Mumbai-born Advait Deodhar has made history in the opening round of the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia (Spain). The 28-year-old became the first Indian driver ever to win a competition in the championship in only his first time racing in Europe.
Racing in the Elite Club Division for Mishumotors in the #33 Chevrolet Camaro Monstrous 5.7 V8 440 bhp, in a time trial format, Advait won the event in a combined result. The Mumbaikar finished first in the opening session, while he was second in the final session.
The Indian’s overall penalty time was set at 4s072ms, which was 0.848ms lower than second placed Marcelo Silva (4s920ms), who won the second session. Third place went to Clemens Sparowitz after his time of 5s812ms.
As in NASCAR, Advait had a spotter to guide him through the sessions to match the target time set by the NASCAR organisers, which was pretty intense for the Indian driver since he had to pace his Camaro in the different sectors according to the target time.
"Well, this was quite different to what I have driven in my career so far, both in terms of the car and the championship,” says Advait. “It was a great experience though and to win it straight out of the box against some regulars on my debut in Europe was hugely pleasing.
“I came into this round to test the waters of the Euro NASCAR Championship. I've worked pretty hard to get funding to drive as my Euro NASCAR scholarship is only usable if I drive the full season.
“I am very glad with deciding to drive and I am looking forward to move into the ELITE 2 category from the next round, hopefully. I still need the budget and hope this wins helps me find it! The series is great and so is the car. More importantly, I'm glad to know that even after three years of not driving, I still got it!”
After a brilliant start to his stock car career, Advait was greeted by several of the top NASCAR officials and teams from America and held positive talks for the future appearances in the series. While nothing can be confirmed at this stage, but an official word will be made through a release when signed upon.
