Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Interview

Pinty's champ Alex Labbe hopes to graduate to Xfinity Series in '18

Victoriaville, Québec native Alex Labbe claimed the highest honour in Canadian stock car racing, the 2017 NASCAR Pinty's Series championship.

Alex Labbé, King Autosport Chevrolet

Alex Labbé, King Autosport Chevrolet

Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images

Race winner Alex Labbé
Kevin Lacroix, Alex Labbé
Alex Labbé
Alex Labbé, Chevrolet
Alex Labbé
Alex Labbé, King Autosport Chevrolet, makes a pit stop
Alex Labbé
Race winner Alex Labbé
Alex Labbé
Third place Alex Labbé
Alex Labbé
Alex Labbé
Alex Labbe, Dodge

Driving the No. 32 Ford for GoFas Racing, the 24-year-old finished the year with an impressive five victories, 11 top fives and 12 top 10s. With a total of 542 points, Labbe claimed the title by 16 points over his archrival Kevin Lacroix.

Labbe started his career by racing karts and clinched the Super Truck series title in Québec in 2009. He then became the youngest champion of the Québec ACT series at 21 years old. With the help of his sponsor BRP/Can-Am, Labbe contested the full Pinty’s Series and drove his first two races in the NASCAR Xfinity series this season.

Motorsport.com joined Labbe in Lima, Ohio where he’s pursuing his studies to talk about his championship season.

“I’m studying race car engineering and manufacturing at University of Northwestern Ohio here in Lima,” said Labbe. “The ‘High Performance Motorsport’ program focussed on the mechanical aspect of the stock car, such as the engines, the transmission, the brakes, the suspension. I’m sure this will help me to understand better how a race car works, and it will provide me with the necessary background as one day I have to intention of having my own race team. I want to have a ‘B’ plan just in case my career ends, and to make a living after I stop racing.”

A slightly new racing environment

Labbe admitted he was totally focussed on winning the NASCAR Pinty’s Series title this year.

“I was really confident I would run for the title this season. Last year, I’ve been very competitive in the first five races. I had a victory and a string of Top 5 places, but then, things started to go wrong for us,“ he explained.

“Last winter, we reassessed the situation and pinpointed a few areas where we needed to make some adjustments. We got a new crew chief in Mario Gosselin who came to work for us full-time, we also got two new guys for the pit stops and to work on the car during the week days. This year started well with a victory one the Delaware oval, and then we collected more wins on the other ovals. We were very consistent as we finished in the Top 5 in 11 of the 13 races. Consistency is the key factor to win championships.”

Labbe added that he knew that Kevin Lacroix, a road racer, who be tough to beat this year in the race for the title.

“It was a fierce battle for the title against Kevin Lacroix. He’s a tough competitor. I’ve raced against him in karting and I expected him to give me a tough time, and that’s exactly what happened. However, I remained fully focused whatever happened, and we followed our match plan all year long,” Labbe told Motorsport.com.

Western swing was a turning point

Labbe continued by saying that the three-race trip in Western Canada was the turning point of the season for him.

“The two races before that trip in the West - ICAR and Toronto – had been disappointing from my point of view,” he continued. “I then scored two wins in three races [victories at Wyant Group Raceway and Edmonton International Raceway] plus a third place [at Wyant’s second race], and the rest of the season was pretty good. My best race of the year certainly was St-Eustache. I was dominant there. It was a car that had been totally rebuilt. It was brand new when he put it on the track. It ran really well and we lapped the entire field up to the second place runner. It was a crucial victory for us as it gave me the title.”

What’s in the works for 2018?

Labbe is also fully aware that he’s privileged to have a major corporation like Bombardier Recreational Products behind him.

“I’m really fortunate, especially since BRP/Can-Am also sponsor a team in the Cup series," he added. "I enjoy a very good relationship with BRP, and it was great to clinch the Pinty’s Series’ title this year with them. Whatever happens, I’ll do my best in 2018 to keep them happy.”

So, in which series Alex Labbe will we see racing next season?

“Nothing’s official for the moment, but our goal really is to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity series full time in 2018,” he answered. “We’re still working hard on this. There’re still a few details to iron out, but the plan remains to be in Daytona next February with, we hope, Mario Gosselin as our crew chief. There’s still one year left in our partnership with BRP/Can-Am and again they would be our primary sponsor. I think there are good chances that this agreement will be extended.”

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Brett Taylor: ‘My opportunity to put Alberta on the NASCAR map’
Next article 22 Racing to field cars for Alex Tagliani and Donald Theetge in 2018

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA