TFT Racing is a French racing team. The team was very successful in the

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (formerly known as Racecar Euro Series and Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series) is an official NASCAR stock-car racing series based in Europe. It is one of NASCAR's three international-sanctioned series, alongside the ...

winning three drivers titles in four years. The team is a long time competitor in the V de V Proto Endurance Challenge.

History

The team was founded on 26 April 2005 by Tony Pereira, Flavio Prodolliet and Thierry Fornerod. The team is based near the

Circuit Paul Armagnac Circuit Paul Armagnac also known as Circuit de Nogaro is a motorsport race track located in the commune of Nogaro in the Gers department in southwestern France. The track is named in honor of Nogaro-born racing driver Paul Armagnac who died in ...

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sa ...

. The team first settled at the Avenue des Sports until 2007, until late 2016 team was located at the Route D'Auch. As of October 2016 the team is located near the circuit along with other racing teams at the Nogaropole industrial zone.

V de V Proto Endurance Challenge

In 2008 TFT Racing started in the V de V Proto Endurance Challenge, a

Group CN Group CN is a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in the early nineties for sports car racing. Group CN cars are mainly seen in hillclimbing championships or sports racing series. Group CM is a non-FIA class which is closely related to ...

based racing series. The team originally entered as Vilarino Motorsport with Andres, Ander and Angel Vilarino. The team also supported various other entries al racing the

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Astronomy * Norma (constellation) *555 Norma, a minor asteroid * Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy Geography *Norma, Laz ...

M20 F. The equipe with

Philippe Vidal ''The Garfield Show'' is a Computer-generated imagery, CGI animated television series produced by Dargaud, Dargaud Media and Paws, Inc.. It is based on the American ''Garfield'' comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. The a ...

and

Denis Caillon Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402� ...

was the best placed TFT car in the championship, placing tenth. Ander and Andres Vilarino started the 2009 season very well, winning at

Jarama Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jara ...

and

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and ...

. Racing only four races, half the season, the team secured the third place in the championship. In 2011 TFT did not race their own cars in the V de V series, but supported cars from other teams. The best result was for the TFT Racing supported teams was with Top Loc Racing. At

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Flo ...

, Philippe Thirion,

Bruno Bazaud Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...

and

, finished fourth. Bazaud scored the best results for TFT Racing in 2012, placing third in the championship standings. Bazaud did not win races but was a consistent podium finisher.

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series

TFT Racing stepped into the

in 2012, the first season the series received

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

backing.

Ander Vilarino The masculine name Ander is a variant of the Greek name "Andreas". Other variants of the Greek name "Andreas" are Andrés and Andrew, as well as Anders. The masculine name Ander is a variant Basque form of Andrew. Notable people with the name An ...

won both opening races at the teams hometrack, Nogaro. Vilarino won six races during the season and the championship while his teammate

Javier Villa Javier Villa García (born 5 October 1987) is a Spanish racing driver living in Parres, Arriondas, Asturias, Spain. He drove in the GP2 Series from 2006 towards 2009. In 2010 he switched to touring cars, driving at the Spanish Mini Challenge and ...

won one race finished third in the championship. The late Enzo Pastor debuted in the series at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

joining the team in 2013 full-time. For 2013 Vilarino remained in the NASCAR team sharing his car with Eric Quntal in the Open class. The Spaniard dominated the Elite class, winning the first six races of the season. PK Carsport was the main championship rival to TFT for 2014. Despite winning four races, Vilarino finished second in the series. The Spaniard finished second to PK Carsports

Anthony Kumpen Anthony Kumpen (born 3 November 1978) is a Belgian professional racing driver and team manager. Kumpen currently works as the team manager for PK Carsport in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. He previously competed full-time in the NASCAR Whelen E ...

. Vilarino again won the championship in 2015. The championship was won in the penultimate round at

Autodromo dell'Umbria The Autodromo dell'Umbria is a long automobile and motorcycle circuit placed in Magione, Umbria (Italy). The circuit was created in the early 1970s by the will of a group of friends. It is featured in the video game “Assetto Corsa”. Histo ...

when Vilarino scored more points to championship rival Alon Day. Third place in the championship was won by TFT racer Romain Iannetta. The team left the series as defending champions and returned to the V de V Endurance Series.

Complete NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

{{reflist French auto racing teams NASCAR teams Companies established in 2005 Companies based in Occitania (administrative region) International GT Open teams Auto racing teams established in 2005 2005 establishments in France