VILARINO MAKES HISTORY
NOGARO, France – By winning on the circuit Paul Armagnac, in Gers (France), Ander Vilarino enters History. The Spanish, poleman of the ELITE Sprint, became this morning the first ever winner of a EURO-RACECAR NASCAR Touring Series race, under the attentive eye of the NASCAR American officials came to observe this inaugural event. Drivers offered a wonderful first race to those distinguished observers. For the fun of the public who filled grandstands in spite of the rain and cold temperatures.
At the green light, Romain Thievin (Dodge Challenger #99 – Still Racing-Exotics Racing) jumped from his second place on the grid to take the lead ahead of Ander Vilarino (Chevrolet Camaro #2 – TFT-Banco Santander) right after the first turn. Then the driver from Las Vegas (USA) tried to improve the gap with his followers on a wet track which began to dry after mid-race. His set-up for rain stopped him from maintaining his domination. At the 10th lap on 14, Ander Vilarino overtook him with a later brake at the hairpin of the aerodrome. After a heated door-to-door exchange between the two adversaries, the Spanish took the advantage to finish first with a gap of 1”543 with the second. “I’m so proud to win the first ever NASCAR Touring Series race in Europe, said Vilarino. The wet conditions made the race more difficult than expected. In this championship, it is important to finish in the top 5 because the gap between drivers is so tight. A mistake and you lose lots of points. From the start I tried to come back to Romain but it was tough with the followers behind me. I succeeded at the end but only for a few.”
But the second place of Romain Thievin was not certain. Just behind, Dimitri Enjalbert (Dodge Challenger #33 – OverDrive) and Javier Villa (Dodge Challenger #64-TFT) kept high pressure on him till the very last meters. At the end there’s only a gap of 3/10th of second with Enjalbert. “I live in Las Vegas for 2 years and I forgot what racing under the rain is, was kidding the first 2011 runner-up. The start of the race was like a drift race. I had a good car and so I succeed in overtaking Ander and taking the lead. From mid-race, I was less easy with the car. When Ander overtook me he was a bit faster and so it was normal. We touched a little bit but this is NASCAR. I never gave up because I still targeted the podium. It will be a big fight all year long!”
Third, Dimitri Enjalbert demonstrated than a lack of experience doesn’t mean a lack of success. “I think I have made a good race. One week ago, I didn’t even know I would race in EURO-RACECAR and I discovered the car only on Thursday afternoon, explained the newcomer. I had no marks, especially on brakes and I was quite shy. I’m very happy for the team because we improved during the pratices. Tomorrow, I wish to have a race as fair-play as today. I’m happy to compete against fair challengers even if they can be virile on the track.” The driver of Over-Drive finishes this race with a gap of 3/10th of second ahead of Javier Villa. The second Spanish (TFT) confesses to have been cautious all race long. For his first season he already targets the title and so tried today to avoid mistakes to keep on improving. He failed to reach the top 3 but set the fastest time in 1’48’’857, winning the Junior Trophy ahead of Romain Fournillier (Dodge Challenger #11 - Over Drive-McDonald’s) and Vincent Gonneau (Chevrolet Camaro #15 - Gonneau Racing).
Behind Javier Villa, Romain Iannetta found again a high-performance Dodge Challenger #25 (Orhes Competition) and so completes the top 5 ahead of Romain Fourniller (Dodge Challenger #11 – Over-Drive-McDonald’s) the 2011 Open Champion and Gregory Guilvert (Chevrolet Camaro #14 – Still Racing-JDC Finances) who started from the 3rd place on the grid but slipped back to the 5th position when the track dried. Then Vincent Gonneau (Chevrolet Camaro #15 – Gonneau Racing), Wilfried Boucenna (Chevrolet Camaro #17 – Pole Position 81) and Harry Vaulkhard (Ford Mustang #7 – Events Motorsports) complete the top 10 in front of Bruno Cosin who wins Challenger Trophy.
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