Marc-Antoine Camirand looks to build on first NASCAR Pinty's Series championship as 2023 season begins
In 2013, Marc-Antoine Camirand thought his racing career was all but over.
Up to that point, the driver from Saint-Léonard-d’Aston, Quebec had spent most of his time focused on racing sports cars. However, by the time 2013 rolled around, funding had all but dried up.
That‘s when a unique opportunity at Canada‘s Circuit Trois-Rivières rejuvenated his career.
“At that time, I was actually thinking my career was almost over because I was struggling to find money,” Camirand said. “Then Dominic [Fugere, the promoter of the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières] told me about this opportunity.”
A special Sportsman division race was held that year during the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, with the winning driver receiving an opportunity to compete in the NASCAR Pinty‘s Series race that weekend.
With nothing to lose, Camirand jumped at the opportunity. He won the Sportsman race and made his NASCAR Pinty‘s Series debut the following day driving for White Motorsports.
“We qualified third, we didn‘t finish the race, but we still qualified third and did really good,” Camirand said. “Then after that, my NASCAR career started.”
Fast-forward to 2022, and Camirand won a career-best three races en route to his first NASCAR Pinty‘s Series championship while driving for the new GM Paillé Racing Team. In all he‘s made 72 series starts, winning five times.
“It‘s hard to believe we did all that crazy work throughout the winter to bring a new team, new car and everything,” Camirand said. “So proud of that team [to] achieve that championship.
“We knew that the team we put together was really, really good. We weren‘t expecting to win the championship.”
The 44-year-old Camirand credited a lot of the success in 2022 to Robin McCluskey, his crew chief. The two first worked together during Camirand‘s early years in the NASCAR Pinty‘s Series at White Motorsports before reuniting at GM Paillé.
“I worked together with Robin [McCluskey — crew chief] back at White Motorsport, and we knew the connection was really good that time,” Camirand said. “We knew some day that we‘d work together again, so we put that team together with GM Paillé.”
Now as the reigning NASCAR Pinty‘s Series champion, Camirand has a new set of challenges to face.
In the history of the NASCAR Pinty‘s Series, no driver has won back-to-back championships. Camirand wants to be the first.
“It‘s another challenge for us,” said Camirand. “We know this series is really competitive so to do it again this year will be hard to do. But that‘s definitely the plan, to try and win a championship again in 2023.”
The team has been hard at work preparing for the opening race of this season, scheduled for this Saturday, May 13 at Sunset Speedway in Innisfil, Ontario (Live on FloRacing at 6:45 p.m. ET). They‘ve spent the offseason building a new car and massaging another to give Camirand his best chance at winning a second title.
“The offseason was very busy. We‘ve built another chassis and we‘ve prepped the other chassis also to get ready for the first race of the season,” Camirand said. “We‘re in a lot better position than when we were in the same spot last year.”
