Brian Frisselle Montreal race report

#77 Doran Racing Ford Dallara: Brian Frisselle, Henri Richard

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

Montreal, Que. (20 August 2011) – Brian Frisselle rallied to an eighth place result in the Montreal 200 on Saturday following a frustrating weekend for Doran Racing.

An on-track incident in Friday’s final practice session saw co-driver Henri Richard sustain significant damage to the No.77 Office Depot Ford-Dallara and the Doran Racing team would be forced to start the race from the tail of the field as the car could not be repaired in time for the Saturday afternoon qualifying session.

Richard took the green flag for the two-hour sprint event and ran in the eighth position before pitting at the 35 minute mark to hand the driving duties over to Frisselle who would run the remainder of the race. Doran Racing had hoped to capitalize with a quick pit stop, but unfortunately the Richard to Frisselle exchange was compromised when the car was in gear, slowing the tire change as the field flew in green flag conditions.

The No. 77 would fall a lap down and Frisselle returned to the track in the 11th position. As Frisselle worked to make up ground on the field, he scored a series of stout laps and eventually made his way into the top-10 prior to the first and only race caution with 15 minutes to go.

The race would go green with 10 minutes remaining and the experienced racer took advantage on the restart to move up two final positions and finish the race eighth.

“The car was pretty good,” said Frisselle. “It was such an unknown because after the practice crash yesterday we made some changes. So I didn’t know what to expect but once I got a feel for it, it was pretty good. Obviously we’re missing quite a bit of pace on the leaders but we were able to hang with some decent cars. We were decently quick and the guys just did a great job of putting in all the hours to get the Office Depot car back rolling right. I can’t wait for the next one at Mid-Ohio. I love that track. It’s been a tough season in general and hopefully we can get a good result there.”