The May 15-16 Autospeedway American Style weekend at Raceway Venray marked another step forward in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series growth as one of the most attractive series in Europe. Exciting door-to-door battles, grandstands packed with families and kids and the unique closeness between the fans and the protagonists that only EuroNASCAR brings to tracks all over the Old Continent.
“This was a great event and I would like to thank everybody involved : Harry Maessen and his Venray Raceway team, our sponsors, drivers, teams and of course all the enthusiastic fans. Racing at 180 kph with 28 cars on a 800 m track requires great skill, passion, hard work, professionalism and a lot of respect on track. This is a very high level exercise that should be on the to-do list of every true racing driver,” said Jerome Galpin, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series President/CEO
“Drivers and teams are more and more prepared for oval racing and they put up a great event. The new cars look great and the teams definitely brought the level up on and off the track. The end results is some great racing and the new drivers did a great job in their first time on an oval. The fans got treated to a great show,” said Brad Moran, NASCAR Managing Director, Touring Series.
On the competition side, the new NASCAR Whelen Euro Series car made a resounding debut on oval, allowing the drivers to race closer than ever and work on multiple lines around the high-banked half-mile track located on the border between the Netherlands and Germany, thus producing exciting racing and breath-taking passes.
The ELITE 1 Division saw at least four drivers capable of winning on the “Fastest half-mile oval in Europe”, with Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Ford Mustang) and Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) to split the weekend races and confirm themselves as among the most accomplished NWES drivers on ovals, while Borja Garcia (#1 SPV Racing Ford Mustang) kept his Valencia form to climb two times on the podium and local hero Barry Maessen (#14 Team Raceway Venray Chevrolet SS) made a great NASCAR debut by climbing on the podium in what was just his second NWES race ever.
The 2015 ELITE 2 Division Champion Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang) that stunned the field with a spectacular performance. The Italian proved how formative and competitive the ELITE 2 Division is for young drivers aiming at a NASCAR career by leading the ELITE 1 Race 1 for 50 out of 60 laps on Sunday despite losing powersteering before having to surrender to a charging Gabillon. The Rome-native then almost completed a daring move for the lead on Kumpen in a late restart on Monday when a contact between the two of them sent the #9 Doublet T by Nocentini Ford Mustang back to fourth, but Ercoli’s first trip to Victory Lane is just a matter of time.
Stienes Longin dominated the ELITE 2 Division by taking both races and bringing his streak to an ELITE 2 record of four consecutive wins, but behind the Belgian driver the battle is on. Thomas Ferrando (#37 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang) found his usual form back to score two podium finishes and Italian rookie Riccardo Geltrude (#7 Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang) emerged as a strong force in his oval racing debut. Salvador Tineo Arroyo (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) confirmed himself as a title contender by scoring important points in a complicate weekend to defend the second position in points and Martin Doubek proved how much he progressed over the winter with two solid, smart races that brought him up to third in the standings.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series cars also proved once again their absolutely high safety level in a couple of multi-car accidents that happened during the weekend. All the drivers left the scene unscathed and most of the cars involved were able to enter the 4 races of the week-end without major damage.
One of the most acclaimed events in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series calendar is now approaching, as the series heads to England for the fourth edition of the Brands Hatch American SpeedFest on June 11-12.
NASCAR PR
