Shunned by the Formula One community for blowing the whistle on his team boss at Renault, Flavio Briatore, for ordering him to intentionally race crash to bring out a caution to put his teammate in position to win the Singapore Grand Prix, Brazil’s Nelson Piquet, Jr. found himself in at the Motor Mile, a short track in Radford, Virginia to test a Toyota Tundra Truck owned by Red Horse Racing.
NASCAR fans may not have heard of the son three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet, Jr. but he may be making the jump to stock car racing if the far-flung world-wide series turns its’ back on him.
Along with countryman, (IRL driver) Vitor Meira, Piquet told Auto123 he did over 200-laps at the .410 mile (.66km) oval in a truck which was more than twice as heavy as the Formula One cars he used to drive.
“I was actually surprised at how fast it is on the oval. It’s a lot of fun, and not as easy as people might think it is. It takes a little different driving technique to be fast, but I was lucky to have a good team helping me adjust to some of the differences about driving an oval.”
Although there are media reports in Europe that his father Nelson Piquet, Sr. was seeking a Formula One drive for his son, he denied that role “my father doesn’t work for me. I work for myself,” he told Auto123.com.
My goal is Formula 1 but if I get something interesting, of course…” his voice trailed off meaning he’d consider a good drive over here.
Red Horse Team owner, Tom DeLoach said “I was really impressed with both Nelson and Vitor. I anticipated that it would take a lot longer for them to get accustomed to the trucks once they started, and that they would be really hard on brakes. Both drivers have very impressive skill sets, and they really exceeded my expectations for the first time in a Camping World Truck Series Tundra.”
photo:Renault
NASCAR fans may not have heard of the son three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet, Jr. but he may be making the jump to stock car racing if the far-flung world-wide series turns its’ back on him.
Along with countryman, (IRL driver) Vitor Meira, Piquet told Auto123 he did over 200-laps at the .410 mile (.66km) oval in a truck which was more than twice as heavy as the Formula One cars he used to drive.
“I was actually surprised at how fast it is on the oval. It’s a lot of fun, and not as easy as people might think it is. It takes a little different driving technique to be fast, but I was lucky to have a good team helping me adjust to some of the differences about driving an oval.”
Although there are media reports in Europe that his father Nelson Piquet, Sr. was seeking a Formula One drive for his son, he denied that role “my father doesn’t work for me. I work for myself,” he told Auto123.com.
My goal is Formula 1 but if I get something interesting, of course…” his voice trailed off meaning he’d consider a good drive over here.
Red Horse Team owner, Tom DeLoach said “I was really impressed with both Nelson and Vitor. I anticipated that it would take a lot longer for them to get accustomed to the trucks once they started, and that they would be really hard on brakes. Both drivers have very impressive skill sets, and they really exceeded my expectations for the first time in a Camping World Truck Series Tundra.”
photo:Renault