Leo Torres and Guilherme Backes will continue their participation in NASCAR Brasil Series with MX Vogel in 2025.
MX Vogel have announced their first drivers for the upcoming NASCAR Brasil Series season. 2023 series champion Leo Torres and Cristais oval winner Guilherme “Gui” Backes have been retained by MX Vogel for 2025.
Both Torres and Backes are set to stay with their rides from the 2024 season. Torres will be racing the No. 2 Ford Mustang, while Backes will compete in the No. 28 Ford Mustang.
It should be noted that MX Vogel had initially announced their entry to 2025 under the MX Motorsports banner. However, at some point during the off-season, Vogel Motorsport decided that they want to try their hands in NASCAR Brasil.
While there was no official announcement being made, Vogel and MX quietly agreed to merge for 2025. Edson Reis remains as the main figurehead of MX Vogel, but their cars will be operated from Vogel’s base in Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro.
Torres, the inaugural champion of the NASCAR Brasil era, joined MX midway through 2024. He took two race wins and finished runner-up in the Special Edition Championship.
Prior to joining MX, Torres raced for whatever teams that could offer him a ride. This led to his inability to defend his championship crown in 2024 because he missed Round 2 at Goiânia.
With a full-time seat secured, Torres is looking forward to seeing how the 2025 season is going to develop.
“I’m very excited about this new team format,” said Torres, who was officially announced on 15 January 2025. “I have great confidence in Eduardo Serratto’s work as team director, and Vogel needs no introduction.”
“They’re none other than the current Stock Car [Pro Series] champion. With such an experienced team, I believe that good results will come naturally.”
Serratto is happy to be able to retain Torres MX Vogel in 2025. He notes that it’s important to have the experience of a driver like Torres during NASCAR Brasil’s transition to the independent teams system.
“This was a very important choice for the team,” said Serratto on the 2023 champion. “Torres is a driver with great experience, in addition to being a very fast driver.”
“For this moment that the team is experiencing, which is the beginning of this new era of NASCAR, it is important to have a driver with this experience to help develop the cars.”
“We are happy with the signing and expect good results. Léo is always a serious candidate for the title and we will work together to achieve this.”
Backes also joined MX Vogel in 2024, albeit he was signed on a full-time deal. Like Torres, Backes also entered last year’s season as champions, having been crowned as the champion of the now-defunct PRO AM class in 2023.
Numerous retirements prevented Backes from retaining his crown in the newly established Challenge division. However, Backes did show tremendous improvement on his race pace.
This culminated with his win at Cristais, the Santa Catarina driver’s first solo overall victory in the series. Coincidentally, Torres was the driver that Backes beat to the finish in the 0.776-mile oval.
Now entering his third year in NASCAR Brasil, Backes will be aiming for a return to the top step of the championship in 2025.
“I’m really looking forward to this journey, my third year in NASCAR and with this incredible team!” said Backes during his announcement on 17 January 2025.
“I hope to be able to give the best possible result so that the team stays at the top of the table. It will be another year of learning, but I am optimistic about a year with even more achievements.”
“I can’t wait to be back doing what I love with the best engineers, mechanics and teammates. We are going all out this season.”
“I worked with Gui Backes last year and he showed surprising results, such as the sensational victory in the overall on the oval,” said Serratto on Backes.
“He is a promising talent for Brazilian motorsports. Personally, it is gratifying to be able to be part of the history of the development of such a talented young driver.”
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