2016 PCC Europe: Race 5: Paris

Laaksonen Wins in Closest PCC Europe Race Yet



Last year's champion Kristoffer Laaksonen barely held on over teammate Jan Schmidt to take the win in the second leg of the Paris Doubleheader today, closing the gap to his teammate even more.

Laaksonen started second as the grid was set by the finishing positions from the first leg of the Paris Doubleheader, and he hung around in the top-ten all race. Laaksonen and his #1 Altoros Gessler never dropped out of the top-ten all race, never leaving the lead pack. With just four laps to go on lap forty seven, Laaksonen pulled to the inside of leader Leonid Chernov and took an impressive lead with a push from Alexa Lake. Despite a spirited charge from teammate and points leader Jan Schmidt, Laaksonen held on at the line by four one-hundredths of a second, the closest finish in PCC Europe history.

With this win, Laaksonen moves within three points of his teammate Jan Schmidt.

Worst to Third: Alexa Lake Surprises, Takes Final Step of Podium



Alexa Lake might not be a great road course racer, but her skill on the ovals cannot be denied at this point. Lake drove her #26 Northern Tool Toyota from last on the grid to third today in a stunning performance for Master Sport Motorsports. After looking a bit lost on the Paris Street Circuit, Alexa Lake started shotgun on the field on the 1.5-mile Paris Oval. Things quickly picked up for Lake from there, as it only took her six and eighteen laps to crack the top twenty and top ten respectively. Lake then ran down the lead pack and contended for the win from the halfway point on, proving instrumental in pushing Kristoffer Laaksonen to his victory with just four laps to go. Lake would lose one position to Jan Schmidt, but would cross the finish line in third position.

This run comes as the PCC Cup Series is getting ready to make their trip overseas and begin the European Leg of their championship. With a couple seats unfilled due to injuries and lack of sponsorship, don't be surprised to see Alexa Lake pop up on one of the European ovals in the near future.

Torregrossa's Oval Skills Improving



Salvatore Torregrossa was never much of an oval racer before this season. Now, he's taken to them much as a fish does to water. Torregrossa surprised by running in the lead pack for much of the race and securing a top-ten in the first oval race of the PCC Europe season. After the race, Torregrossa attributed his good run to his Mansfield run earlier in the season. "It was an eye-opening experience to come to the United States and run with the big boys over there, it really changed how I look at and approach these oval races. It's a dream of mine to run full time Cup, but we will see I suppose."

With this run, Torregrossa moves up to 14th in PCC Europe points, 157 points behind leader Jan Schmidt.

Dillon O'Hara Runs Lonely Race, Takes Last Point



Dillon O'Hara's twentieth-place finish had it's ups and downs. After starting nineteenth, O'Hara had a very good run the first few laps, working his way up to eighth place by lap four. However, he got pushed to the outside by the RUS Autosport trio of Novakovsky, Chernov, and Kowalczyk, and began to drop back through the field. By lap 20, he was running in the final points position, having lost the draft of the second pack of cars. However, drafting help came in the form of Anders Magnussen, who fell two laps down in the pits as a result of a flat tire. O'Hara and Magnussen ran nose to tail for the next twenty-five laps before Magnussen fell off the pace again, once again leaving O'Hara without drafting support with a few laps to go. The third pack, headed by the #90 of Marchankov, made a good effort to try and pass O'Hara on the white flag lap, but fell just short.

With this finish, O'Hara sits twenty-second in points, on thirty-nine points.

F S # DRIVER INTERVAL LAPS LED POINTS STATUS
1 2 1 K Laaksonen 200.451 50 7 180 Running
2 3 27 J Schmidt -0.04 50 32* 180 Running
3 40 26 A Lake -0.30 50 0 165 Running
4 4 2 K Kindahl -0.44 50 9 165 Running
5 1 16 I Kowalczyk -0.59 50 0 155 Running
6 20 61 L Chernov -0.61 50 2 155 Running
7 15 43 S Torregrossa -2.81 50 0 146 Running
8 24 505 G Vignon -3.07 50 0 142 Running
9 5 47 I Ambleton -3.16 50 0 138 Running
10 10 44 S Buchanan -5.29 50 0 134 Running
11 25 23 K Scurrel -5.36 50 0 130 Running
12 37 66 G Novakovsky -5.43 50 0 127 Running
13 26 42 G Balducci -5.49 50 0 124 Running
14 13 18 G Fini -5.57 50 0 121 Running
15 8 79 R Kousaka -11.36 50 0 118 Running
16 35 31 A Misko -11.44 50 0 115 Running
17 16 32 O Keskula -11.53 50 0 112 Running
18 17 550 S Filipov -11.60 50 0 109 Running
19 21 713 S Winslol -12.23 50 0 106 Running
20 19 98 D O'Hara -18.95 50 0 103 Running
21 22 90 N Marchankov -19.20 50 0 100 Running
22 14 3 M Haas -19.38 50 0 97 Running
23 23 109 A Motov -19.46 50 0 94 Running
24 33 34 H Ventola -19.98 50 0 91 Running
25 39 644 M Winslol -21.24 50 0 88 Running
26 32 63 J Bracchi -21.36 50 0 85 Running
27 27 81 V Winslol -21.73 50 0 82 Running
28 30 09 AJ Canton -28.12 50 0 79 Running
29 12 99 L Zarapin -1L 49 0 76 Running
30 18 77 A Kostopoulos -1L 49 0 73 Running
31 6 11 J Beaufort -1L 49 0 70 Running
32 36 37 L Fleming -1L 49 0 67 Running
33 9 76 K Mallory -1L 49 0 64 Running
34 29 73 M Balazs -1L 49 0 61 Running
35 31 10 D Lorenz -1L 49 0 58 Running
36 28 427 A Smith Jr. -1L 49 0 55 Running
37 11 78 D Hetzel -1L 49 0 52 Running
38 34 03 E Mira -1L 49 0 49 Running
39 7 51 T Antonen -2L 48 0 46 Running
40 38 33 A Magnussen -2L 48 0 43 Running

Misko: Good that we get points today. Not good results before take a lot of confidence out of the team. We do good this race and hope that makes boss happy.

Fini: I am no good oval driver, but I think I did a okay job! Finishing in the points is the best I could hope to do.

Antonen: Bah. Had a problem with the car and we fall off the pace. Things like this happen in auto racing. It is just saddening when it happens to you.