Advait Deodhar claims 2018 Euro NASCAR Elite Club title after win at Zolder
The Indian makes history with the championship victory.
India's Advait Deodhar created history at Circuit Zolder to become only the second driver from the country to win an European championship title after Mahaveer Raghunathan's triumph in the Boss GP in 2017. He is the first to win in a touring car category though.
The Indian headed into the season finale with a handy advantage in Euro NASCAR's Elite Club category - which is a time trial event where drivers have to complete a course in the given time and the one to complete in the quickest time without incurring the least penalty time wins.
Deodhar continued with #27 BVR Motorsport in the final round driving a Ford Mustang. Already in the first session, the Mumbaikar created a slight lead over Andreas Kuchelbacher as he completed the course with 01.035ms penalty time to rival's 01.757ms.
The Indian then thrashed the competition in the final session to complete it only with 00.926ms time while his rivals incurred huge penalty points which was enough to seal the title for Deodhar with a total of 170 points.
The Indian won three of the four rounds in the 2018 season with a 34 points advantage over Clemens Sparowitz. "It’s pretty awesome, it doesn’t hit me yet, so I need to pinch myself," he said. "It’s unbelievable as I was coming back to racing after a break of three years.
"It’s the first time for me in European racing and I am the champion! It’s a dream come true. Zolder is one of the coolest tracks in the schedule of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. It has the ups and downs and it’s a really challenging."
Having raced in two of the six rounds in the Elite 2 category in 2018, Deodhar now aims for a full year in the category in 2019 with Dexwet-DF1 Racing. "I’m going to fight for the championship. Mark my words, I’m going to be in the top 3 in the ELITE 2 in 2019.
"Mark my words, I’m gonna make that happen. I’m back to racing and I’m not going to step back again. I race to win and that’s my goal next year." As Deodhar mentioned, he made his racing return earlier this year after three years on the sidelines due to limited budget.
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