O Canada was on heavy rotation on the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda podium this weekend at Portland International Raceway, as series newcomer Kevin Lacroix (#10 Uni-Select) became the second Canadian driver to earn his first Atlantic win in as many days at the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoor doubleheader. source: champcaratlantic.com Just one day after making his Atlantic debut in the first half of the doubleheader, Lacroix got the jump on his Canadian countryman James Hinchcliffe (#9 NOCO/ProWorks) on a Lap 6 restart in the 35-lap race to take the lead. Hinchcliffe kept the pressure on Lacroix over the remaining laps but never got close enough to make a pass, and Lacroix went on to win by 1.472 seconds. It was the first victory in Atlantic competition for the 18-year-old Lacroix--who previously competed in the Star Mazda and Formula BMW USA series--and comes on his first weekend of racing in eight months. It was also the first Atlantic victory for Brooks Associates Racing since Andreas Wirth won for the team at Denver in 2005, and was the team's second victory overall. Hinchcliffe, who started from the pole position as he did for Saturday's first race of the weekend, picked up his second runner-up result in as many days after leading the first five laps. It was Hinchcliffe's third consecutive podium result dating to a third-place run in Round 3 at Houston, and the 20-year-old from Toronto has now finished inside the top-seven spots in all five races this season. Hinchcliffe has moved into second in the Atlantic championship standings and gained ground on points leader and Sierra Sierra Enterprises teammate Raphael Matos (#6 ProWorks), who finished sixth in the race. On the strength of his two poles, two second-place results and the fastest lap in Sunday's race from the Portland weekend, Hinchcliffe is now 17 points behind Matos, 140-123, with five of 12 races now completed. Picking up an Atlantic career-best third-place result was French rookie Franck Perera (#11 CJ Motorsport) for Condor Motorsports. Perera was third for the standing start and actually got past Lacroix at the start to take second before surrendering the spot on Lap 2. Perera previously finished fifth in the first four races of the season and is now the only driver in the series to finish inside the top five in all five races this season. He is fourth in the Atlantic driver standings. Rookie Robert Wickens (#3 Red Bull/INDECK), who picked up his first career Atlantic victory on Saturday at Portland, capped a successful weekend with a fourth-place run on Sunday. It was Wickens' fourth top-four result of the season and he has finished inside the top 10 in all five of his starts in the series. As a result, he is now third in the overall Atlantic championship standings, just four points in arrears of Hinchcliffe. He also leads the Rookie of the Year point standings by 10 points, 119-109, over Perera. Ryan Lewis (#15 NCPI/Deans Knight/Wasteco) capped his best Atlantic weekend to date with a fifth-place run. The Englishman finished a season-best third on Saturday and has now finished inside the top five in all three of his Atlantic starts at Portland International Raceway. Lewis made his Atlantic debut at PIR last year and finished second. Sunday's Round 5 of the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda will be televised at 5:30 p.m. ET on Monday, June 18 on ESPN 2. On-demand video is also available on the official series web site at www.champcaratlantic.com.
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