‘I’ve been a big fan of Kimi’s for a long time,’ Justin Marks explains why and how they singed Kimi Raikkonen as the first driver for the No:91 car
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Justin Marks and Kimi Raikkonen
Trackhouse Racing is the hot new prospect of Cup racing in NASCAR as within two years the team has positioned itself among the front runners of the Cup series and announced itself to be among the teams to beat. The No:1 and No:99 cars of the team have so far been impressive this season and the No:1 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Ross Chastain, added to the team this year, has been the most impressive securing two Cup race wins this season among several great runs.
The Pitbull and Justin Marks owned team on the other hand have dreams and ambitions more than just securing the Cup Championship. The duo has showcased their intention to make the sport grow and help it reach more fans as they announced their new plan PROJECT91. The plan will see international drivers who are champions in different motorsports events getting a shot at NASCAR Cup Racing in the NO:91 car.
The first driver announced to be part of the project is the 2007 Formula 1 world champion and retired Finnish racer, Kimi Raikkonen. The Iceman who previously has experience driving in NASCAR will hit the track o August for the team. Now Justin Marks has come forth revealing how and why he signed Kimi as the first driver.
Find out what Justin Marks said
Justin Marks acknowledged that he has been a long-time Kimi fan and was a regular follower of his career since his time with Sauber. He went on to say that being raced with Kimi in the 2011 Charlotte truck race was a cool moment in his career and seeing Kimi in NASCAR back then helped him to understand that he has a genuine interest in the sport. So, Justin Marks pointed out that is why he approached and signed Kimi Raikkonen as part of the project.
“I’ve been a big fan of Kimi’s for a long time, followed his career since he started Formula 1 with Sauber and all along the way and one of the cool moments of my career being a Formula 1 fan was being able to race against Kimi in the Truck Series race at Charlotte back in 2011. So I knew that he had an interest in NASCAR and that he’d done it before and thought that maybe if I explained to him what this project was all about maybe he’d be interested in being a part of it,” Justin marks said.
Justin Marks claims that PROJECT91 will bring an overwhelmingly positive and welcoming response as it aligns perfectly with the Trackhouse program’s aim to go international. He went on to say he is really excited about the fact that all of the projects will be a Trackhouse effort and added that this plan might influence many such programs in the future.
“I think it’s going to be an overwhelmingly positive and welcoming response. Programs like this are pretty on-brand with what Trackhouse is trying to do in general in this sport. It makes a lot of sense, the car is going to really, really look great – it’s going to be very much a Trackhouse-looking effort which I’m excited about – and really the launch of many of these special programs in the future,” says Justin Marks.
Justin Marks went on to say that people are recognizing the fact that NASCAR is changing with time and the new car, new attitude, and new philosophies of the sport are going to be in the spotlight in the launch of the PROJECT91 car. He went on to add that signing Kimi puts NASCAR in the international spotlight and added that he believes everyone is excited about Kimi’s debut,
“I think people recognize right now that NASCAR is a changing time. We’ve got this new car, we’ve got new attitudes and philosophies about the sport and where we’re going as a sport, and I think doing something like this by bringing Kimi into really put NASCAR on a global stage but also mix things up on our Sundays is something I think everybody is going to be really, really excited about and anticipating and looking forward to watching in August,” Justin Marks added.
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