Strous dominates at Mont Tremblant

It was a weekend of firsts for Condor Motorsports driver Junior Strous. On Saturday, the young Dutchman went out in the first of two qualifying sessions and lay down a fast lap of 106.251 mph which would garner him his first career pole position in the Coopertires Atlantic Championship. On Sunday, he parlayed that pole position into his first Atlantic victory, dominating the 30-lap race and evening taking the bonus point for fastest lap of the race.

Condor Motorsports are no strangers to success at the Circuit Mont-Tremblant. Strous' 07 teammate Franck Perera celebrated his first victory at the legendary course a year ago.

This victory places Strous atop the championship leader board, taking over the points lead by seven points over James Hinchcliffe and Markus Niemela.

“This first career victory feels so good,” Strous said. “I remember last year at Mont-Tremblant, I still had a broken wrist. It was total hell, especially the first chicane. I’m feeling it a little bit now, but we just had a great weekend. We had a clean sweep this weekend, had the pole position, won the race and had the fastest race lap. The guys worked really hard. We had some problems with the car throughout the weekend, but the mechanics stayed up late and fixed it. I’d like to thank them a lot. They worked so hard. I took the lead in the championship, so obviously, I’m really happy with that. Franck Perera won his first race here last year. It’s not a coincidence that I also won my first race here. It’s just great. I’m really happy!”

Brooks Associates driver Markus Niemela also boasted the best result of his young Atlantic career by nabbing second-spot on the podium. The Finnish rookie started third, but got around Kevin Lacroix heading into the first turn and never looked back. He now moves into a tie for second in the overall championship standings with Hinchcliffe, and has taken over the lead in the Rookie of the Year standings.

“I think the result of the race was all right,” Niemela said. “It was good, actually. Of course, winning is a completely different story. You can be completely, genuinely happy if you win, but I’m definitely happy with second position. It keeps us in a good position for the championship, as well. I knew that Condor (Motorsports) was probably going to have a really good car for the race, like we saw last year. Junior is a fast driver as well. I knew it was going to be tough, and I couldn’t quite keep up with him. I don’t think there was that big of a speed difference, but he was slightly faster than me pretty much all the time. Anyway, it was a good race.”

Rounding out the podium and continuing to enjoying consecutive success, was Pacific Coast Motorsports driver Carl Skerlong. The young American would also take advantage of a stellar start, moving from fourth to third where he would remain.

“It was not a super-eventful day,” Skerlong said. “It was wet in the morning (warm-up), and we didn’t really get a chance to try new changes or anything before the race. We knew we had a decent car. I qualified third in the first qualifying, and that was pretty much the car we had for the race. I think the top three broke away a little bit and we had a pretty clean race going. In the last 10 minutes, we had the first restart and it definitely made us step our game up having someone in our mirrors. I think James (Hinchcliffe) did a good job of holding some people off behind him. All in all, it helped me out. The way the points worked out, I’m very happy with third. You’ve got to take what you can get. This is what we need for the championship. We’re happy. I’ve got to thank all the guys from Pacific Coast Motorsports and King Taco and everybody that made this possible.”

While the podium finishing cars seemed to cruise to the checkers, there was a real battle for position behind them. Forsythe-Indeck racing's James Hinchcliffe, who came into the weekend leading the championship, really had a go of it to secure fourth-place and remain within striking distance of the championship.

Finlay Motorsports/Lynx Racing Dane Cameron rounded out the top-five.

Of note:

Mathiasen Motorsports, Jonathan Bomarito charged all the way to sixth place after starting 13th to earn the bonus point for most improved positions.

There were three full-course cautions during the race, totaling 10 laps altogether.

Two drivers were unable to participate in Sunday's race following a crash during the morning warmup. Walker Racing's Greg Mansell, and Eurointernational’s Luis Schiavo could not compete as both cars were damaged beyond timely repair. Neither driver was injured according to Atlantic officials.

Next up for the Atlantic Championship: Edmonton, Canada on July 28

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