Marco Polo Motorsports Nicolai Elghanayan Post PWC Lime Rock Grand Prix Interview

Nicolai Elghanayan driving the Marco Polo Motorsports, Reiter Engineering, Muellerized, Performance & Racing Tech Talk No. 71 KTM X-Bow captures a nearly perfect weekend of performance with Pole starting position for both Round 5 & Round 6 races in the Pirelli World Challenge Lime Rock Grand Prix topped by 1 hour and 56 minutes of dominating driving performance. Elghanayan raises the trophy he earned in Round 5 for winning the race in front of 30 other GTS SprintX GT4 class cars. Image Credit: PWC (2018)

Marco Polo Motorsports Nicolai Elghanayan Post PWC Lime Rock Grand Prix Interview

Welcome Nicolai Elghanayan ...

You are a first year race car driver for a first year team competing in the Pirelli World Challenge in the GTS SprintX Class driving an Austrian manufactured KTM X-Bow GT4 and have been able to drive at two event venues in the 2018 season. We are conducting this interview after a fairly successful two-race event weekend at Lime Rock Park at the Lime Rock Grand Prix - but more about this later.



The first venue was the two-race weekend of the Grand Prix of Texas at the Circuit Of The Americas (COTA). A quick review of the event shows that a field of 38 cars participated and that in the first practice your car was P30 and the second practice had you placing at P21 and Qualifications at P25 of 37 cars. Tell us about your impressions on being at and preparing to race at COTA before any races were run after driving in the Lotus Cup USA Series where you were Champion for 2016 and 2017.

The racing at COTA was probably a bit tougher than all of the build up and preparation given that at Race 1 the Marco Polo Motorsports KTM X-Bow finished at P28 of 37 cars.

Race 2 had the Marco Polo Motorsports No. 71 KTM X-Bow Grid at P30 and finish at P25.

You needed to complete your studies at USC in Architecture, and graduate - then it is off for preparations for the Grand Prix of Lime Rock.

Marco Polo Motorsports two KTM X-Bow Pirelli World Challenge GTS SprintX GT4 cars preparing for Rounds 5 & 6 to be run at Lime Rock Park. The cars sit around the garages at Willow Springs International Raceway. Image Credit: Thomas Stahler via Facebook (2018)

The shake down preparations were held at three tracks. Two in California and one in Oregon [at Portland International Raceway]. The two sessions in California were held at Willow Springs International Raceway and Buttonwillow in California's Central Valley. In both of these sessions you were joined by former Formula One and KTM staff driver, Tomas Enge as a driving coach.

What core precepts did you learn from Tomas and what is your best memory of those three days of Grand Prix of Lime Rock preparation?

You arrive at Lime Rock Park [in Connecticut] - what are your first impressions achieved from the track inspection walk?

In Practice 1 you place P6 of 33 cars, Practice 2 a P4, and in Qualifications a Pole position at P1. Through the two practice sessions, did you feel you had the car and set up given the improvement from the two sessions to race for the Pole position? Walk us through this.

Race 1 was a fairly close race, without telling us the result, review with us the basics of transition of starting from the Pole and having to defend this position at a place like Lime Rock Park.

Yes! You won your first Pirelli World Challenge race and did it by a margin of only 3.3 seconds. How was that?

Race 2 / Round 6 started off really tight for the first stint of the race. Before you had to come in for the mandatory pitstop, a pair of Audi R8s were dogging you at .1 to .5 for the laps leading up to the stops. Tell us what you learned by being in such tight quarters since they were basically in your tailpipe?

Through 56 minutes of a 1 hour race, you were able to pilot the No. 71 KTM X-Bow to as much as a 16 second lead then something went wrong. Tell us your thinking over the last 4 minutes as you struggled to finish the race.

Still, you finished at P9 in a field of 31 cars. It would have been nice to capture both races in a two race weekend but heck, there are 2/3rds of a field that would still loved to have your race at the end, and more than this many drivers would have loved to have the full weekend.

Next up - Road America - basic thoughts on another first time track.

Nicolai Elghanayan, thank you and safe travels.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Marco Polo Motorsports, Pirelli World Challenge, GTS SprintX, GT4, KTM X-Bow, No. 71, Nicolai Elghanayan, @engeracing, #marcopolomotorsports, #reiterengineering, #muellerized, #limerockpark, Willow Springs International Raceway, Buttonwillow, Portland International Raceway, @The_EDJE