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Lexington, Ohio (July 31, 2020) – It was a week of highs and lows for Turn 3 Motorsport drivers Danial Frost and Antoine Comeau at the Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders. While the event produced a podium finish and fastest lap point, it also bore a mechanical failure and car-damaging contact for the two drivers.
The pair managed fruitful practice and qualifying sessions on Wednesday with Frost starting second and Comeau ninth for Race 1. Frost held onto second place throughout the 25-lap race, staying right on leader Braden Eves’ gearbox until the end with the two drivers crossing the finish line 1.5-seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Comeau, however, suffered a haphazard mechanical issue halfway through the race, sending him to the pits for repairs. Though the crew fixed the issue quickly and got him rolling again, the rookie finished the race five laps down in 15th position.
A second qualifying session for Race 2 resulted in Comeau’s #3 ACR/Eastern car taking P11 and Frost’s #68 DEN-JET car ending up P3 with only .05-seconds separating the top three positions. Race 2 was a thrilling spectacle with the front of the field continuously shuffling positions throughout the entire duration. Frost pushed hard to achieve his fourth podium finish in a row, but when battling Sting Ray Robb for third position on the final lap, the duo made contact in turn five that resulted in Frost falling back to eighth.
For Comeau, Race 2 was a challenge as he found himself aggregated into a trio of cars searching for any opportunity to pass on a track that is notorious for being difficult to overtake on. The Canadian ended up finishing P11 without a fast enough lap time to start higher up for the third and final race. In Race 3, the Canadian was able to avoid on track incidents and mechanical issues and keep his head down to take home seventh place, matching his best season finish to date.
“I think overall it was a challenging couple of days for me,” said Comeau. “My shift link broke in the first race which was really unlucky, but the guys fixed it quickly and got me back out to finish the race. Apart from that, it seemed like I had a competitive pace at times, but I wasn’t able to deliver the consistent performance that I wanted. We are back at Mid-Ohio again next weekend, so I’ll learn from this week and aim to come back stronger when we return.”
Going into Race 3, Frost was determined to make up for the previous race’s shortcomings. By the end of lap one, the championship contender had gone from P4 to P2 and continued to push for the lead. Just after he successfully made the move to the front of the field, the second place car of Colin Kaminsky made contact with Frost, sending him in a 360 degree spiral and damaging his car. Despite a disappointing finish, Frost made out with the fastest lap of the race, and gained another championship point for the accomplishment.
“It was a crazy week indeed,” said Frost. “We had a strong first race finishing second, but for the second and third races, we were not so lucky. I got spun around twice while challenging for positions – once in race two on the last lap and again in race three while leading. It’s certainly disappointing, but we will move forward now, push harder, and look to do a better job in terms of pace so we don’t get caught up in any more incidents. I’m looking forward to returning to Mid-Ohio one more time next week to try to get some redemption.”
Comeau is now sitting 10th in the championship coming out of a challenging weekend with teammate Frost currently lying third with a mere seven points spanning across the top four competitors.
“It was a difficult weekend for the team,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “The results on paper didn’t show our true performance. We had one of the fastest cars and drivers out there, but unfortunately, circumstances out of our control didn’t allow Danial to get the results he deserved. He was taken out of the lead in Race 3 which was an avoidable incident and hopefully something that doesn’t happen again in the future. Antoine’s race performance was good at times, but he didn’t deliver what he needed to, so he will have to work on that going back to Mid-Ohio next week.”
“Overall, although the results didn’t really show it, we improved as a team since Road America which is a big positive,” continued Dempsey. “I’d like to thank the team and crew for all their hard work. Now, we will refocus for next weekend. I’m looking forward to returning to Mid-Ohio and challenging for some great results.”
The series will return to the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course of Mid-Ohio one more time next week for Rounds 6/7 of the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 Championship.
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