| Ander Vilariño | |
| Nationality: | Spanish |
| Full Name: | Ander Vilariño Facal |
| Birth Date: | 1979 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Hondarribia, Basque Country |
| Related To: | Andrés Vilariño (father) |
| Current Series: | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series |
| First Year: | 2012 |
| Current Team: | Racing Engineering |
| Car Number: | 22 |
| Former Teams: | DF1 Racing |
| Starts: | 59 |
| Championships: | 3 (2012, 2013, 2015) |
| Wins: | 22 |
| Podiums: | 35 |
| Poles: | 24 |
| Fastest Laps: | 24 |
| Best Finish: | 1st |
| Year: | 2012, 2013, 2015 |
| Last Finish: | 1st in 2015 |
| Titles: | V de V Proto Endurance Challenge NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Spanish Formula Three Formula Super Toyota Spain |
| Title Years: | 2016–2017 2012–13, 2015 2001 2000 |
Ander Vilariño Facal (born 6 November 1979 in Hondarribia) is a Spanish auto racing driver that is currently competing in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the No. 22 Chevrolet Camaro for DF1 Racing. Vilariño is one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series history. He has won 3 titles (2012, 2013, and 2015) and has 22 race wins in his career the most of any driver in the series.
Vilariño started racing in 1996 in the Formula Renault Campus after having competed in some karting championships. He is the son of former FIA European Hill Climb Champion (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992) and FIA European Hill Climb Championship Trophy Winner (2007) Andrés Vilariño.
Vilarino competed in karting since 1990 until his first race in 1996 in Formula Renault Campus.[1] In 1997, Vilariño was competing in the French Fórmula Renault, but he suffered a big crash in the second race of the season at Nogaro and he had to stop the season. In 1998 he repeated the French Formula Renault. In 1999 Ander raced in rallies and hill climbs in Spain. In 2000 Vilariño won his first national championship, the Spanish Formula Supertoyota Championship. In 2001 he raced in the European Le Mans Series, at the 6 Hours of Estoril. In 2001 he won his second Spanish Championship, the Spanish Formula 3 Championship. Vilarino moved to World Series by Nissan in 2002 and he stayed there until the beginning the 2004, there he left Epsilon Euskadi team for differences with his direction. In World Series Nissan Ander got 2 wins, 3 pole positions and 8 podiums.
Vilariño then moved into the FIA European Hill Climb Championship, there he won the FIA European Hill Cup FIA European Hill Climb Cup in 2005. In 2006 in the first race of the FIA European Hill Climb Championship in Rechberg he suffered an accident that got him out of competition for the whole year.[2] After recovering he came back and won the 2007 FIA Hill Climb en Campeonato de Europa. After 2 full years in Hill Climbs Ander came back to circuit racing being 7th in the European Endurance Challenge VdeV for sport prototypes in 2008. Then in 2009 he finished 3rd but just participating in half of the championship. In 2010 Ander participated in 3 races of the VdeV European Endurance Challenge and won the Basque Rallysprint Championship.
In 2011, he made his stock car racing debut as he raced the FIA Racecar Euro Series (the predecessor of the current NASCAR Whelen Euro Series), finishing 3rd overall in the championship after getting 2 wins, 5 podiums, 3 pole positions and 4 fastest laps in of 12 races. That same year, Ander raced 4 races on the FIA Speed Euroseries and won the first of them at Spa Francorchamps. In 2011 Vilarino also took part in one V de V European Endurance Challenge Race, the Jarama 4 Hours and scored an overall victory in the race. In 2012, Vilariño stayed in the Racecar Euro Series, where he would become the first series champion under official NASCAR sanctioning after he scored 6 race wins and 8 podiums.[3] [4] and he was locked into the 2013 UNOH Battle at the Beach at Daytona International Speedway,[5] finishing 23rd after suffering an engine problem on lap 98.[6]
Vilariño successfully defended his title in 2013, having scored 7 race wins and 10 podiums on his way to win his second Euro Series title.[7] In 2014, Vilariño would narrowly lose the title by just 1 point from Anthony Kumpen, having scored 3 wins and 10 podiums during the course of the season. On the same year, Vilariño would also receive an opportunity to race at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Watkins Glen,[8] although he would ultimately withdraw from the race itself. The following year, Vilariño would win his third title after scoring 3 wins, 9 top fives and 12 top ten finishes before he left the series at the end of the year to switch to sports car racing in V de V and GT4 European Series.[9]
Vilariño took part in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Recruitment Day testing event that was held at the end of the 2018 season, fueling speculations that Vilariño is going to return to the series in 2019.[10] This was later confirmed to be true on 28 March 2019, as Vilariño is announced to be returning to the series after a three-year absence with Racing Engineering for the 2019 season.[11] He would finish the season in fifth place after scoring two victories, both in his home race at Valencia.[12]
In 2020, Vilariño moved to DF1 Racing but did not race that year due to family and business concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pts | |||
| 2012 | TFT-Banco Santander | 2 | Chevy | NOG | NOG | BRH | BRH | SPA | SPA | VAL | VAL | BUG | BUG | 1st | 667 | |||||
| 2013 | NOG | NOG | DIJ | DIJ | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | MNZ | MNZ | BUG | BUG | 1st | 696 | ||||||
| 2014 | VAL | VAL | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | NÜR | NÜR | UMB | UMB | BUG | BUG | 2nd | 655 | ||||||
| 2015 | VAL | VAL | VEN | VEN | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | UMB | UMB | ZOL | ZOL | 1st | 662 | ||||||
| 2019 | Racing Engineering | 48 | Ford | VAL | VAL | FRA | FRA | BRH | BRH | MOS | MOS | VEN | HOC | HOC | ZOL ^ | ZOL | 5th | 463 | ||