Vitor Meira Nelson Piquet Jr., to test NASCAR Truck
The 24-year-old Piquet, son of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet, drove for Renault in 2008 and for most of 2009 before parting ways with the team. His 2008 crash in the Singapore Grand Prix set up a scenario where teammate Fernando Alonso went on to win a race and then, once Piquet had parted ways with the team, it sparked an F1 investigation and recent sanctions. After the investigation, Piquet issued an apology on his Web site.
“Now that I am out of that situation I cannot believe that I agreed to the plan, but when it was put to me I felt that I was in no position to refuse," Piquet said in a statement on his Web site last month.
Meira, the Indianapolis 500 runner-up in 2005 and 2008, has driven for Team Menard, Rahal Letterman and Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League.
Both Brazilian drivers plan to use this test with Red Horse Racing to evaluate a future career among the NASCAR ranks, according to the news release. Pacific Mobile will be a sponsor of the test as it is also evaluating racing in the Truck series.
“We look forward to helping Vitor Meira and Nelson Piquet make the transition into NASCAR," said Red Horse Racing owner Tom DeLoach. “It’s not an easy thing to do to go from an open wheel background to racing stock cars but they are both immensely talented and have the ability to be successful in any series they chose to race in"