The opportunity to race in Brazil came about due the NASCAR Cup Series being on a two-week break for the Olympics, giving the Mexican driver, who recently obtained American citizenship, the opportunity to get married, but also compete at the legendary Autódromo José Carlos Pace.
The marriage to his longtime girlfriend Julia Piquet, daughter of three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet, was certainly one of the highlights of his personal life, but the following days certainly marked his professional life.
On Friday, with two practice sessions, Suárez had his first experience in a NASCAR Brazil car, which is a bit different from the machinery he is used to. The car has a 300 horsepower V6 engine, versus the Next Gen Cup car, which boats a V8 engine with 670 horsepower.
The initial results were promising: He led both sessions, one of which was only with fellow rookies. On Saturday in qualifying, Suárez times in fourth, about four tenths behind pole-sitter Gabriel Casagrande.
The Special Edition weekend of NASCAR Brasil included three races, unlike the national championship, which has two. In Race #1, Suarez quickly adapted to the car and used an aggressive style commonplace in the United States.
He drove from fourth to first in a chaotic final lap, but the victory was not to be his. He was handed a five-second time penalty for earlier contact with Léo Torres (the defending NASCAR Brazil champion), which was surprising due to the minor nature of it.
Officially, Suárez finished in sixth place. As consolation, Torres believed the incident should not have resulted in a penalty. However, these things have a way of balancing out in racing.
In Race #2 at sunset, Suarez started seventh. The race was wild, but Suarez escaped the carnage and ended up challenging young Lucas Mendes as night overtook the race track. Mendes crossed the finish line first, but he was penalized for a series of incidents, which allowed Suarez to officially take victory at Interlagos.
The triumph made Suárez the first driver to win in the same year in three international NASCAR championships. He was victorious in the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta and won in NASCAR Mexico exhbition at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
The sum of the points in the first two races – the criteria for forming the grid for the third race – put Suarez in pole position for the main event of the weekend in Interlagos.
After dominating much of the race, the Mexican…
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