TWO VICTORIES AND THREE PODIUMS FOR NICK D’ORLANDO IN DOMINATING WEEKEND AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
Charlotte, NC (May 1, 2024) – Nick d’Orlando put on a dominating performance in his #15 Priority Technology Holdings/Rising Star Racing Radical SR3 Pro 1500 machine, earning two victories and a second place at the second round of the Radical Cup North America series. Under the direction of Graham Rahal Performance, the 21-year-old Charlotte, NC resident continues to prove he is one of North Americas top racing talent.
Commencing on 2.38-mile 15-turn circuit of Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, d’Orlando quickly got up to speed by taking the pole position in his Radical Pro 1500 class for Race 1 on Friday morning and capitalized on that position for Race 1 later that afternoon to earn his maiden victory in the series.
The battles up front continued into Races 2 and 3 on Saturday with d’Orlando taking the fight to a very competitive 37 car field of Radicals. After starting off-pole for Race 2, d’Orlando took an early lead and didn’t look back until the checkered flag flew. With two wins secured, d’Orlando would look to Race-3 to try to complete the weekend sweep.
Race 3 adds a little excitement in the Radical North America series with the implementation of a mandatory 60-second pit stop by all drivers. Again, starting from off-pole position, d’Orlando would get boxed out in turn-1 and had to slide into the third position where he settled in. Keeping pressure on the two class leaders the order would go unchanged until the pit-stop. The successful team strategy in his pitstop timing provided him the opportunity to slide up a position to second coming out of pitlane. As he continued to put the pressure on his teammate now leading the race, d’Orlando was poised to make a move in the closing laps. Unfortunately, an untimely yellow flag resulted in an early safety car and d’Orlando would finish the race under caution with an official second place finish.
“It was a stellar weekend at Barber for us. The entire GRP team had the #15 Priority-Rising Star Racing car on point and we were near perfect in the Pro 1500 class.” states d’Orlando. “ I am super excited to have brought home my first couple of wins in Radical Cup series. I’ve always loved driving here as Barber is a unique and complex race track that challenges drivers all weekend long. I am very thankful to the entire team at GRP, and to our partners at Priority Technology Holdings and Rising Star Racing for the opportunity to get back in the seat and hope that our accomplishments this weekend can continue to create some good momentum. Now it’s time to get back to work and focus on making the rest of the season a reality.”
d'Orlando currently sits second in the Drivers’ Championship points and he is working to secure funding to return to competition in Round 3 of the Radical Cup North America on June 5-8, 2024 in support once again of the NTT INDYCAR series Expel Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.
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