A “great satisfaction” was found by Vict Motorsport in Italy after Paolo Valeri took home a Challenger Trophy podium finish on his first EuroNASCAR PRO race.
A podium in the Challenger Trophy was the highlight result for Vict Motorsport’s Paolo Valeri during his maiden EuroNASCAR PRO appearance at last week’s American Festival of Rome.
Valeri made the step up to EuroNASCAR’s top class after three seasons in EuroNASCAR 2. The Italian was entered onboard the No. 9 Italicus Ford Mustang and set out to do his best against the best drivers in European stock car racing.
Practice went smoothly for Valeri, who logged 20 laps without any major trouble. He kept his car out of trouble during Qualifying and despite only qualifying 25th, it put him in position to avoid the carnage on the opening lap of Race 1.
After 18 laps the Foligno-born driver crossed the finish line in 18th place, enough to secure a podium in the Challenger Trophy. He was some distance away from Trophy winner Riccardo Romagnoli and fellow Italian Max Lanza, but a clean race is still a very good result to be achieved.
Valeri was eager to make it a double podium on Race 2, but fate decided otherwise. A “strange noise” was heard by the Italian on his installation lap and he discovered that his clutch was gone after just one lap, forcing him to retire from the race.
The 45-year old driver was understandably disappointed, but he remains satisfied to be able to finish in a Trophy podium on his first round as an EuroNASCAR PRO competitor.
“Vallelunga, our home circuit, gave us great satisfaction with my position,” said Valeri in Scuderia Speed Motor’s post-race release. “The car drove beautifully and I need to say thanks to the extraordinary work done by the team.”
“Unfortunately, the joy of Saturday was not followed by that of Sunday. While I was doing the realignment lap in preparation for the start, I heard a strange noise. Later when it’s time to take off at the start, the clutch immediately left me well behind.”
“However, the great satisfaction of the excellent impact with the premier class of NASCAR remains. I’m happy for the small but great podium on which I stood.”
Dario Caso, Valeri’s long-time teammate at Vict, also experienced a similar up-and-down weekend. Mechanical issues and some crash damage from contact with Thomas Dombrowski led to his retirement on Saturday, but he brought the car home to a 21st place finish on Sunday.
Caso is now 16th in the overall standings and remained in the top-3 of the overall Challenger Trophy rankings. He’s level on points with Romagnoli, but the top-10 finish from Valencia gave Caso a slight edge heading to the next round at Brands Hatch.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.