Giorgio Maggi makes it a Hendriks Motorsport Superpole sweep at Hockenheim during yesterday’s Elite 2 Qualifying sessions after he set a lap time nearly one second faster than everyone else in the field to score his third consecutive Superpole victory of the season and his fourth overall NASCAR Whelen Euro Series pole position of his career.
Maggi stamps his authority in Qualifying as his Superpole lap time of 1:32.309 proved to be unmatchable for the rest of the field, as no other driver was able to get to the 1:32’s during Superpole. Lasse Sørensen initially was the only driver to also set a lap time in the 1:32’s, but his best lap time of 1:32.866 was later removed for track limit violations.
“I’m very happy, as I was lacking speed in yesterday’s practice”, said Maggi to euronascar.com post-qualifying. “We take a look at the car to find out why we struggled and we found the right solution. We were almost one second faster in qualifying than yesterday in practice. I also managed to have a strong lap and here we are on pole! In the race every position counts, as the competitors are only a few points behind me. It will be crucial to score many points in the Playoffs.”
The debuting Hugo de Sadeleer, driving the No. 88 Racing Engineering Ford Mustang as a last-minute entry change for Eric Clément this week, continued his impressive debut week as Sørensen’s penalty would mean that he will be starting in the front row of the grid for his debut race. Vittorio Ghirelli would qualify in third place ahead of Sørensen, while Andre Castro completes the Top 5 for the Saturday’s race starting grid.
Jesse Vartiainen also continued his impressive week on Qualifying as he qualifies the No. 2 Alex Caffi Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro in 6th place ahead of championship contender Advait Deodhar. Pierluigi Veronesi, Ben Creanor, and Myatt Snider completes the Top 10 as Nicholas Risitano was demoted from 8th to 11th after his initial best lap time of 1:34.228 was removed post-Superpole for track limit violations. Justin Kunz closed out the Superpole drivers in 12th place.
Moreno Di Silvestre qualified in 13th place in his first Qualifying appearance since Franciacorta as the fastest of the three new entries ahead of Mirco Schultis, the fastest of the Legend Trophy drivers in Qualifying. Thomas Krasonis completes the Top 15 ahead of Pol van Pollaert, with Naveh Talor, Ian Eric Wadén, Ioannis Smyrlis, and Michael Bleekemolen completing the Top 20 for the starting grid on Saturday’s race.
Max Lanza, who qualified in 21st place, had his three best lap times deleted for causing an accident with Martin Doubek that caused the sole Red Flag period in Qualifying. Matthias Hauer and Janne Koikkalainen completes the field for those who set a lap time in Qualifying.
Doubek’s collision with Lanza left him in 24th place after the collision took out his car for the rest of the Qualifying session. He finished ahead of Alessandro Brigatti and Arianna Casoli, both of whom also failed to set a lap time for an unknown mechanical issue and the broken fuel pump suffered by Alon Day in the Elite 1 Superpole session respectively.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
| RANK | DRIVER | QUALIFYING | SUPERPOLE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Giorgio Maggi (50) | 1:32.622 | 1:32.309 |
| 2. | Hugo de Sadeleer (88) | 1:33.572 | 1:33.250 |
| 3. | Vittorio Ghirelli (24) | 1:33.221 | 1:33.284 |
| 4. | Lasse Sørensen (66) | 1:33.315 | 1:33.399 1 |
| 5. | Andre Castro (46) | 1:33.856 | 1:33.463 |
| 6. | Jesse Vartiainen (2) | 1:33.311 | 1:33.551 |
| 7. | Advait Deodhar (31) | 1:33.655 | 1:33.575 |
| 8. | Pierluigi Veronesi (27) | 1:34.106 | 1:34.283 |
| 9. | Ben Creanor (33) | 1:34.595 | 1:34.520 |
| 10. | Myatt Snider (48) | 1:34.596 | 1:34.660 |
| 11. | Nicholas Risitano (8) | 1:34.428 | 1:34.743 2 |
| 12. | Justin Kunz (99) | 1:35.139 | 1:34.986 |
| 13. | Moreno Di Silvestre (56) | 1:35.197 | – |
| 14. | Mirco Schultis (70) | 1:35.246 | – |
| 15. | Thomas Krasonis (1) | 1:35.259 | – |
| 16. | Pol van Pollaert (98) | 1:35.529 | – |
| 17. | Naveh Talor (12) | 1:35.610 | – |
| 18. | Ian Eric Wadén (23) | 1:35.683 | – |
| 19. | Ioannis Smyrlis (22) | 1:35.842 | – |
| 20. | Michael Bleekemolen (69) | 1:36.376 | – |
| 21. | Max Lanza (41) | 1:37.058 | – |
| 22. | Matthias Hauer (64) | 1:38.016 | – |
| 23. | Janne Koikkalainen (77) | 1:38.683 | – |
| 24. | Martin Doubek (7) | No Time | – |
| 25. | Alessandro Brigatti (9) | No Time | – |
| 26. | Arianna Casoli (54) | No Time | – |
1 Lasse Sørensen initially qualified in 2nd with a lap time of 1:32.866, but this lap time was removed for track limit violations.
2 Nicholas Risitano initially qualified in 8th with a lap time of 1:34.228, but this lap time was removed for track limit violations.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will hit the track for Round 10 and Round 11 of the 2019 season on 21 September and 22 September respectively. All qualifying and 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.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Bart Dehaese.