The 2012 DMCC season kicked off its first round of the year. The event took place in Montmagny Quebec at the Autodrome Montmagny. Everybody was excited about the first round but right off the bat it didn't look too good as the forecast called for rain and lots of it.
Walking around the pits it was cool seeing some of the new cars and new faces. Dom Desrosier unveiled his new 350z running a LS and some killer graphics. Dany "Babu" Bernier and Marc Landreville along with a few others stuck with the same cars as last year but were running new livery for this season. A few of last years Pro AM drivers also bumped up to the Pro ranks. It was too bad as last years Rookie of the Year Jeff Laflamme was set to be driving a IS300 but thanks to a slight mechanical issue before the event the car was parked in the show area. So for the round Jeff was driving his old S13 that actually now belongs to a Pro Am driver.
Practice started off great, the track was dry and the drivers were putting down some crazy smokey runs. Just as we thought we would maybe get lucky it started to rain a bit and not long after we had the first incident of the event when Mike Pollard went into the k wall. Luckily the crash was not a day ender and Mikes team was able to get the car back together. As luck would have it when qualifications started the rain started to pick up too. Despite the rain some really impressive runs were being put down. Marc Landreville took the top qualification spot with a crazy run that in the dry might of been perfect. Pat Cyr actually spun out on his first run and put all the pressure on his 2nd pass but he was able to hold it together and put down a solid run.
The tandem battles were interesting. Not only were the drivers going up against each other but they were also fighting the elements as the rain was coming down hard and proved difficult for drivers to find traction. The real action was in the Great 8 with two upset victories. Pat Cyr lost to Claude Poirier when he spun out and Marc Landreville had mechanical failure when he ran against Eric Paradis. The final 4 came down to Jeff Laflamme vs Claude Poirier for 1st and Eric Paradis VS Dany Bernier for 3rd. Both Eric and Dany were on fire this event, driving more aggressive then ever. In the end Dany took the 3rd spot on the podium, his first podium in DMCC. The battle for 1st Jeff made sure to seal the deal and drove hard and earned him the top podium spot. With the rain still poring downthe podium was Jeff Laflamme, Claude Poirier, Dany Bernier and he NOS Energy fastest award was given too Mike Pollard.
The second round is only a few weeks away, lets hope it will be a dry won.
For more info check out www.dmccdrift.com