BP Eseries wildcard winner announced
Fawzan El-Nabi has won the inaugural BP Ultimate Wildcard competition to score a call-up for Round 8 of the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries this week.
WATCH: HOW KELLY'S FLASH NEW SIM CAME TOGETHER
The competition gave fans of the sport a chance to compete with the best real-life drivers in the business on the big albeit virtual stage. Entrants needed to set a top 5 time at the at Phillip Island circuit during the BP Ultimate Time Attack session to go into the final stages of the competition.
El-Nabi came up with the goods to secure his seat in the #98 BP Ultimate-backed Ford Mustang, ahead of many other renowned sim racers around the country.
The 23-year-old Victorian resident will race on Wednesday night at Interlagos and either Phillip Island or Spa, pending results of a fan poll.
Interlagos has been a happy hunting ground for El-Nabi, including a race win there in the V8 Supercar Online Premier Series.
And with five years of iRacing experience under his belt, he’s not about to set the benchmark low.
“It’s a massive opportunity given to me by BP,” El-Nabi told Supercars.com.
“I would like to get a win obviously but we’ll see how we go.
“I know Shane [van Gisbergen] and Anton [De Pasquale] are pretty quick so I reckon they will be the challenge for sure.”
Of the pressure involved with performing on live television, El-Nabi said: “It will probably be a bit nerve-racking at the start.
“At the start of a race I’m usually pretty nervous anyway so that’s just going to be a normality but I think once the car gets rolling and the race starts I should be pretty good, just put my head down and do consistent laps and stay out of trouble.
“I have done it for a long time so I should be fine.”
Born in New Zealand, El-Nabi has been a lifelong fan of the sport.
“I’ve watched Supercars since I was like five and, being born in New Zealand myself, obviously Murph (Greg Murphy) and all of the Kiwis were the guys I looked up to,” he said.
Make sure you follow the bp_ultimate_racing_ Instagram page to see Fawzan get a few tips from the Kelly Racing drivers ahead of his Eseries debut.
Round 8 action will begin with qualifying from 6pm AEST on Fox Sports 506 this Wednesday.
Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner Tyler Everingham was the first wildcard announced for Round 8.
