Ryan Vargas: NASCAR Euro Series cars are “wild to drive”

Ryan Vargas is not much of a road course racer, but he was more than up for the challenge against the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series when he and 3F Racing made their series débuts in last weekend’s NASCAR GP Germany at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Despite being his first time competing in Europe and doing so in the top-level EuroNASCAR PRO class, he scored tenth-place finishes in both races.

Vargas got to showcase his skill early when he cracked the top ten in qualifying to advance to the Superpole round, pacing in tenth.

Race #1 took place on his 23rd birthday, where he notched a tenth. While post-race penalties tossed up the results, most notably causing Vittorio Ghirelli to lose the win to Paul Jouffreau due to a non-spec air filter, Vargas mostly avoided scrutiny to keep his top ten.

“The Euro cars are a bit more rigid and built to handle road courses better,” he posted on social media. “A mix of a bias-ply tire and lower power means you can absolutely THRASH the car around and find different ways to find speed.

“Plus, they’re still big stock cars, so they’re WILD to drive.”

The second race saw Vargas start twelfth before spending the day fighting with 2018 EuroNASCAR 2 champion Ulysse Delsaux and Lucas Lasserre to get back into the top ten. Lasserre eventually dropped out with a tyre puncture, leaving Vargas to fend off Delsaux for tenth, an effort that ended successfully.

“I’m so impressed because when I raced the NASCAR Euro series, EuroPro was so so stacked. So a top 10 on your first outing is mega,” Myatt Snider wrote to Vargas. Snider is a fellow American who raced the EuroNASCAR 2 calendar in 2019 before returning stateside.

The double top ten marks a strong entrance for 3F Racing into NASCAR-sanctioned competition. The German-owned team plans to compete in the Cup Series in the future, and hired Vargas in July as their driver development director. 3F also has a late model programme, with whom EuroNASCAR 2 part-timer Max Mason tested at Hickory in August.

With Germany out of the way, Vargas will return to the United States to run the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday. He was the fifteenth American to race in the NWES, joining the likes of Snider, Andre Castro, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Rick Crawford, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Eric Filgueiras, Brandon Gdovic, Ben Kennedy, Bobby Labonte, Julia Landauer, Kevin O’Connell, Dale Quarterley, Nick Strickler, and Giles Thornton.

EuroNASCAR PRO Race #1 results

EuroNASCAR PRO Race #2 results