NWES veteran Lasserre: “I’m the engineer, the coach and the driver”
Lucas Lasserre returned to the front of the grid this year in EuroNASCAR being self-reliant
The first rounds of the 2020 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (NWES) saw the resurgence of Lucas Lasserre in the #33 Mishumotors EuroNASCAR FJ. The Frenchman, who had first raced in the NWES back in 2009, had a rather troublesome campaign in 2019. After a great start to the new season, the 42-year-old now feels that he is ready to fight for top positions once again.
Lying 29 points behind EuroNASCAR PRO championship leader Alon Day, Lasserre currently holds eighth position in the standings. However, the Frenchman has to make do with relying mostly on himself.
The man of all trades in EuroNASCAR
“I’m working alone at Mishumotors on the #33 car this year, the #70 of team owner Mirco Schultis is not racing at the moment, but maybe he will be back for the Finals in Valencia”, the 2010 series’ champion told ‘EuroNASCAR.com’. “I organise everything at Mishumotors but we have a good spirit inside the team. I’m the engineer, the coach and the driver, so I’m very busy during the weekend but I really like that.”
Despite the tremendous workload which these circumstances require, Lassere points out that he does not mind the change of approach: “[In 2019] We struggled to interpret the tires and my teammate crashed the car three times last year, so it was not an easy campaign for us. This year we can definitely fight for the top positions.”
“We didn’t test before the season opener in Vallelunga, so I think we are in good shape compared to the other competitors”, Lassere pointed out after a fantastic fourth and third place finish at the season opener in Italy.
“I have to squeeze the full potential out of the car and make no mistakes”
The following rounds in Belgium saw the #33 driver struggling to break free from midfield battles, resulting in two 14th place finishes. Nonetheless, Lasserre is only focussing on being competitive in the remaining races: “At this point the last rounds of the season will be very important due to the double points awarded. I have to squeeze the full potential out of the car and make no mistakes. When we do that we’ll see where we end up.”
With the Czech NASCAR GP having dropped out of the 2020 calendar due to the severe pandemic situation there, the NWES will race next at Automotodrom Grobnik near Rijeka. Thus, Croatia will get to host its first ever NASCAR GP on November 14-15.
