Paolo Valeri had a successful home race after scoring his first top-10 finish of the year and a double podium in the Legend Trophy at Vallelunga.
It was a weekend to remember for Paolo Valeri in the 2023 edition of NASCAR GP Italy. The Vict Motorsport driver returns with a bang after he scored his first top-10 finish of the year and brought home two podiums in the Legend Trophy sub-classification on his home race at Autodromo Vallelunga.
Valeri’s season had not started well as his performance at Valencia left a lot to be desired. The 44-year old driver only finished 16th in the Saturday race before he became Round 2’s sole retirement from the race. With the team skipping the trip across the English Channel, Valeri had to wait two months before he returned behind the wheel of the No. 8 Italicus Camaro.
The round at Vallelunga started with an average, trouble-free Free Practice session for Valeri. Qualifying was not what the Italian would have hoped as he only ended up in 18th position, 3.5 seconds behind pole sitter Paul Jouffreau and almost one second behind his new teammate Valerio Marzi.
It was during the races where things started to click in the right way. In the Saturday race, Valeri was able to keep his car away from the contacts made in the opening few laps and slowly progressed through the field. He went on to finish in ninth place, securing his first Legend Trophy podium in the process.
Results from the first race meant that Valeri started the second race from 14th on the grid. The start nearly went horribly for Valeri as he found himself in the middle of the ‘Big One’ as it unfolds. He was clipped from the back by Max Mason, but miraculously Valeri escaped with only a missing rear body panel.
The survival from ‘Big One’ proved to be vital as the race was continuously interrupted by Safety Car from other incidents. Once all of the chaos was done and dusted, Valeri would cross the finish line in eleventh to take a double Legend Trophy podium in Vallelunga.
The success on his home race promoted Valeri to 20th in the overall standings with 89 points, 10 points behind Mason. Valeri’s weekend contrasts the weekend that Dario Caso and Marzi had as both end up having a weekend to forget in Italy.
“The good moments of the team and the car have been highlighted,” Valeri said in Scuderia Speed Motor’s post-race release. “In these circumstances we have shown that we have what it takes to be in the top-10, not forgetting there are drivers and cars of a much higher level in the first four positions.”
“We all did a great job from every point of view, especially in challenging conditions due to the great heat, which had become a handicap even for cars like ours. Personally, I held up the name of Vict Motorsport and Scuderia Speed Motor, finishing just behind the best of the roster.”
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