{"id":3132,"date":"2018-09-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-29T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dumoulincompetition.com\/jean-francois-dumoulin-makes-the-most-of-his-race-at-jukasa\/"},"modified":"2018-09-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-29T04:00:00","slug":"jean-francois-dumoulin-makes-the-most-of-his-race-at-jukasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dumoulincompetition.com\/en\/news\/jean-francois-dumoulin-makes-the-most-of-his-race-at-jukasa\/","title":{"rendered":"Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Dumoulin makes the most of his race at Jukasa"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mix of anticipation and nervousness was apparent when the #04 Spectra Premium<\/strong> | Bernier Cr\u00e9peau Chrysler Fiat | Groupe Bellemare | MIA team arrived at Jukasa Motor Speedway for the final race of the season in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. For his part, Jean-Francois Dumoulin had a double mission as he took the start of the 200-lap race: a strong finish and managing the unbridled efforts of certain drivers with unrealistic, perhaps over-the-top ambitions. Mission accomplished for the veteran driver as he adjusted to the chronic understeer behaviour of his car, while also using some savvy positioning of his car to defend against attacks from competitors, on his way to a smart finish.<\/p>\n

Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Dumoulin’s car suffered from significant oversteer during the first practice session, a key issue as it forced him to delay full throttle coming out of corners and slowing the #04 Spectra Premium<\/strong> | Bernier Cr\u00e9peau Chrysler Fiat | Groupe Bellemare | MIA car on the straights. The team was unable to fully rectify the problem, but the good news was that the condition would solve itself as the track temperature dropped at nightfall, giving Jean-Francois a quicker car in the last part of the race. This came about as predicted by the #04 Spectra Premium<\/strong> | Bernier Cr\u00e9peau Chrysler Fiat | Groupe Bellemare | MIA specialists, allowing Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Dumoulin to lap within tenths of a second of brother Louis-Philippe Dumoulin’s times.<\/p>\n

“We had a great race, with my brother and I running side-by-side often. My team was faultless in the pits \u2013 quick, efficient and error-free, allowing me to come back on track with the required tires, fuel and adjustments as we needed them at any given point during the race. It gets even better, as their speed and accuracy allowed me to come back on the track in the best possible place for the restart.<\/p>\n

“I was still fighting against some residual understeer, as I resisted attacks from behind, notably from Alex Tagliani who bumped me several times before pushing me onto a spin. This was a bit too much and NASCAR officials agreed with my analysis, assessing Alex with a drive-through penalty. The stress level was high for everyone, as my brother was fighting for a championship against the selfsame Tagliani. Louis-Philippe won his title in the end, so I was super happy that Dumoulin Comp\u00e9tition won a real team victory, using high-performance radiators from Spectra Premium, <\/strong>so everyone won in the end,” explained the driver of the #04 Spectra Premium<\/strong> | Bernier Cr\u00e9peau Chrysler Fiat | Groupe Bellemare | MIA team.<\/p>\n

Motor racing can often appear unfair, passing out wins, titles, failures and accidents arbitrarily. Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Dumoulin demonstrated often that he was one of the quickest drivers in the Pinty’s series, especially late in a race when the car is working properly. “We ran across some rough patches in 2018 but let me tell you that we will be back stronger yet in 2019.”<\/p>\n