Red Horse Racing testing news 2009-10-05

BRAZILIAN DRIVERS TO TEST FOR RED HORSE RACING

MOORESVILLE, N.C.(October 5, 2009) -- Brazilian natives, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Vitor Meira will test a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra at Little Rock for Red Horse Racing. The one day test scheduled for Monday, October 12th, will be the first time behind the wheel of a stock car for Formula 1 driver, Nelson Piquet, and IndyCar Series driver, Vitor Meira.

Red Horse Racing will field two Toyota Tundras (both displaying #1) for Piquet and Meira to test on the short track at Rockingham Speedway. Red Horse Drivers Timothy Peters and TJ Bell will also be on hand to help the open wheel drivers acclimate to their first stock car test.

Just 24 years old, Nelson Piquet Jr. has already made a name for himself in several racing series around the globe. He experienced instant success in the South American Formula 3 Series, finishing fifth in the championship after running only half of the races in 2001. Piquet also became the youngest driver ever to win the British F3 title earning him recognition by the Formula 1 community. Piquet continued to impress in the Formula 1 feeder series, GP2. He earned one race win and four podium finishes in his first year. He followed up that season with a close run for the championship. He eventually finished second but his performance led to ING Renault signing him as a test driver for their F1 team in 2007. After a year as a test driver, Piquet got his chance to race in the F1 series alongside teammate Fernando Alonso. Piquet experienced two successful seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Vitor Meira started his racing career much the same way, in the South American Formula 3 Series where he earned eight victories en route to winning the championship in 2000. That same year he tested an IndyCar Series car for Panther Racing at Texas Motor Speedway. By 2003, Meira's IndyCar Series career was in full swing. With each passing year, he has seen more and more success and has been a part of some of the most prestigious teams in the series including Team Menard, Rahal Letterman and Panther Racing. At the end of 2008, Meira's stats were quite impressive. The 32 year old has earned more than 50 top-10 finishes in his IndyCar career which spans eight years, including runner-up finishes in the 2005 and 2008 Indianapolis 500's.

Both Piquet and Meira plan to use this test with Red Horse Racing to evaluate a future career among the NASCAR ranks. Both extremely successful in their respective series, Piquet and Meira look forward to a new challenge. Pacific Mobile will be a sponsor of the test as they are also evaluating NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Racing.

"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"

-credit: rhr