Nogaro 200 - Day 2 - Qualifying Vilarino still on top!
NOGARO, France – Ander Vilarino, who dominated all the early sessions, clinched pole for the Nogaro 200, the opening round of the 2013 Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series season. Behind him came Frédéric Gabillon and Yann Zimmer putting a Spaniard, a Frenchman and a Swiss in the top 3! Australian Josh Burdon will start from pole in the Open Division, which he also dominated from Anthony Gandon and Vincent Gonneau.
ELITE DIVISION: THE CHAMPION CONTINUES WHERE HE LEFT OFF IN 2012!
In the Finals at Le Mans in 2012 Ander Vilarino (#2 TFT-Banco Santander) clinched pole and he did the same at Nogaro for the opening round of the 2013 season! Like every year since the creation of the Euro-Racecar NASCAR, the champion’s American experience gave his motivation an even-bigger boost. The Spaniard was no exception to the rule and his time of 1mn 33.739s in the Gers bagged him his sixth pole position since the Euro-Racecar Series was integrated into the NASCAR Championships. “Qualifying was rather particular as a few drops of rain fell when we were on the dummy grid,” he explained. “I then came in to iron out a small problem, and when I went back out with six minutes to go the track was dry. I put in a good lap and I’m happy as we’ve been quickest since the start of the weekend: I hope I’ll bag the two victories like last year!”
Frédéric Gabillon (#5 Rapido Racing by Still), a newcomer to the championship, will start from the front row tomorrow. “We’ve had a good qualifying session,” he smiled. “The Rapido Racing by Still team did a great job to compensate for the small hiccups we ran into this morning. I still have to get to grips with the car’s handling as it’s different compared to what I’ve been used to up till now, the tyres in particular, but overall, it’s pretty positive and I hope I’ll be able to reward the team with a top-three finish tomorrow.” Yann Zimmer completed the top three in his first qualifying session on the Paul Armagnac circuit on which it was also his first outing.”It all went off well although at the start of the session I was stuck in traffic,” said the Franco-Swiss. “After a few laps the track cleared and I was able to push. It was my first time on new tyres and even if we still have work to do on the car we can be happy with the result. The weather changes a lot and that’s going to be the key to the race.”
Javier Villa (#9 Scorpus Racing-Spirit) will start alongside Zimmer in front of Anthony Gandon (#7 TFT-E. Leclerc) in the first five for his maiden outing in the Euro-Racecar NASCAR in his third season in motor racing. Then come Vincent Gonneau (#15 Gonneau Racing), Romain Ianetta (#28 RDV Compétition), Carole Perrin (#42 Autosport 42), Freddy Nordström (#44 Rapido Racing by Still) and Nicolo Rocca (#19 Scorpus Racing-RAWW) who rounds off the top 10.
OPEN DIVISION: JOSH BURDON AND ANTHONY GANDON ON THE FRONT ROW
There’ll be a no-holds-barred battle in the Open Division and it looks like the outcome will be decided in the last round! Josh Burdon (#18 Scorpus Racing/Forza Motorsport) got round in 1mn 35.458s to clinch pole from Anthony Gandon and Vincent Gonneau. Guillaume Rousseau (#13 Bull Racing team) will start from row two and he was the last of the drivers to qualify in the same second as the pole setter. Sébastien Baron (#20 Scorpus Racing) completes the top five in front of Julien Goupy (#44 Still Racing), Enzo Pastor (#3 TFT-Alpes-Carrelages/Philippines), Eric Quintal (#2 TFT-Banco Santander) Marco Rocca (#19 Scorpus Racing-RAWW) and Spaniard Zihara Esteban (#9 SCorpus Racing-Spirit).