Madison, Ill. – Turn 3 Motorsport driver Antoine Comeau took on his first oval race this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway with the Indy Pro 2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires where he made an impressive debut on the 1.25-mile track located just outside of St. Louis.

After getting some initial laps in during the 30-minute practice session, Comeau was the second driver out on track for the single car qualifying run. The Canadian rookie clocked in a two lap average speed of 141.039, putting the #3 T3M/ACR car in a fourth place starting position for Sunday’s 55-lap race.

Comeau had a strong start to the race and jumped into the fight for the front with the leaders who shuffled positions for the first several laps. As the race continued on, Comeau settled into fifth position and began to charge ahead with the lead pack, breaking away from the rest of the field. Just before the halfway point, Comeau overtook current championship leader Rasmus Lindh for fourth position with a pass around the outside of the #10 Juncos Racing car.

With 15 laps to go, Moises de la Vara lost control while battling with Lindh for third and hit the wall, sending debris across the track and into Comeau’s pathway. After inevitably colliding with de la Vara’s detached rear wing, the #3 T3M/ACR car suffered a damaged front suspension that caused Comeau to drop back to ninth position where he finished the race.

“After a tough practice session, we were very happy to end up P4 for our first oval qualifying,” said Comeau. “I was disappointed to damage the car after hitting debris from another car toward the end of the race, but on the plus side, we came out of the weekend knowing we had the pace and consistency to compete for a podium spot. Our team continues to improve with every event, and I am excited to see how well we can do for the rest of the season.”

“Overall we’re very satisfied with the weekend,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “We knew it was going to be a tough challenge with Antoine (Comeau) and the team’s limited oval experience, but I think we exceeded all expectations from both the team and driver sides. It was great to start the race from P4 and run with the championship front runners all the way up until the crash on lap 40. Unfortunately, when we collected the debris, we damaged the front suspension, so then it was just about bringing the car home to finish the race. If we had avoided the debris, I feel like Antoine would have had a great chance to fight for a podium finish in the remaining eight laps.”

“I’d like to thank my crew members, Emanuel (Talquenca) and Pablo (Egel) for their hard work over the weekend,” continued Dempsey. “I’d also like to say a special thank you to DEForce Racing who we collaborated with for the race weekend. We worked really well together, and the results really showed how strong our three cars were over the entire race weekend. Now, we shift our focus to racing at Portland this weekend.”

Turn 3 Motorsport continues on to Portland International Raceway this weekend for Rounds 13/14 of the Indy Pro 2000 Championship. On track activities start with an official practice day on Thursday, August 29 followed by practice and qualifying on Friday, qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, and Race 2 on Sunday.