Dijon 200 – Day 1
Vilarino, Gandon and TFT dominate
DIJON, France - Ander Vilarino continued where he left off at Nogaro by dominating the Elite
Division qualifying. The Spaniard confirmed his speed in the two free practice sessions of
yesterday and this morning on the very quick Dijon-Prenois circuit, the theatre of the second
round of the 2013 Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series. In the Open Division Anthony Gandon
clinched his first pole position, the final point for the TFT team’s clean sweep in this area.
ELITE DIVISION: ANDER VILARINO REMAINS UNBEATEN
Taking into account his pole position at the start of Race 2 on the Nogaro circuit thanks to his fastest lap
in the first heat, Ander Vilarino (#2 TFT Banco-Santander) will start tomorrow’s race from the front of the
grid for the third time on the trot. Even if his early lap time which broke the 1m 23s barrier was enough to
clinch him pole position until the end of the session, he then improved it on three occasions! However,
the domination of the Euro-Racecar NASCAR Champion wasn’t as flagrant as in free practice because
he finished only 0.238s in front of Frédéric Gabillon (#5 Rapido Racing by Still). Freddy Nordström from
Sweden (#44 Rapido Racing by Still) confirmed the promising form shown by the team managed by Eric
Hélary with the third-quickest time and best Junior in front of Javier Villa (#9 Scorpus Racing-Spirit), who
was unable to achieve the same performance as in the morning on his new tyres. This problem also hit
Yann Zimmer (#64 Gonneau Racing by OverDrive): even so the Swiss drive managed to set the fifthbest
time.
Anthony Gandon (#7 TFT-E. Leclerc) who got up into the top 3 around mid-session failed to hold on to
his position and saw the flag in sixth spot. He was followed by Guillaume Rousseau (#13 Bull Racing
Team), 1st Challenger (Anthony Garbarino (#3 TFT-Alpes Carrelage) and François Verbist (#20 Racing
Club Partner). The Belgian was having his maiden outing in Euro-Racing NASCAR, also the first by the
Toyota Camrys entered by Franz Dubois’ and woman driver Nathalie Maillet’s team, who finished
fourteenth in qualifying. Nicolo Rocca (#19 Scorpus Racing) completed the top 10.
OPEN DIVISION: ANTHONY GANDON’S FIRST POLE!
Anthony Gandon (#7 TFT-Leclerc), second in qualifying in the opening heat and second in the first event
at Nogaro confirmed his pace by setting pole in only his second meeting in the championship. The driver
from Bayonne went to the top of the time sheets right from the start of the session, where he stayed
even when qualifying restarted after a red flag. The TFT driver finished in front of Julien Goupy (#44
Rapido Racing by Still) who will start from the front row in front of two drivers who will be gunning for
victory tomorrow. The first one is Guillaume Rousseau (#13 Red Bull Team) second in race 2 at Nogaro,
and Josh Burdon (#18 Scorpus Racing/Forza Motorsport) leader of the Open Division after his double in
the Gers department. Vincent Gonneau (#15 Gonneau Racing by OverDrive) rounds out the top 5 in
front of François Verbist ((#20 Racing Club Partner). Like Gandon, Rousseau and Goneau the Belgian is
hedging his bets on his first appearance in the championship.
Enzo Pastor from the Philippines (#3 TFT-Philippines) was seventh ahead of an international trio
consisting of Italian Gabriele Volpato (#64 Gonneau Racing by OverDrive), Spaniard Jesus Diez
Villaroel (#19 Scorpus Racing, 1st Legend, and Swiss driver Joaquin Gabarron (#5 Rapido Racing by
Still).
THEY SAY...
Ander Vilarino (#2 TFT Banco Santander) - Elite Pole Position
“I ‘m happy with my third pole of the year so I’d like to thank the TFT team and the no. 2 Banco
Santander Banco car. I’ve been fastest in all the sessions so far, but this one was very close with Fred
Gabillon. It was a nice qualifying so I’d like to congratulate both of them for their performance. I hope
we’ll have a clean race as I’m sorry for Nogaro. Tomorrow’s going to be a close fight for the win and I
hope to get another victory, but it’ll be very hard although I’m going to go for it.”
Frédéric Gabillon (#5 Rapido Racing by Still) - 2nd Elite
“It’s a good result all the more so as Freddy is third. It’s also good for the Rapido Racing by Still team.
Personally, I’m slightly disappointed as I didn’t have a great session. I couldn’t find a clear lap and I
made a couple of errors. Perhaps I couldn’t have beaten Ander’s time but I could have got closer. We
should have done better as we had the speed. But we’re not going to complain: we had a few issues in
free practice with a slow puncture and our power steering went on the blink. It’s difficult to find the right
balance although we’ve done a good job. I’m hoping to finish the race and score big points to stay in the
title chase.”
Freddy Nordström (#44 Rapido Racing by Still) – 3rd Elite
“Today was a pretty good day that started out quite tough in qualifying with the yellow flag in turn 1. I
took things at bit too easy trying to set my fastest lap which was deleted and I fell back to 15th. I waited
till lap 7 and then started pushing which was maybe a bit too late. My time was a bit further off Ander’s
than I wanted, around 9/10s, but qualifying hasn’t always been the strongest part of my racing. That
comes in the race tomorrow and I’m hoping for another podium for my team!”
EURO
Tomorrow, Saturday 11th May, the Elite1 race will start at 11h20 and the Open 1 race at 15h30.
Information and live commentary, results, photos and interviews can be followed on
www.racecarseries.com,Facebook (/eurorcecar), Twitter (/euroracecar) and You Tube (/euroracecar).