April 15, Mumbai/Valencia: 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.
“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.
About Advait Deodhar:
Hailing from Mumbai, the 28-year-old Advait Deodhar only started racing in 2012 when he was 22-years-old. His first outing was in the Indian National Championship’s LGB cars, which forms the bridge between Karting and Junior open-wheel competitions.
He moved to the MRF F1600 series in 2013, where he competed until the 2015 season. He was in contention for the title in 2014 season but was forced to miss one round due to illness which cost him the championship. He made an appearance in the international MRF Challenge series as well in the 2014/15 season.
He has also competed in few Touring Car races in India, which includes a race win in the Toyota Etios one-make series on debut, before eventually deciding to relocate to the UK to try and compete in the sportscar/touring car championships at the international level.
After three years of wait, he has finally made a move to compete in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2018. Career timeline:
2012 – Formula LGB
2013 – Formula LGB
2013 – MRF F1600
2014 – MRF F1600
2014 – Toyota Etios (One Round)
2015 – MRF F1600 (One Round)
2014/15 – MRF Challenge (One Round)
2018 – Euro NASCAR
Contact:
Advait Deodhar – Twitter, Facebook
Euro NASCAR – Twitter, Facebook, Website
