Alon Day becomes the driver with the most race wins in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series after he scored a record-breaking 23rd career victory in yesterday’s EuroNASCAR PRO class race at Circuit Ricardo Tormo to extend his lead in the championship coming to the Finals on Sunday.

After tying Ander Vilarino’s record of the most career victories in the previous round at Rijeka, Alon Day has officially broken the record yesterday after the PK Carsport driver scored his record-breaking 23rd career victory in a hotly contested battle at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Starting from pole position after securing the fastest lap in yesterday’s race, Day lost the lead at the start as teammate Stienes Longin got a better launch and went past the Israeli through the outside of Aspar. Stienes couldn’t break away from the field like in Race 1, but he was able to keep Day at bay for the first half of the race.

Despite this, Stienes went slightly wide at Nico Terol on lap 11 and that opened an opportunity for Day to overtake his teammate at the next corner. It’s a lead that Day would keep for the rest of the race as he went on to score his 3rd race win of the season by 1.262 seconds from Stienes, with Loris Hezemans completing the podium to keep his championship aspirations alive.

“I didn’t even thought about it (the record) to be honest,” said Day on his record-breaking 23rd career EuroNASCAR victory in the Victory Lane. “Two more to go, I’m very happy especially after yesterday after we got a small hit in our aircraft but I’m happy that we managed to make it today.”

“I’m happy that we manage to fight clean and keep all of our opponents behind us. At the same time, a 1-2 finish is a great achievement for PK Carsport and Heinz Performance. What can I say, onto the next one!”

Nicolo Rocca finished an impressive 4th place for his best finish of 2020 so far as Gianmarco Ercoli fended off Race 1 winner Sørensen to claim yet another 5th place finish.

Sørensen struggled to find pace in Saturday’s race and could only finish in 6th ahead of Marc Goossens, who received a 5-second penalty for avoidable collision that didn’t affect his final finishing position.

Thomas Ferrando returned to the grid yesterday after missing out on the first two days of Valencia Super Speedweek. Racing Alex Caffi Motorsport’s No. 1 Remedica Ford which received additional sponsorship from Ferrando’s sponsors Yacco and Knauf, he claimed the bonus points for most positions gained with an 8th place finish from last place on the grid.  

Lucas Lasserre finished 9th ahead of Francesco Sini, who initially finished 8th but received a 10-second time penalty for excessive track limit violations. Olivier Hart and Justin Kunz also received a post-race time penalty for excessive track limit violations, with both drivers remains to be classified in 11th and 14th respectively after the penalties were applied.

Dario Caso scored the win in the Challenger Trophy classifications after the two main contenders ran into trouble early on, ahead of Evgeny Sokolovsky who celebrated his mother’s birthday in the Challenger Trophy podium ceremony. Mauro Trione got spun out by Kunz exiting Doohan on the first lap, while Davide Dallara retired after only 5 laps due to brake issues in the No. 89 Not Only Motorsports Camaro.

The only other retirement in the race is Ander Vilariño, who parked his car in the pits with two laps to go due to concerns with collision damage on the No. 48 HAMA Trucks Camaro. Vilariño had been running as high as 9th place during the race, easily his best performance of 2020 in a very troubled week for DF1-MSM Racing at Valencia.

Race Results

POS GRID DRIVER LAPS TIME / GAP
1. 1 Alon Day (24) 18 30:36.519
2. 2 Stienes Longin (11) 18 + 1.262
3. 4 Loris Hezemans (50) 18 + 4.838
4. 8 Nicolò Rocca (22) 18 + 7.173
5. 5 Gianmarco Ercoli (54) 18 + 14.773
6. 3 Lasse Sørensen (66) 18 + 15.113
7. 7 Marc Goossens (98) 18 + 22.1161
8. 20 Thomas Ferrando (1) 18 + 26.453
9. 11 Lucas Lasserre (33) 18 + 27.015
10. 6 Francesco Sini (12) 18 + 32.4632
11. 10 Olivier Hart (7) 18 + 33.7863
12. 15 Giorgio Maggi (18) 18 + 35.587
13. 13 Dario Caso (8) 18 + 37.739
14. 12 Justin Kunz (99) 18 + 42.2194
15. 18 Alberto Panebianco (10) 18 + 52.504
16. 17 Patrick Lemarié (6) 18 + 54.235
17. 19 Evgeny Sokolovsky (46) 18 + 1:42.677
18. 14 Mauro Trione (31) 17 + 1 Lap
19. 18 Ander Vilariño (48) 16 DNF (Collision Damage)
20. 16 Davide Dallara (89) 5 DNF (Brakes)

Marc Goossens received a 5-second time penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Francesco Sini.
Francesco Sini originally finished 8th, but he received a 10-second time penalty for excessive track limit violations.
Olivier Hart received a 5-second time penalty for excessive track limit violations.
Justin Kunz received a 2-second time penalty for excessive track limit violations.

Day’s record-breaking victory would extend his lead to Sørensen in the championship back to where it was before the weekend, as Hezemans jumps up to third after he and Ercoli came to yesterday’s race tied in points.

Stienes regains 5th place in the championship with his podium with Rocca also regaining 9th place after securing his best finish of the year so far. Despite his spin, Mauro Trione continues to lead the Challenger Trophy classifications as the CAAL Racing driver increased his lead to 14 points to Dallara due to Dallara’s early retirement.

With a maximum of 176 points to grab in Sunday’s Finals, everyone behind Patrick Lemarié has been mathematically eliminated from the championship hunt, although none of them were drivers that competed for in all five rounds of the pandemic-affected 2020 season.

Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.

By Reza Maulana

Owner of World of EuroNASCAR. Official member of the EuroNASCAR media team. Long-time motorsport fan from Indonesia.

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