New Jersey Turns Out Tough Round for Turn 3 Motorsport

october 12, 2020

Millville, NJ. – This weekend’s Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at New Jersey Motorsports Park turned out a tough challenge for Turn 3 Motorsport, and for drivers Danial Frost and Antoine Comeau, a trip the podium was difficult to catch at the unfamiliar 2.25-mile, 12-turn Thunderbolt Raceway course.

After an unsatisfying test day on Friday, the team swapped engines on Frost’s #68 DENJET car in the hopes of garnering more speed going into qualifying and the races. Frost started P7 for Race 1 and was prepared to push his newly restored car to the front. In a very unlucky turn of events, the 18-year-old’s racecar suddenly slowed on the straight at the end of lap 12 due to a crank sensor failure on his brand new engine, resulting in a 12th place finish.

Frost’s luck changed in Race 2 when competitors Devlin DeFrancesco and Manuel Sulaiman collided in turn one, opening the door for the Singaporean to regain some of the ground he lost in Race 1 and placing him fifth at the end of the 25-lap event.

In the third and final race of the weekend, Frost had one more swing of good fortune when championship contenders DeFrancesco and Artem Petrov had an incident on lap four, allowing the #68 car to slip by into fifth position. With rainy weather taking over as the laps counted on, Frost lost some momentum and ultimately surrendered two positions in the closing laps, ending up with a seventh place finish in Race 3.

Despite the challenging weekend, Frost’s opportunity to finish as high as second in the championship remains alive with two races still to go this season.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the performance we were hoping for with Danial during the weekend,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “The mechanical issue we had with the engine really hurt our weekend points tally as well. We just have to dust ourselves off, put our focus on St. Petersburg, and do our best to get some stronger results to finish out the season.”

Comeau had a strong performance over the weekend with some well-fought battles on track, though a top-five finish remained elusive for the Canadian driver. In Race 1, Comeau gained two positions out of the gate, improving from P9 up to P7. As time ticked by, the #19 car of Colin Kaminsky caught up to Comeau who reluctantly conceded his position and finished ninth.

In Races 2 and 3, Comeau, like Frost, was able to take advantage of others’ misfortunes to gain ground in the field. Comeau piloted his #3 ACR / Eastern Racing car up to P8, and while some of his peers opted for a new tire pit-stop strategy, he stayed out on course and brought the car home in seventh in Race 2, a tie for his best finish to date. Under the drizzly conditions in Race 3, Comeau managed to end the weekend with a ninth place finish and more points to add to his championship campaign.

“It was an interesting weekend for me at New Jersey Motorsports Park,” said Comeau. “There were a lot of variable conditions we had to work with, so it was definitely a good learning experience for me more than anything. In the races, I had some great on track battles as well which helped me work on my race craft. Now, I’m hoping to go to St. Petersburg in a couple of weeks and end the season with my best finish of the year.”

“Antoine did a very solid job, and his performance over this weekend was probably his strongest this season,” continued Dempsey. “It really proves all of his hard work in the 2020 season is paying off as he makes gains on the leading pack. I’d like to thank all of our team for their dedication, hard work, and effort this season. Without them, none of this would be possible.”

The final round of the season will take place in just two weeks at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The event, which was previously scheduled as the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season-opener, will host two final races to close out the season.