The 2020 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series championship battle culminates at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain with the Valencia Super Speedweek. Alon Day and Vittorio Ghirelli grabbed the Pole Positions for EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 Round 7. Day was flying on his 1:40.764-lap around the iconic 4-kilometer track, while Ghirelli was fastest in EuroNASCAR 2 with a 1:41.631-lap.
EURONASCAR PRO RESULTS: FIRST PRACTICE | FINAL PRACTICE | QUALIFYING
Day not only topped the charts, but also succeeded in saving his tires by only clocking 7 laps during Qualifying for the NASCAR GP Spain in the EuroNASCAR PRO championship. This is Day’s first Pole Award of the 2020 NWES season, his first ever in Valencia and the second Pole Position of the season after leading the field in Round 6 in Croatia.
“It’s good to be on pole for the race tomorrow”, said the Monster Energy athlete. “I think my team and I really needed to grab this pole position. It’s a good start to a challenging weekend and the PK Carsport team gave me an amazing car. Everybody worked so hard for that. In the races we have to keep the championship in mind and be clever to score the maximum of points here.”
CAAL Racing’s Gianmarco Ercoli confirmed the strong pace he had in Free Practice and finished second 0.485 seconds shy of Day. Ercoli turned 15 laps to earn the best possible starting position and looked confident in his race pace. The Italian also was the fastest Junior Trophy driver on the grid.
Reigning NWES champion and title contender Loris Hezemans was third at the wheel of the #50 Hendriks Motorsport Mustang followed by points runner-up Lasse Soerensen, who’s driving for DF1 Racing. Technical issues with the Dane’s Camaro prevented him from extracting the maximum performance from his best lap. Day’s teammate Stienes Longin rounded out the top-5.
Marc Goossens was sixth ahead of Nicolo Rocca and Lucas Lasserre, while NWES newcomer and GT specialist Olivier Hart ended up ninth. 2019 EuroNASCAR 2 runner-up Giorgio Maggi closed the top-10 in a thrilling 30-minute qualifying session on Thursday afternoon. Feed Vict Racing’s Dario Caso topped the Challenger Trophy classification in twelfth position.
Second pole award of the season for Ghirelli
EuroNASCAR 2 championship leader Vittorio Ghirelli started the NASCAR GP Spain on the right foot by edging his teammate Martin Doubek in Qualifying by only 0.081 seconds. The Italian turned a 1:41.631-lap around the 4-kilometer track.
EURONASCAR 2 RESULTS: FIRST PRACTICE | FINAL PRACTICE | QUALIFYING
“It was a tough Qualifying and a very close one”, said Ghirelli. “I had a little bit of traffic on my fastest lap and it was not possible to improve afterwards. But it was good enough to grab the Pole Position. We are looking forward to the races and we try to keep the positive energy for the upcoming challenges. We hope to get the most out of it here in Valencia.”
Fastest Rookie Trophy contender Vladimiros Tziortzis ended up third ahead of title contender Tobias Dauenhauer, who struggled with the balance of his #50 Ford Mustang but still managed to clock a lap that granted him a spot on the second row of EuroNASCAR 2 Round 7. Solaris Motorsport’s Nicholas Risitano rounded out the top-5.
Alessandro Brigatti finished sixth ahead of PK Carsport’s Julia Landauer, who was the fastest Lady Trophy challenger in Qualifying. Dylan Derdaele followed in eighth ahead of returnee Naveh Talor and Simon Pilate. DF1 Racing’s Kenko Miura topped the Legend Trophy standings in his NWES comeback at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
The EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 championships will be back in action on Friday with 3 races on the schedule. There will be 2 EuroNASCAR 2 races at 9:00 am and 4:15 pm and 1 EuroNASCAR PRO race at 1:00 pm. All races will be broadcasted live on EuroNASCAR’s social media profiles (YouTube, Facebook, Twitch), Motorsport.tv and Kreator TV.
NWES PR
