Raphaël Lessard’s future with GMS Racing could be decided today
Today, April 1, is the deadline for Raphaël Lessard if he wants to continue his career in the Camping World Truck series, Le Journal has learned.
The young Quebec driver fought bravely to keep his brilliant third place on Monday on the dirt of the Bristol circuit.
However, the Beauce prodigy is facing an even bigger battle as GMS Racing, which recruited him this year in NASCAR’s third division, is waiting for an amount of money necessary for the next step.
The deadline is today, as stipulated in the contract signed earlier this year between the GMS team and Lessard’s team. And no, it’s not an April Fool’s joke.
On the first of every month, an amount set at approximately $180,000 USD (just over $225,000 CDN) must be received by GMS or his spot could be taken away.
Despite his remarkable performance at the beginning of the week, Lessard’s team was not able to find the necessary funds to fulfill the commitment.
Sponsors needed
Since the beginning of the season, Lessard has been supported by two Quebec companies, CANAC and Quincailleries Richelieu, whose financial agreements have expired or, at least, the amounts they paid have already been spent.
At his last event in Bristol on Monday, only the Chevrolet logo, the car manufacturer associated with GMS Racing, was clearly visible on Lessard’s Silverado – proof that Lessard participated in the race without any actual sponsors.
The loss of loyal investors does not bode well for Lessard’s career. Formed as a limited partnership, the wealthy businessmen and stock car enthusiasts jumped ship last fall after Lessard’s team decided to turn the young driver’s career over to a new organization. https://774f5924c7e15e82f78a8de60c8ade4a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Angry investors
The arrival of this group meant, among other things, the departure, not desired by the original investors, of Alan Labrosse as an advisor. This caused them to choose, angrily for the most part, to withdraw from the case and stop funding Lessard’s career.
When it was announced in a press release a few months ago that Lessard would join the 2021 season full time, it was without mentioning that the budget was not fully completed.
The message is being sent to all the companies that care about the career of Quebec’s best NASCAR hopeful, whose historic victory last year at Talladega made headlines.
Lessard is a rare find, but talent is not enough in motorsports. Money is at the heart of the matter.
The good news is that the next race on the calendar is not scheduled to run until April 17 at Richmond Raceway in Virginia. We can hope that GMS will accept a delay to keep such raw talent in its ranks.
