Arianna Casoli leaves the 2024 Valencia NASCAR Fest with plenty of smiles thanks to both strong results and a “perfectly tuned” SpeedHouse car that allowed her to push to her maximum.
Arianna Casoli begins her ninth full season campaign in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in a perfect manner. The Italian is not only pleased with the results, she’s also happy that she got to drive what she described as a “perfectly tuned” No. 14 Les Demeures Créativ Ford Mustang at Valencia.
“We had a great start to the season in Valencia,” said Casoli in her press release for Commissione Sportiva AC Reggio Emilia. “I had a Ford Mustang that was perfectly tuned and it was a real pleasure to drive it in practice and then in the two races.”
Casoli started her weekend by gradually lowering her deficit to the leaders, going from 7.2 seconds behind at the end of Friday’s Practice to just 5.8 seconds during the Qualifying session.
Further improvements were made during Race 1 where her best lap was lowered down to 1:46.924, less than five seconds slower than the fastest lap set by Gil Linster. She also avoided mistakes and enjoyed a good battle with SpeedHouse Racing teammate Eric Quintal on her way to finish in 18th place.
“The solid feeling that has been established over the last few years with the team has paid off in every respect,” spoke the Reggio Emilia born driver, who praised SpeedHouse team boss Lucas Lasserre for the trust that he put on her.
“In addition to the technical aspect, we have also worked very well in terms of driving, so much so that I have significantly lowered my times compared to the past. For this last aspect I owe a lot to team manager Lucas Lasserre, who is also really good as a coach.”
With more confidence behind the wheel of the No. 14 Mustang, Casoli was able to lower her time further in Race 2. Her best race lap of 1:46.031 was nearly one second faster than her best in Race 1.
What made it even more remarkable was that this lap time was achieved at lap 11, a stage where the Hoosier tires have already received so much wear and tear due to the EuroNASCAR rules mandating a set of tires to be used throughout Qualifying and the two races.
“I was afraid that my shoulder pain could affect my results, but fortunately it didn’t especially in the races,” added Casoli, noting about the shoulder injury that she received at the end of the 2023 season.
“So much so that in the second race I managed to set the best times right towards the end, with tires that were now finished.”
As a result of this excellent start, Casoli is looking forward to being back on the track at Vallelunga next month. The Italian is currently on course to become the first female and EuroNASCAR 2 driver to start 100 races in history.
“I’m very happy with this Spanish trip in which we gathered very good results, on which we now start working in view of the next round, which for me will be the home one since on May 18 and 19 we will race on the Roman track of Vallelunga,” concludes Casoli.
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