Whelen Euro Nascar – Valencia

08 Apr 2017

Interview with Arianna Casoli, car #54, Team CAAL Racing

I introduced myself and Iberianmph.com to Arianna.

Tony: As a woman in motorsport, why did you choose Euro Nascar?

Arianna: The passion, I have motorsport inside me and this is the maximum for me, because it is a car to be driven, from the beginning to the end, no electronics, just a lot of horsepower to be managed and a big fight in front.

Tony: Is it a hard car to drive?

Arianna: Well, not so much. A little bit heavy for a girl so I need to go to the gym. It’s very very good because of the feeling when you drive it. You can set it up and you can work on the car and set it up for your style of driving. So it’s really great.

Tony: Being a female racing driver, are you accepted by your male collegues?

Arianna: Yes, always. They are so kind. No problem.

Tony: Equal footing then?

Arianna: Yes, there is no problem. When you go in the car you are just a number. I am car #54, I am not Arianna, so we are all together and fight all the same like drivers, all the same. Outside of the track they are all very kind.

Tony: What other forms of motorsport have you competed in during your career?

Arianna: I was racing with small touring cars like the Renault Clio Cup. The last one was the Seat Ibiza Cup in Italy, just the challenge championship before. This is my first experience in the European Championship. Last year I didn’t know the tracks or the cars, it was a training season. This year I hope to do better because I had learnt a lot last year.

Tony: Next race I think is at Brands Hatch, on the Indy Circuit?

Arianna: Yes, a very nice track. It is the Indy track and it is very technical, like most of our tracks. It helps to have spotters because they can see almost everything. Also here in Valencia the spotter cannot see the first corner but they help a lot because they can see most of the track. They have contact with the race control and it helps if there is a yellow flag or safety car and a restart. It all helps for the competition because all the cars group together at the restart, American style.

Tony: What are your ambitions for this season?

Arianna: To do my best, enjoy my races, improve in everything, let’s see what happens.

Tony: Any thoughts on next year, any changes such as going to open-top racing?

Arianna: I would like to continue in NASCAR. The dream is to have a bigger budget to do more races and some races in the United States. I was there last year as I won the ladies’ championship and as a prize I had a test on the ovals with Mike Skinner. It was great. Euro Nascar and NASCAR did such a great job of organizing it. Mike Skinner did a great job of explaining how to drive on an oval track. It is so different. The chassis of the American NASCAR are set up differently as the concept of the chassis is for Oval racing. Our chassis is more for street tracks. I enjoyed it very very much.

Tony: Was there much difference in the horsepower of the US NASCAR and your car?

Arianna: Not so much maybe from 420hp this car to may be 450hp the US car, so similar. I enjoyed it very much.

Tony: This afternoon you are in the Elite 2 race, what is your grid position and what is your strategy?

Arianna: 19th or 20th on the grid but the main thing is to improve my position. The good thing is in this race the group are all together so we can do better in the race . If I can better my times during the race, I can gain positions.

Tony: So you feel you will improve your position?

Arianna: Yes, I think so. I am always positive.

Tony: Arianna, thank you very much and good luck in your race.