Nelson Piquet Jr. has revealed that is he switching to NASCAR this season after a turbulent and sudden end to his Formula 1 career in the middle of 2009. Sad to be racing outside of Europe, home for his entire professional career so far, the Brazilian is excited about the year ahead.
Although the 'Crashgate' scandal which involved Piquet has recently burst back into life in the form of Flavio Briatore seeing his lifetime ban lifted, the Paulista is concentrating only on his imminent future in motor racing.
 |
| Piquet heads to NASCAR in the footsteps of Juan-Pablo Montoya |
'I wanted to let you know what I will be doing next year!' Nelsinho wrote on his website on Tuesday. 'I haven't always been able to let you guys, my fans, know first so this time I'm happy that I can do that.
I've spent the last few months carefully evaluating my options for this year. I had to choose a path and it was a difficult decision to make. Being successful in Formula 1 was always my goal but I've learnt that happiness is just as important as ambition and after my first 18 months in F1 did not go as planned I've decided to focus on something different and have chosen to take a route in America.
 |
NASCAR is hugely challenging and nobody has ever come in as an outsider before and gone on to win it - it will be the ultimate challenge. I'll let you know more details on the exact programme soon; this will be an awesome new challenge for me, and a healthy one. I've always been open to new challenges and I will be putting everything I have into this.'
Confident that 2010 will be 'fantastic', the former Renault driver thanked his European colleagues: 'I will miss Europe and all the friends I have there but I will always have my successes there to be proud of. I want to take this opportunity to thank every single person that has supported me in my career so far in Europe, especially my team in GP2 and the guys at Renault - I'm missing you guys a lot! I'm sure I'll still do some racing in Europe as I have a lot of ambitions in my life, one of which has always been to win the Le Mans 24 Hours.'
| Nelson Piquet Jr. news | |
|---|---|
| 07 Feb. | Dramatic stock car debut for Piquet |
| 20 Jan. | Piquet: I declined an F1 offer |
| 19 Jan. | Piquet to compete in endurance races |
| 06 Jan. | Briatore considering to sue Piquets |
| 22 Dec. '09 | Piquet to announce plans 'very soon' |
| 29 Nov. '09 | Piquet: Campos drive would suit team |
| 25 Nov. '09 | Piquet to drive in Massa kart race |
| 16 Nov. '09 | Piquet weighing up NASCAR options |
| 19 Oct. '09 | 'Piquet in talks with Campos' |
| 09 Oct. '09 | 'FIA should have punished Piquet' - Coulthard |
| 05 Oct. '09 | 'Victim' Piquet talks of 'Crashgate' |
| 05 Oct. '09 | Piquet to test in NASCAR Truck Series |
| More Nelson Piquet Jr. news, Photos | |
