EDIT: This article has been updated following an announcement of retrospective post-race penalties for Lasse Sorensen that changes the final classification results for the race.
Alon Day put himself one win away from Ander Vilariño’s record of 22 wins in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series after the Israeli claimed his first win for PK Carsport – and the 21st of his career – in the second EuroNASCAR PRO race at Zolder.
Alon Day makes it four different race winners in four races in 2020 after the Israeli claimed his first win for his new team PK Carsport, as well as his 21st career victory in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, on Sunday’s EuroNASCAR PRO Race 2 at Circuit Zolder.
Starting second on the grid, Day and his teammate – and pole sitter – Stienes Longin broke away from the pack as Stienes led the first 6 laps of the race. On the seventh lap of the race, Stienes made a mistake coming out of Turn 4 and that opens the gap for Day to make the race-deciding overtake on the Kleine chicane.
With Stienes fading away in the closing stages of the race as a result of a brake pump failure, Day soared away to the victory as he leads Gianmarco Ercoli by 2.656 seconds in a caution-free 18-lap race at Zolder. More importantly, the win puts Day just one win short from tying Ander Vilariño’s record of 22 race wins in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
“It was a good one,” said Day in the Victory Lane, who used the opportunity to put his praise on Stienes. “It was a long time since I started next to my teammate. Me and Stienes always have a good fight and I really appreciated that. This is not a normal thing to have such a clean fight over so many years of competition against each other.”
“Everybody did a great job, especially after the crash that the No. 24 Monster Energy car had this morning. I think I’m leading the championship and now its time to focus on the next round and hope we can win there.”
Marc Goossens completes the podium spots for a double podium for both himself and for CAAL Racing. For a second year in a row, Goossens put himself in a position to take advantage of his opponent’s misfortune as he overtakes Stienes on the start/finish line on Lap 14 after Stienes’ failing brakes forces him to have an off-track excursion at the Jacky Ickx chicane.
Stienes would eventually finish in fourth place ahead of Loris Hezemans, who nursed home a car with no power steering and carrying a wrist injury from his Qualifying crash. Thomas Ferrando finishes sixth ahead of Martin Doubek while Francesco Sini makes it 4 Top 10’s in a row in 2020 as he capped off a successful birthday week with an 8th place finish on Race 2.
Meanwhile, Lasse Sørensen had to do yet another charge from the back of the field after he was forced to start from Pit Lane after the DF1 team was unable to fix the damaged No. 66 Strøjer Tegl Camaro in time for the grid formation.
This time, he wasn’t able to move his way forward like usual as the damage suffered by his car from Andreas Jochimsen’s crash in the EuroNASCAR 2 race earlier in the day was significant enough that Sørensen had to race a car that, in his words, “could barely go straight and brake”. Despite this, he initially claimed a 9th place finish and the bonus points for the most positions gained as he is classified as having to start from the pits.
Unfortunately for Sørensen, some of those hard work was made undone after it is revealed yesterday that he and the No. 66 DF1 Racing team were penalized for doing repairs in the fast lane of Circuit Zolder’s pit lane. The penalty dropped to Sørensen to 12th place and more importantly, it also made Sørensen ineligible for receiving the bonus points for the most positions gained.
Davide Dallara collects the Challenger Trophy honors once again with his second Top 10 finish of the year, while Sorensen’s post-race penalty meant that Justin Kunz secured his first Top 10 finish of the year. Kunz also retrospectively got awarded with the most positions gained bonus points after the retrospective post-race penalties were applied. Finishing 11th is Dario Caso, who completes the race with his front bodywork missing as FEED Vict Racing had a race to forgot on Sunday’s Race 2.
Jacques Villeneuve, starting from 3rd, was punted by Luigi Ferrara off-track on the opening lap that dropped him to 14th at the end of the first lap. JV slowly races his way through the field when the engine of his No. 5 EuroNASCAR FJ car blew on Lap 8 as the field races to the Villeneuve chicane. A visibly angry Villeneuve would later head back to the pits after he parked his car in the marshall post on the inside of the chicane.
Worse for Jacques is that he too received a retrospective post-race penalty, after the stewards deemed him guilty for causing an avoidable collision with Francesco Sini on the fifth lap of the race. The penalty didn’t affect his final results, although he is now placed under probation for the next race at Autodrom Most.
Patrick Lemarié also suffered a mechanical failure of his own on Lap 12, with the broadcast cameras later picking up a dejected Lemarié having to watch the race from the sidelines at Kleine.
Luigi Ferrara’s race eventually didn’t last long though, as the Shadow driver was forced to retire at the end of Lap 11 due to a shock absorber failure. Giorgio Maggi’s disappointing season continues with a retirement on Lap 10, while Nicolò Rocca didn’t even make the start after his car grinded to a halt due to clutch issues on the formation lap, forcing the officials to put in an extra formation lap to allow marshalls to recover the No. 22 Camaro to a safe position.
Race Results
| POS | GRID | DRIVER | LAPS | TIME / GAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 2 | Alon Day (24) | 18 | 29:29.573 |
| 2. | 5 | Gianmarco Ercoli (54) | 18 | + 2.656 |
| 3. | 4 | Marc Goossens (98) | 18 | + 12.297 |
| 4. | 2 | Stienes Longin (11) | 18 | + 19.508 |
| 5. | 6 | Loris Hezemans (50) | 18 | + 19.668 |
| 6. | 9 | Thomas Ferrando (88) | 18 | + 25.094 |
| 7. | 10 | Martin Doubek (7) | 18 | + 29.889 |
| 8. | 8 | Francesco Sini (12) | 18 | + 30.425 |
| 9. | 12 | Davide Dallara (89) | 18 | + 56.930 |
| 10. | 14 | Justin Kunz (99) | 18 | + 1:12.166 |
| 11. | 15 | Dario Caso (8) | 18 | + 1:13.008 |
| 12. | PL | Lasse Sørensen (66) | 18 | + 1:14.3531 |
| 13. | 16 | Mauro Trione (31) | 18 | + 1:32.537 |
| 14. | 13 | Lucas Lasserre (33) | 17 | DNF (Mechanical) |
| 15. | 18 | Evgeny Sokolovsky (46) | 17 | + 1 Lap |
| 16. | 19 | Patrick Lemarié (6) | 11 | DNF (Mechanical) |
| 17. | 7 | Luigi Ferrara (42) | 11 | DNF (Shock Absorber) |
| 18. | 17 | Giorgio Maggi (18) | 9 | DNF (Did Not Finish) |
| 19. | 3 | Jacques Villeneuve (5) | 7 | DNF (Engine) |
| 20. | 10 | Nicolò Rocca (22) | 0 | DNS (Clutch) |
| 21. | 20 | Bernardo Manfrè (17) | 0 | DNS (Did Not Start) |
1 Lasse Sørensen received a retrospective 30 seconds time penalty for doing repairs in the fast lane of the pits.
In the championship standings, Alon Day exits Zolder with the lead on the championship. With 142 points, Day currently leads Sorensen by 10 points as Gianmarco Ercoli moves up to third with 131 points on his name. Loris Hezemans’ disastrous week saw him drop down to fourth with 121 points while Stienes Longin and Francesco Sini were tied on 119 points, with Stienes taking 5th due to the best race result tiebreaker.
Goossens excellent weekend puts him up to seventh in the standings, while JV continues to be mired in 9th place after yet another retirement for the former F1 champion. Ferrando and Ferrara were tied with 97 points in the battle for 10th while Mauro Trione leads the Challenger Trophy drivers with 92 points, 5 points ahead of Sokolovsky and 18 ahead of Dallara.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard / Bart Dehaese.