DAYTONA, USA – The first UNOH Battle At The Beach, run on the short temporary 600-metre track built specially for the race on 18-19 February at the legendary Daytona International Speedway, marked the debut of the team EXOTICS RACING by FJ in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series champion Ander Vilarino at the wheel of the Las Vegas-based outfit’s #92 Chevrolet Impala was on the pace straight away, which was also the case for the new European team.
Although brake cooling problems led to Vilarino’s retirement on the team’s first outing in this top-level race that attracted the best drivers in the NASCAR Touring Series, the overall performance was very positive. Due to a lack of preliminary testing the team did not set up shop until Monday morning and, like Vilarino, they had to get to grips with a completely new challenge ranging from the regulations to the setup of the car, which is heavier and more powerful (600 bhp) than the one used in the Euro-Racecar NASCAR series.
Despite this lack of experience, EXOTICS RACING by FJ with the technical support of Tony Pereira’s TFT squad quickly found the right setups and helped its driver to up the pace as the practice sessions unfolded. Vilarino was sixteenth quickest in the first one, moved up to fourteenth in the second and it was only due to the wrong tyre pressures that he ended the final session in nineteenth spot. In the qualifying race during which he had his first real experience of racing in the pack, he managed to clinch a place on the eighth row for the main race.
Vilarino’s pace and handling skills showed he had nothing to envy the NASCAR Touring Series specialists in the first quarter of the race as he was running just outside the top ten. He kept up the pressure on Kyle Larson, the 2012 champion in the very competitive NASCAR K&N Pro Series and one of the rising stars in NASCAR, until his brakes began to overheat. After pitting to have the problem solved he went back out and showed his speed – and that of the team – by picking off the drivers in the top 10 one by one. But as he had no chance of winning and not wishing to damage the car the Spaniard stopped 25 laps from the flag. Had he not run into this mechanical problem a top-5 finish was on the cards.
“I think we can be satisfied with our pace, which enabled us to battle with, and overtake several of the top guys in the series,” stated Vilarino. “The car was very quick, and I think I was too; I’m only sorry that I ran into these problems. We decided to rejoin to show our pace over the long runs. Towards the end the brakes began to go off again and so as not to represent a danger for the other drivers or cause an accident we stopped. This experience has been very positive as we’ve proved that a European team and driver can aim for a place in the top five. It’s a great base on which to build for the future!”
“I’m very happy with the level of our champion who confirmed that he had nothing to envy all those great drivers,” continued Jérôme Galpin, the Team FJ’s General Manager, organizer of the Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series and associated with EXOTICS RACING in the team. “We proved in only two days that we were able to adjust the setup to make the Impala a potential top five contender. My wife Ann, the owner of the car, really regrets the lack of pre-race testing. However, our performance encourages us to believe that we can hope for great things for the rest of the season with Romain Thiévin!”
EURO-RACECAR NASCAR Touring Series
Tel : +33 (0) 254.45.54.45
E-mail : racecar@teamfj.com
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