Piquet to make Nationwide debut with Baker Curb Racing
Baker Curb Racing announced Tuesday that Brazilian driver Nelsinho Piquet will be making his Nationwide Series debut at Watkins Glen next Saturday behind the wheel of one of their cars.
Piquet is racing for the first time in the NASCAR second tier series. He has made seven stock car event appearances, four in NASCAR’s national series, and has three top 10 finishes out of four Truck Series starts this season.
"I'm really excited to do my first road course NASCAR race in the Nationwide series with Baker Curb Racing," said Piquet. "I can't wait to get back in the driving seat! I've had a good year having positive experiences in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Racing Series.”
Piquet used to drive in Formula One and will be in the Baker Curb #27 Ford Fusion where he will start in an impressive fifth place. The car Piquet will drive has also been driven by Owen Kelly, Australia’s V8 Supercar racer at the Road America.
“[Nelsinho] has been very successful in his transition to American stock car racing this season; running well on the oval tracks in both the Camping World trucks and the ARCA Series cars,” said Baker Curb Racing president Matt Crews. “We feel that although it is his first time in a Nationwide Series car he will be able to compete for a win on the road course and help us in our battle to remain in the top 10 in owner's points."
Though the outing is a one-race deal with Baker Curb, Piquet would like to make the event a reoccurring one, and hopes to race next month in Montreal as well.
Baker Curb believes bringing in a fresh, new driver will help their odds of maintaining their position within the 10 for owner’s points. The team has brought in a number of other drivers this season such as Greg Biffle, who earned two second place finishes at California Speedway and Richmond.
Two weeks ago Piquet was linked with the American Cypher Group, who was reportedly being considered by the FIA to fill the 13th grid slot for the 2011 Formula One season. The Cypher Group was looking into running Piquet alongside Jonathan Summerton.
Piquet has been absent from Formula One since the end of last season when he blew the whistle on one of the biggest Formula one race-fixing scandals.
While driving for Renault Piquet was ordered to crash during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to allow team-mate Fernando Alonso the win. An internal investigation was spurred when Piquet brought the scandal to light after being dropped from the team in August 2009.
The investigation uncovered that the plot was devised by team boss Flavio Briatore and engineer director Pat Symonds; both were let go by Renault and banned from FIA sanctioned events, Briatore indefinitely and Symonds for five years.
Renault received a two-year suspended ban and Piquet received immunity for his admitted involvement in exchange for providing his evidence to the FIA.
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