The chance to race in Brazil happened due the NASCAR Cup Collection being on a two-week break for the Olympics, giving the Mexican driver, who not too long ago obtained American citizenship, the chance to get married, but additionally compete on the legendary Autodromo Jose Carlos Tempo.
The wedding to his longtime girlfriend Julia Piquet, daughter of three-time Formulation 1 world champion Nelson Piquet, was actually one of many highlights of his private life, however the next days actually marked his skilled life.
On Friday, with two apply periods, Suarez had his first expertise in a NASCAR Brazil automotive, which is a bit completely different from the equipment he’s used to. The automotive has a 300 horsepower V6 engine, versus the Subsequent Gen Cup automotive, which boats a V8 engine with 670 horsepower.
The preliminary outcomes have been promising: He led each periods, considered one of which was solely with fellow rookies. On Saturday in qualifying, Suarez was fourth, about 4 tenths behind pole-sitter Gabriel Casagrande.
The Particular Version weekend of NASCAR Brazil included three races, not like the nationwide championship, which has two. In Race #1, Suarez shortly tailored to the automotive and used an aggressive type commonplace in the US.
He drove from fourth to first in a chaotic remaining lap, however the victory was to not be his. He was handed a five-second time penalty for earlier contact with Leo Torres (the defending NASCAR Brazil champion), which was shocking as a result of minor nature of it.
Formally, Suarez completed in sixth place. As comfort, Torres believed the incident mustn’t have resulted in a penalty. Nevertheless, this stuff have a means of balancing out in racing.
In Race #2 at sundown, Suarez began seventh. The race was wild, however Suarez escaped the carnage and ended up difficult younger Lucas Mendes as evening overtook the race observe.
Mendes crossed the end line first, however he was penalized for a sequence of incidents, which allowed Suarez to formally take victory at Interlagos.
The triumph made Suarez the primary driver to win in the identical 12 months in three worldwide NASCAR championships. He was victorious within the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta and received in NASCAR Mexico exhibition on the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
The sum of the factors within the first two races – the factors for forming the grid for the third race – put Suarez in pole place for the principle occasion of the weekend in Interlagos.
After dominating a lot of the race, the Mexican needed to cope with two of the best drivers in Brazilian motorsports at this time: Gabriel Casagrande and Julio Campos.
The frantic battle, particularly within the remaining half of the race, had the followers within the stands on their toes. Casagrande overtook Suarez with about three minutes remaining. The Mexican tried to get it again, however he overdrove the entry of Flip 1 on the ultimate lap moments after retaking the lead. Campos additionally pounced, pushing Suarez down to 3rd within the remaining order.
Upset about shedding the victory? Removed from it.
“It was a really entertaining race,” mentioned Suarez after climbing from the automotive. “Casagrande and Campos, they’re nice drivers, they did an important job.
“The race was enjoyable, aggressive, however enjoyable. I loved it. I needed to be a bit of bit sooner to remain forward, however they have been a bit of bit higher than me and ultimately they managed to beat me.”
In an general evaluation of the weekend, Suarez was optimistic, regardless of the penalty that stripped him of victory within the first race.
“It was nice, it was a variety of enjoyable to race right here at Interlagos and be taught lots in regards to the race, in regards to the vehicles, in regards to the drivers and in regards to the guidelines too. General, it was a really optimistic weekend.”
Requested if he would return to Sao Paulo to compete, Suarez mentioned, “I hope that someday I can come again and race once more.”
