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Thursday October 8, 2009

Piquet eyes move to NASCAR after F1 race-fix scandal

LONDON: Brazilian Nelson Piquet is eyeing a move to NASCAR’s pickup truck racing series after his stint in Formula One was tainted by a race-fixing controversy with Renault.

Piquet said on his
website that he and compatriot Vitor Meira would test a NASCAR Camping World truck series Toyota Tundra for Red Horse Racing at Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina next Monday.

Red Horse said 24-year-old Piquet planned to “evaluate a future career among the NASCAR ranks.”

The team’s owner, Tom DeLoach, said making the switch would not be easy but believed Piquet and Meira could pull it off.

“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,” he added.

Piquet triggered one of Formula One’s biggest scandals after being dropped by Renault in July when he told the governing body that he had been told to crash deliberately at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

The Brazilian said he had done so to help his Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso, who was cleared of any involvement in the conspiracy, to win the race.

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore was banned for life for his role in the affair while Renault were handed a suspended permanent ban. Piquet was given immunity in return for testifying. — Reuters

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