After a year full of surprises, Ryan Vargas was proud to finish his 2024 EuroNASCAR campaign with a top-10 result in the overall standings.
Despite some challenges with a last-minute transfer to a new machine, Ryan Vargas is happy to secure a top-10 finish in the overall championship during the 2024 EuroNASCAR Finals at Circuit Zolder.
The Belgium circuit is one of the tracks that Vargas had an inkling of experience from his part-time stint in 2023, but the American was not driving 3F Racing’s No. 30 Chevrolet Camaro.
Vargas announced on the day of Friday Practice that he’ll be driving the No. 11 Anyone.com Ford Mustang instead. Critical Path Security was given a prominent feature on the side of the No. 11 car as a result of this switch.
While the reasons for the switch remains undisclosed, Vargas was helped by the fact that the No. 11 car was fielded by 3F Racing’s technical partner Race Planet Team Bleekemolen, so he had a quick time to adjust with his new machinery.
“It was definitely a challenge to get used to a new car,” said Vargas to Cathy Gaphty from Critical Path Security.
“However the car still has the same bones and pieces as the last one, I just need to take some time to adjust to the car’s quirks and acclimate myself with the different chassis.”
Vergas finished in 11th in Free Practice and 13th in Qualifying, showing plenty of potential to make it to the top-10 positions.
This potential was realized in Race 1, where he managed to finish tenth. Gapthy reports that he was battling with handling and brake problems, showing that there’s more speed in the No. 11 car that can be extracted.
“If you were to tell me that I’d be mad about finishing tenth, I’d say that’s a good thing,” said Vargas about Race 1. “It means we have more in the tank and I think tomorrow can be a good one.”
Unfortunately for Vargas, things took a turn for the worse in Race 2. He got himself squished in the middle of the first corner crash, but escaped with nothing more than a little body damage and a muddy car.
The 24-year old was able to stay in the lead lap and recovered to finish 12th, just two places behind PK Carsport’s duo of Vittorio Ghirelli and Anthony Kumpen – both had a separate first corner incident courtesy of Gianmarco Ercoli.
“After the hard hit in 1, I thought we were done,” said Vargas. “We hit wheel to wheel then nosed-in into the barrier, any hits like that normally can bend suspension pieces or knock a radiator out.”
The points that Vargas collected at Zolder was enough to secure a top-10 finish in the overall standings, a result that he was proud of given his limited experience at road courses compared to his rivals.
“Honestly, this year was anything but normal,” sums Vargas. “We struggled at the start with the two incidents in Valencia and the parts failure in Italy, but we kept pushing, securing a bunch of Top-10’s and a Top-5 in Venray.”
“Being able to leave my first full road course dominant series with a Top-10 points result is exactly what we needed.”
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Last Updated: 27 November 2024