At last, Alex was back behind the wheel during a shake down test at the Zolder circuit in Belgium.
With the days counting down to the first race in Valencia. Alex and new team mate Scott headed to Circuit Zolder to test the Braxx Camaro they will be racing in this year’s NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
The historic circuit of Zolder was the perfect location to put the car through its paces and ensure everything is working correctly before the first race of 2019.
To begin the day, Alex hit the track and ran a number of laps to get a feel of the car. Then the team worked with Alex to make adjustments to the set up and lap by lap the lap times dropped, until Alex pitted to hand over the car to his new team mate for his first drive of the car.
“It was great to get back behind the wheel, my last race at Zolder did not finish how I had hoped but the track is one of my favourites. The Braxx team had done a brilliant job building the car over the winter months and we had no major issues with the car. This enabled us to concentrate on set up and maximise the track time available," commented Alex.
Alex was joined at the test by a number of other NASCAR teams, so he was also able to gauge his performance against the other drivers and the smile on his face at the end of the test showed he was happy with his performance.
The test also enabled Alex to drive the car on both the 2018 BF Goodrich tyres and the new for 2019 General Tire.
“With a new tyre supplier for the series in 2019 everybody has got to learn about the grip, feel and durability of the new General Tire. Being able to drive the two tyres back-to-back was really useful and has enabled me to understand the differences ready for the first race. This will mean we can now concentrate on finding the best set-up in Valencia," remarked Alex.
After a successful test, the car now heads back to Braxx Racing’s workshop to be dressed with its new livery which is the result of an online competition Alex ran, for NASCAR fans around the world to design the livery of his car.
“I wanted to let the fans of NASCAR have a chance to get involved directly with myself and the team, so we ran a competition which allowed fans to submit their own designs. The number of entries we received was amazing and the standard was so high. After many hours of deliberation, the design from Jorg Ooms was chosen. The car will now be painted in the chosen livery of the winner and a full reveal will be staged in Valencia before the first practice session”, explained Alex.
Now, it’s back to preparation for the race in April, when he will visit the Circuito Ricardo Tormo for a second time after starting his NASCAR racing career there last year.
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