Guillaume Deflandre dominates ENES season opener at at the Daytona Road Course

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Guillaume Hesnault

Guillaume Deflandre dominated the first virtual race of the 2021 EuroNASCAR Esports Series season on iRacing with an impressive ride at the wheel of his #64 SpeedHouse Chevrolet Camaro. On the way to his second career win in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series, the Belgian captured the checkered flag in his heat and in the Main Event to collect 40 points for the virtual championship and put Speedhouse in the lead with real-life Teams Championship points on the line.

ENES ROUND 1 RESULTS | POINTS STANDINGS | FULL REPLAY

Managing tires and keeping the car on the slippery Daytona Road Course were the key factors to succeed during the ENES season opener. In the first heat of the evening – determining the odd positions on the grid for the Main Event – Deflandre finished ahead of Hendriks Motorsport’s Tobias Dauenhauer by 8.115 seconds. RDV Competition’s Ulysse Delsaux completed the podium. With the win, Deflandre secured the pole position for the main race while the even starting positions were decided in the second heat. 

It was three-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion Alon Day, who won the second race and secured the second place on the grid for the 36-car final race of the eveing. Simon Pilate, fresh off his new deal with DF1 Racing, followed in second ahead of Alessandro Brigatti from Italy. Reigning Club Challenge Champion Alain Mosqueron and his DF1 Racing companion Henri Tuomaala rounded out the top-5. 

In the Main Event race at the NASCAR road course of the “World Center of Racing”, Deflandre had a perfect start and immediately started putting some distance between himself and Day. The Belgian pulled away and took the checkered flag after leading all 16 laps. Day followed in second, 11 seconds behind the winner, grabbing his fourth career ENES podium finish. Delsaux climbed on the podium for the first time in the iRacing-based series, while Dauenhauer and Brigatti rounded out the top-5. 

Pilate was sixth ahead of Not Only Motorsport’s Davide Dallara and Hendriks Motorsport’s Patrick Hendriks, who was the best team member in the ENES season opener. Academy Motorsport driver Vladimiros Tziortzis ended up ninth ahead of Tuomaala from Finland. 

Stefan Kresin, representing the Hockenheimring and the NASCAR GP Germany at the wheel of the #479 American Fan Fest Camaro, led the track partners ahead of Autodrom Most’s Jakub Krafek. CAAL Racing’s Max Lanza collected the 4 bonus points for the most passes in the Main Event by coming back from 33rd to 21st.

The next EuroNASCAR Esports Series event will take place on February 23 on the Indy layout of the Brands Hatch Circuit. All heats and the main race will be broadcasted live at 8:30 pm CET on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitch profile. The iconic British venue will welcome the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in real life on July 3-4, 2021 with the hugely popular American SpeedFest.

NWES PR

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