OTSFF/Motul’s Ford F-150 Trophy Truck Dominates Desert Debut
Fresh off a stunning SEMA debut, Ford F-150 racer nabs a seventh place finish in country’s longest off-road race, the Pahrump Nugget 250.
Building a racing team from the ground up is by no means an easy task. Building a competitive racing team? Even harder. But the crew at OTSFF/Motul defied the odds to pull off both tasks in an incredibly short period of time. In fact, the 6100 Spec Trophy class race Ford F-150 you see before you just debuted at the SEMA show mere weeks ago. But the crew at OTSFF/Motul managed to not only finish their first Pahrump Nugget 250: Race for the Gold event, but they nabbed seventh place to boot.
Produced by Best in the Desert Racing Association and also known as the “Vegas to Reno” race, this was clearly no amateur event, and it obviously wasn’t some sort of kiddie course, either. Dubbed the “longest off-road race in the United States,” Pahrump covers a full 500 miles of rugged off-road terrain in just one day. And with 366 entries this year, the competition was every bit as hot as the desert sun looming ominously above.
Not exactly the way most folks would choose to break in their new Ford F-150 trophy truck. But clearly, driver/owner Andre Laurin, navigator Kerry King, and builder/team manager Adam Fitza were up to the task. Their journey wasn’t without setbacks, of course. Problems during the qualifying rounds meant they had to start 11th out of 16 entries in the Spec Trophy class.
To overcome this setback, the team derived a bold but effective pit strategy. They skipped the first two and the last four stops, opting only to hit the third stop for some fuel. They did lose 10 minutes addressing a rear shock issue, but the rest of the run was trouble-free. An amazing feat for a brand-new truck. Needless to say, it also has the team at OTSFF/Motul a little excited for next year.
“I think it’s safe to say we had a good first season with the 6100 Spec Trophy truck,” says Laurin. “I learned a lot and we all learned a lot as a team. Pahrump was a fun race and a nice way to wrap things up.”
“I’m very happy with the way this weekend went: a respectable top 10 finish to cap the 2018 season,” adds Fitza. “Looking back to the beginning of the year, I’m amazed by how far we have come in this sport as a team.”
You can bet that we’ll be keeping a close eye on this promising Ford F-150 next season, too.
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