RDV Compétition: Development, Stability And Great Ambitions
Gabillon and Delsaux to race in ELITE 1, Hugo and Didier Bec in ELITE 2
RDV Compétition will enter the 2016 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season with strong ambitions and a revised lineup that looks at stability and evolution to provide the best chances to its drivers. The team’s lineup is entirely confirmed, as is Claude Gallopin in the crew-chief role, but there will be some adjustments, as Frederic Gabillon and Ulysse Delsaux will race in the ELITE 1 Division, while Hugo and Didier Bec will take on the ELITE 2 Division. The Team owner Franck Violas is also working to confirm soon a 3rd car entry.
Frederic Gabillon will once again lead RDV Compétition in the ELITE 1 Division in what will be his second season with the team and the fourth in the European NASCAR Championship. The Frenchman, who is second in the all-time NWES winners list with 5 wins, will drive the #3 Tepac Ford Mustang, aiming straight at the title.
“We had speed last year, but we missed a little bit of luck. We are working harder than ever to build on this year of experience together and I can’t wait to drive the 2016 Ford Mustang. We choose a livery inspired to the one I raced in 1999, when I was French and European Champion in the Megane Trophy,” said the Uzes-native, who finished sixth in points in 2015. “We will have a new chassis and the team has a new, bigger factory. The effort is impressive, I believe we will have what it takes to contend and I have to thank Tepac for supporting me in my entire career.”
Coming from a seventh place overall and his first podium finish at Tours Speedway in ELITE 2 in 2015 and a promising debut in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in the US, Ulysse Delsaux will make one step further in his career and move to the ELITE 1, with the ambition to constantly stay in the top-10 and have his say in the Junior “Jerome Sarran” Trophy at the wheel of the #31 McDonald’s Ford Mustang.
“We had a fantastic experience in the US. It helped me grow as a driver and as a person and I am confident it will help us in Europe too. The team is doing a fantastic job, everybody around me is giving their best to put me in the best position from the first lap of the season,” said the 18-year-old driver from Troyes, France. “This year will be fundamental for my career and I’ll do my best on and off the track.”
The ELITE 2 Division will be hunting ground for the Bec family. Hugo Bec will share the #3 Mustang with Gabillon, looking to build on the 5 top-10s in ELITE 1 from last year and have his say for the title, while his father Didier will drive the #31 Mustang and compete for the Legend Trophy, in which he finished second in the last two seasons.
“We are putting a lot of effort in preparing this season, in every aspect of the team, from the car’s preparation to on-track engineering. We will do everything we can to give Frederic the chance to fight for the 2016 title and to all our drivers the best equipment and support to reach thier goals,” said RDV’s team owner Franck Violas. “We are in talks to expand to three cars, but we want to make sure we do it with the right conditions because we want to give our drivers the best opportunities. We are proud to compete in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, it is one of the best championships in Europe.”
The team will undergo it first pre-season test at the end of March on the French track of Magny-Cours, in preparation of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season opener at Valencia, scheduled for April 23-24.
Sources: RDV Compétition PR
