Never count Alon Day out of a championship fight: the Israeli scored his seventh career win at Circuit Zolder and therefore kept his dreams of winning his fourth NASCAR Whelen Euro Series title alive. The driver of the #88 Monster Energy CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro started from pole and sped to a dominant victory in an otherwise action-packed 18-lap race in Belgium. The winningest driver in EuroNASCAR PRO improved his record with his 27th career win and broke the one for the most wins on a single NWES track.
“It was a redemption as the weekend was tough and disappointing”, said Day in Victory Lane. “The team did an amazing job and provided me with a strong Monster Energy Camaro for the final race of the regular season. I will not take a look at the point standings before the Finals at Autodromo di Vallelunga in Italy but focus from race to race. On October 31 we will know where we will sit in the overall classification.”
EURONASCAR PRO RESULTS: FIRST PRACTICE | FINAL PRACTICE | QUALIFYING | ROUND 9 | ROUND 10
Day kept the lead after a great start when he went side-by-side with PK Carsport’s Stienes Longin. While Day pulled away at the front, Longin went off track on lap 1 and therefore lost several positions. The Saturday race winner managed to battle his way back up the ranks to seventh position. While Day had a “relaxing” race, the battle for second was intense from start to finish.
After Longin went off track, Marc Goossens settled in second at the wheel of his #56 CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Giorgio Maggi and Lucas Lasserre were battling for third but the Swiss had to give back the third position after passing the Speedhouse driver with his elbows out. While Maggi dropped down the order on lap 13, Goossens and Lasserre were putting on a great show for the thousands of fans at Circuit Zolder.
Lasserre revealed that he always looked up to Goossens at the beginning of his racing career while the Belgian was notching up wins in F3000, so the Frenchman gave all his best to beat his idol in a fair way. Goossens has a lot of respect for Lasserre too and that’s why the battle between the two EuroNASCAR PRO veterans was one for the history books. On lap 16 they both even went slightly off track while pushing for second.
In the end, it was Goossens, who crossed the finish line in second position, while Lasserre ended a strong race in third – as in Saturday’s race. Goossens celebrated a strong run in front of his home crowd and Lasserre scored important points in the race for the 2021 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series title. With two podium finishes, Lasserre was also awarded the Tijey Fastest Driver Award, the beautiful titanium ring for the EuroNASCAR PRO driver who scored the most points of the weekend.
DF1 Racing’s Nicolo Rocca had a strong run at the wheel of the #22 Chevrolet Camaro. The NWES veteran from Italy is still in the hunt for the 2021 NWES championship and scored important points ahead of his home race at Autodromo di Vallelunga. He edged his fellow countryman Vittorio Ghirelli, who will be Loris Hezemans’ – the Dutchman will preserve the championship lead – fiercest rival when the season culminates in Italy.
After his issue on lap 13, Maggi recovered and finished sixth. The Hendriks Motorsport driver topped the Junior Trophy standings for competitors aged 25 and under. While non-championship driver Longin followed in seventh, title contender Gianmarco Ercoli was eighth at the wheel of the #54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Solaris Motorsport’s Francesco Sini was ninth and Dutchman Sebastiaan Bleekemolen closed the top-10.
Ulysse Delsaux completed the Junior Trophy podium in eleventh ahead of Martin Doubek, who got off track on lap 6. The Czech, who pulled double duties at Zolder, is only 3 points behind Tobias Dauenhauer in the EuroNASCAR 2 Championship. Not Only Motorsport’s Davide Dallara topped the Challenger Trophy classification by finishing 14th. The Italian edged Dario Caso and Yevgen Sokolovskiy.
The 2021 regular season is in the books and Hezemans, who missed the Zolder event due to his start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Charlotte Roval and the presentation of the Hezeberg NASCAR Cup Series team, is still leading the EuroNASCAR PRO standings. Only the best 8 results of the 10 races in the regular season are taken into account. Hezemans leads with a 21-point gap on Ghirelli, while Ercoli is sitting in third 27 points shy of the leader. Lasserre is fourth, six points behind Ercoli, while reigning champion Day is fifth with a 35-point deficit to overcome in Italy.
The 2021 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will celebrate its Finals at Autodromo di Vallelunga in Italy on October 30-31. In both championships, the battles for the titles are unbelievably tight and that’s why the very last race of the season will decide who will wear the crown. Qualifying and all races will be broadcasted live on EuroNASCAR’s platforms – YouTube, Facebook, Twitch NWES App – and Motorsport.tv.
