The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series returns this week for the inaugural OMV MaxxMotion NASCAR Show, the first Euro Series race week held in Czech Republic and the fourth round of the 2019 season. The Friday of race week saw both the familiarization Private Practice and Free Practice sessions being held and in the Elite 2 class, it was home driver Martin Doubek that sets the fastest lap time in the combined Practice Time Sheets.
Doubek, who missed the previous 2 races at Brands Hatch due to an injury, came back strong for his home race as he set a best lap time of 1:42.057 to lead the Practice sessions. It’s also a good day for Hendriks Motorsport in Practice as Doubek’s teammate and championship leader Giorgio Maggi finished second with a best lap time of 1:42.072.
Lasse Sørensen, who has scored three wins in just 4 races this season, finished Practice in third with a best lap time of 1:42.348, while Eric de Doncker proved to be the surprise of the day as he brought his No. 98 Motorsport 98 Ford to fourth place in the combined time sheets – and second in FP2 – with a best lap time of 1:42.545 in FP2.
Nicholas Risitano, who was forced to skip FP1 due to Dario Caso’s crash in the Elite 1 FP1, completes the Top 5 with a best lap time of 1:42.603. He finished ahead of Andre Castro, whose best lap time of 1:42.697 was enough for sixth despite having mechanical issues on FP2.
Vittorio Ghirelli, who will be driving for PK Carsport this week, finished in 7th with a best lap time of 1:42.734. Fellow Italian Pierluigi Veronesi is in 8th place with a best lap time of 1:43.082, while Ghirelli’s replacement at the No. 9 Racers team Alessandro Brigatti finished in 9th with a best lap time of 1:43.445. Justin Kunz completes the Top 10 with a best lap time of 1:43.483, just 0.038 seconds slower than Brigatti.
Advait Deodhar, who was nearly unable to race this week due to sponsorship issues, finished just outside the Top 10 in 11th with a best lap time of 1:43.522, just ahead of Jesse Vartiainen whose best lap time of 1:43.563 was enough to place him in 12th in the combined time sheets. Freddie Hemborg finished just 0.005 seconds behind Vartiainen in 13th, while Naveh Talor and Michael Bleekemolen completes the Top 15 with a best lap time of 1:43.654 and 1:43.764 respectively.
Just like his teammate at the No. 48 Racing Engineering team Ander Vilarino, Myatt Snider also struggled to find pace at Most as he can only finish the Practice sessions in 16th place with a best lap time of 1:44.033. Ben Creanor, who can now say that he uses a NASCAR car as his road car thanks to him driving the No. 33 Camaro during the Thursday parade, is in 17th place with a best lap time of 1:44.070.
Thomas Krasonis finished in 18th with a best lap time of 1:44.168, as Florian Venturi finished in 19th in, weirdly, the No. 19 Racers Motorsport Camaro instead of the No. 32 Go Fas Camaro. After the Practice sessions were over, it was revealed that there has been some off-track drama between Florian Venturi and Go Fas Racing. As revealed in Venturi’s Facebook post, a disagreement between Venturi and Go Fas management on Friday would saw Venturi quit Go Fas with immediate effect, and Racers Motorsport wasted no time to sign Venturi to become the replacement driver for Alessandro Brigatti in the No. 19 Racers team for Most.
Ian Eric Wadén completes the Top 20, while Mirco Schultis, Eric Clément, and Arianna Casoli – who struggled the most in Practice, as her best lap time in Practice was more than 9 seconds behind Doubek – completes the rest of the field who take part in practice.
Max Lanza, Bernardo Maffei, and Shaun Hollamby did not set a lap time during Practice, and it seems likely that all three had to withdraw from Most as there hasn’t been any sign of either The Club, 42 Racing, or Marko Stipp Motorsport at Most this week so far.
Combined Practice Time Sheets
| RANK | DRIVER | FP1 TIME | FP2 TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Martin Doubek (7) | 1:42.057 | 1:43.433 |
| 2. | Giorgio Maggi (50) | 1:42.072 | 1:42.439 |
| 3. | Lasse Sørensen (66) | 1:42.348 | 1:42.752 |
| 4. | Andre Castro (24) | 1:42.587 | 1:42.545 |
| 5. | Nicholas Risitano (8) | No Time | 1:42.603 |
| 6. | Andre Castro (24) | 1:42.697 | 2:07.902 |
| 7. | Vittorio Ghirelli (11) | 1:42.813 | 1:42.734 |
| 8. | Pierluigi Veronesi (27) | 1:43.082 | 1:43.929 |
| 9. | Alessandro Brigatti (9) | 1:43.445 | No Time |
| 10. | Justin Kunz (99) | 1:43.483 | 1:46.093 |
| 11. | Advait Deodhar (31) | 1:43.522 | 1:44.210 |
| 12. | Jesse Vartiainen (2) | 1:43.630 | 1:43.563 |
| 13. | Freddie Hemborg (77) | 1:43.568 | 1:44.747 |
| 14. | Naveh Talor (12) | 1:43.818 | 1:43.654 |
| 15. | Michael Bleekemolen (69) | 1:44.582 | 1:43.764 |
| 16. | Myatt Snider (48) | 1:44.033 | 1:45.286 |
| 17. | Ben Creanor (33) | 1:44.132 | 1:44.070 |
| 18. | Thomas Krasonis (1) | 1:44.798 | 1:44.168 |
| 19. | Florian Venturi (19) | No Time | 1:44.775 |
| 20. | Ian Eric Wadén (23) | 1:44.901 | 1:45.777 |
| 21. | Mirco Schultis (70) | 1:46.268 | 1:45.360 |
| 22. | Eric Clément (88) | No Time | 1:45.897 |
| 23. | Arianna Casoli (54) | 1:54.514 | 1:51.336 |
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will hit the track for Round 7 and Round 8 of the 2019 season on 29 June and 30 June respectively. The green flag for this year’s edition of Autodrom Most NASCAR Show will be waved at 5:00 PM CET on Saturday for Race 1, and at 10:15 AM CET on Sunday for Race 2.
All races for this season will be aired live on FansChoice.tv, Motorsport.tv, and the official Facebook page and YouTube channel of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.