Photo Credit: Getty Images
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 is a veteran-laden circuit. The names have long been familiar from one season to the next, but a strong class of rookies is poised to usher in a new era in 2015.
U.S.-based company, Jostens, the longtime supplier of championship rings for every NASCAR titlist as well as the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series state and province rookie awards, has come aboard to sponsor the Jostens Rookie of the Year Award for the Canadian Tire Series in 2015. A new era for the award itself will appropriately coincide with the changing face of the series.
The 2015 rookie race stands to be one of – if not the – toughest in Canadian Tire Series history. Not counting the inaugural 2007 season, each campaign since has not seen more than two rookie drivers compete in every race on the schedule. There will be at least three, and maybe more, this year.
Quebec’s Marc-Antoine Camirand, Ontario’s Gary Klutt and Alberta’s Erica Thiering intend to run all 11 events on the schedule and compete full-time for the Jostens Rookie of the Year Award while Kevin Lacroix and Cayden Lapcevich plan to complete at least half of the 2015 slate.
With at least 10 expected to be in the field, more than one-third of the drivers that take the green flag in the May 17 season opener at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park will carry the trademark yellow bumper stripe that designates a rookie.
Camirand enters 2015 with seven career Canadian Tire Series starts – right at the limit to still retain rookie status for the coming season. A native of Saint-Leonard-d’Aston, Camirand made his series debut in the 2013 Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres, and he won the pole for the famed street course event last season. He’s joined forces with White Motorsports to campaign the No. 99 Grafoid/Braille Battery Chevrolet in 2015.
Klutt hails from one of the busiest racing families in the Canadian Tire Series. One of two racing sons of longtime competitor Peter Klutt from Halton Hills, Gary Klutt made his series debut at CTMP in 2010, but has only five starts since. He’ll run the full 2015 tour in the family-owned No. 59 CTL Financing/Legendary Motorcar Dodge.
Thiering enters with the most distinguished background of the rookie class. The Sherwood Park resident is a six-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Alberta province titlists from her home track, Edmonton International Raceway. Following five oval starts with the Canadian Tire Series last year, Thiering will take to the road for the first time next week in her No. 87 TSC Stores Ford with Canada’s Best Racing Team.
Lacroix and Lapcevich also figure to impact the first-year driver class even if they don’t run all 11 events. Lacroix, from Saint-Eustache, Quebec, is set to debut with his family-owned No. 74 Uni-Select/Pieces D’Auto Lacroix Dodge with plans to run all four road course tests and at least two oval races. Grimsby, Ontario’s Lapcevich enters 2015 with intentions of running around seven events in his No. 34 Tim Hortons Dodge.
With a number of other rookies expected to fill in here and there, either at road course or oval events, the 2015 season stands to be an exciting time for many new faces in the series.
The ninth season of competition will get underway May 16-17 as the Canadian Tire Series headlines Victoria Day SpeedFest Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Click HERE for event information.
