The American SpeedFest X officially kicked off with the Qualifying sessions of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series at the 1.9 kilometer long Indy Circuit of Brands Hatch. The #54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro monopolized both pole positions: while Gianmarco Ercoli scored his sixth career Pole Award in EuroNASCAR PRO, his teammate Alberto Naska was promoted to first place after a penalty against Paul Jouffreau. With two races coming up on Saturday – one in each championship – ten-thousands of fans enjoying the NASCAR GP UK at the track or from home will for sure enjoy the “Pure Racing” of the NWES.
EuroNASCAR PRO
Gianmarco Ercoli stayed under the radar in Free Practice on Friday with the CAAL Racing driver finishing fourth but the Italian was back to his usual pace on Saturday. At the wheel of his #54 Chevrolet Camaro, the 2018 Brands Hatch race winner clocked a 48.411-lap at the shortest – but also one of the most challenging – track on the calendar. With that fantastic lap time, the Rome native was 0.048 seconds faster than Hendriks Motorsport’s Liam Hezemans in the #50 Toyota Camry.
“It’s a great pleasure for me to earn Pole Position at this circuit! It’s important to improve my history on the track and I’m happy with the work done by the team because yesterday we stayed in around fourth or fifth. So, yesterday night we changed the setup and now we’ve improved to pole position!” said Ercoli, who happily chatted with Liam Hezemans as they headed to the post-Qualifying interviews.
Hezemans scored his maiden NASCAR race win at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit back in 2022 in EuroNASCAR 2 and knows exactly what it takes to wrestle a 400 hp V8 race car around this track. The Dutchman, who topped the Junior Trophy rankings, will start from the first row on Saturday after beating Friday’s topper Vittorio Ghirelli by only 0.086 seconds. Two-time NWES Champion Anthony Kumpen followed in fourth right ahead of Giorgio Maggi, who not only closed the top-5 but also took second in the Junior Trophy for drivers aged 25 and under.
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen finished sixth, while Valencia EuroNASCAR 2 double race winner Vladimiros Tziortzis, who will again pull double duty for Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport, ended up seventh and third in the Junior Trophy respectively. Fabrizio Armetta was the fastest Challenger Trophy driver in eighth overall by edging thee-time EuroNASCAR PRO runner-up Frederic Gabillon and 2021 EuroNASCAR 2 Champion Martin Doubek. Championship leader Lucas Lasserre was twelfth, while Riccardo Romagnoli and Max Lanza completed the Challenger Trophy top-3 in 16th and 17th overall.
EuroNASCAR 2
Alberto Naska got promoted to first place to make CAAL Racing’s Qualifying sweep perfect. Paul Jouffreau was meant to receive the Pole Award, but a post-Qualifying penalty led to the cancellation of his best lap time after he was involved in an incident with the #50 Ford Mustang. The Frenchman driving the #3 RDV Competition Ford Mustang clocked a 48.621 in group 2, which would have been enough to beat 2022 runner-up and former American SpeedFest race winner Alberto Naska by a mere 0.044 seconds.
CAAL Racing’s Naska will be looking to profit from his strong starts when he jumps from the first row on the inside when the EuroNASCAR 2 will roar to the infamous Paddock Hill Bend to fight for victory at a venue where track position can be a key factor. Martin Doubek will start from second while championship leader Vladimiros Tzortzis will be third on the grid. Jouffreau will start from fourth due to the penalty applied by race control after reviewing the footage.
Double V Racing’s Patrick Schober confirmed his momentum as the Austrian ended up fifth in Qualifying. Gil Linster, whose car’s hood got loose after his contact with Jouffreau during Qualifying and had to be fixed again, finished sixth. Team Bleekemolen’s Melvin de Groot was the fastest in group 1 and will take the start from seventh. The Dutchman was the best driver in the Legend Trophy for drivers aged 40 and more. He beat Race Art Technology’s Claudio Cappelli, another driver eligible in the special classification.
Jack Davidson, whose #48 Marko Stipp Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro was still undergoing repairs at 4:00 in the morning after his crash in the Free Practice, was the fastest Rookie Trophy driver in ninth, while Roberto Benedetti completed the overall top-10 and top-3 in the Legend Trophy. Thomas Toffel and Nick Schneider completed the top-3 in Rookie Trophy, while Arianna Casoli topped the Lady Trophy standings.
The American SpeedFest X will continue with two races on Saturday – two in each championship. The EuroNASCAR PRO Round 3 will begin at 13:50 CEST, while the EuroNASCAR 2 drivers will be back in action at 17:30 CEST. All races will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel, Motorsport.tv and several TV channels from all around the world.
RESULTS: EURONASCAR PRO | EURONASCAR 2
NWES PR
