm ET and RDS2 on Sunday, July 30^th at 11am ET.

Fans can follow Alex Tagliani by visiting www.tagliani.com, or by following him on Twitter at @TAGLIANI, or @tagliani18 on Instagram and, like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Tagliani.

NASCAR.ca has live coverage of each event, including live timing and scoring, on Race Center.

— FIN — 

Photo of Alex Tagliani

Photo credit: TAG Motorsport

Source:

Tag Motorsport
Jerry Hall for Alex Tagliani
519-868-4955
vitfin@rogers.com 
Samuel Gosselin Media
514-654-2004
samgosselinmedia@gmail.com