SAILESH BOLISETTI TO RACE IN EURRO RACECAR SERIES

Indian driver Sailesh Bolisetti will participate in the Euro Racecar championship for the 2013 season, driving the Chevrolet Camaro for the reigning champion squad Scorpus Racing. The 24–year old from Vizag will thus become the first Indian to participate in the Europe–based stock car championship, run on the lines of NASCAR in the United States.

This will be Sailesh’s third international season in saloon car racing – the focus of his career, having previously raced in the VVW Scirocco Cup in 2011 followed by a massively successful but short stint in the British GT, driving a Lotus Evora G T4.

After having scored a podium on his debut followed by a win at the Nurburgring last year, Sailesh’s season was cut short by an onslaught of technical issues and DNFs. After realizing that there was no chance to fight for the championship, he decided to drop the season after four rounds and instead focus his attention to 2013.

With a myriad of options available to a talented saloon car driver, it took some time before Sailesh zeroed in on to Euro Racecar – the only series to be sanctioned by the world body of motorsport , FIA as well as the American NASCAR.

“My ultimate goal is to become a top–level saloon car racer, and Euro Racecar is the right step towards t hat”, said Sailesh.

“NASCAR is huge in America, and with t he Euro Race car being a feeder series which works on promoting drivers up the ladder, it is the ideal place to be. We can stay in Europe which gives me the opportunity to learn tithe ropes oaf stock car racing without going all the way to the US.”

Running on Bioethanol E100 fuel, the Euro Racecar series is powered by 5.7–litre, 400bhp Chevrolet V8 engine mated to a four–speed gearbox. Even though cars look similar to those used on NASCAR ovals, the Euro Racecar are purpose–built race cars optimized for circuit racing – fully–adjustable dampers, four–pot brakes and a limited stiff differential mean that GT performance is on offer.

Run by the France–based FJ Group, the championship features rounds at some incredibly historic circuits including Dijon, Brands Hatch, Monza and Le Mans.

Euro Racecar includes two driver championships – one for ‘Elite’ championship for experienced, professional drivers and the ‘Open’ category for young drivers –upcoming or gentlemen drivers. Sailesh will be competing in tithe ‘Elite’ class.

Being based on endurance racing format, Sailesh will share the car with Australian driver Josh Burdon, who finished third in Australian F3 championship and has some V8 Ute Racing experience under his belt as well. He also drove two races for the team towards the end of the last season.

Sailesh commented “Like each passing year in my career so far, these cars are faster and more powerful than whatever I’ve raced till now. I haven’t been able to test it yet since a scheduled test in France was unexpectedly snowed out – so I’ll only be able to drive it only a week before the opening round at Nogaro. “

“It won’t be easy for sure, especially since I haven’t raced since July last year, but hopefully I’ll learn quickly and make the best of the team’s experience to get up to speed.”

Alain Veyssière, team owner and manager of Scorpus Racing, commented, “We are sincerely happy to have Sailesh as the first Indian driver in this championship. With Sailesh as a part of the team, we are the team with the best mix of nationalities from across the world – Indian, Australian, Spanish and French.

He continued, “After we won the European NASCAR Touring Series title in Open division last year, we had a lot of inquiries for 2013, but we went with Sailesh as he had the right amount of experience for a young, upcoming driver and more importantly the right spirit.

“He is willing to learn which is good for us as a team and will help us achieve the best possible results.”

Jerome Galpin, General Manager, Euro Racecar series added, “When we created the series in 2008, we never expected this kind of success so soon and only a couple of years later the series became the long–term official partner of NASCAR in Europe.

“We are very happy and proud to welcome Sailesh as the first Indian driver in the series and wish him all the best for his first season in our very competitive championship.

“He has all our support and hopefully we’ll be able take the championship to India in the near future as well.”

Sailesh will get the first opportunity to get behind the wheel of his new steed at the official pre–season test on March 18, and he is eagerly looking forward to it.

“I’m excited to switch to a different genre of tin–tops, and at this stage of my career it is important for me to be able to quickly adapt myself to new cars, driving styles and tracks. It is something that is a requisite for any professional.

“But despite achieving some great results last year, we haven’t had any luck with sponsors – it is something that every Indian racer is struggling with, which is a shame since we are as good as anyone else in the world. But due to lack of resources we seldom get a chance to show it.”, he surmised.  

2013 Euro Racecar Series calendar

Season summary: 80 drivers, from over 15 nations. 25 races in total.

SCORPUS RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO SPECS

ENGINE: 5.7–litre naturally–aspirated Chevrolet V8 POWER: 400bhp TORQUE: 550Nm FUEL: Bioethanol E10 DRIVETRAIN: Four–speed sequential, Detroit locker rear differential, triple–disc competition clutch WEIGHT: 1200kg

ABOUT SAILESH BOLISETTI:

Born September 28th, 1988 in the Eastern port city of Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), Sailesh made his racing debut in 2008, driving a couple of rounds in the JK Tyre National Championship after deciding to make touring cars the focus of his career.

Despite having no experience in karting or single–seaters like the majority of his racing peers, he quickly showed that he was a formidable talent by finishing third in the Indian Touring Car championship in 2009 – effectively his first season in racing.

In 2010, he moved the goal posts further and went on to clinch the inaugural Volkswagen Polo Cup India title and consequently won a fully–paid drive in the European VW Scirocco–R Cup for the 2011 season. He also raced the Indian Touring Cars concurrently in 2010, where he finished as vice–champion.

He then made the step up to sportscar racing in 2012, driving for Lotus Cars UK in the highly professional and ultra–competitive British GT championship, where he scored a podium in his opening race at Oulton Park, and went on to win at the second round at the legendary Nurburgring circuit in Germany – becoming the only Indian to win in the British GT championship, remarkably in only his second ever race.