Max Lanza was left satisfied with his performance at Valencia last week as the driver of the No. 88 CAAL Racing Chevrolet finished inside the Top-10 twice on his first EuroNASCAR PRO start since 2019.
Max Lanza enjoyed a strong return to the EuroNASCAR PRO class on last week’s NASCAR GP Spain after the Italian claimed a double Top-10 finish despite a disastrous qualifying session.
Lanza, who returned to the top class this year after two seasons in EuroNASCAR 2, was one of the drivers that was affected by the steward’s strong track limit enforcements during Qualifying as the removal of his fastest time meant that he started Race 1 from 32nd on the grid.
Despite this, Lanza then made the comeback of his life in Race 1. In a race of attrition that saw two Safety Car periods and numerous incidents involving the top contenders, Lanza fought back to finish 9th to secure his first Top-10 finish in ENPRO as well as the extra points for most positions gained.
That 9th place finish was later upgraded to an 8th place finish when Frédéric Gabillon, who originally finished 6th, received a post-race penalty for exceeding the track limits too many times.
“I couldn’t hope for a better debut! It’s incredible, I still can’t believe it!” said Lanza after the race weekend. “After the qualifying all seemed lost, I was 32nd on the grid due a track limit penalty.”
“I then pushed like hell, my #88 CAAL Racing was a rocket and I took some risks sometimes. I’ve never had such a good time, maybe it was the best race of my EuroNASCAR career!”
Lanza’s strong Race 1 performance gave him a good starting position for Sunday’s Race 2. He would capitalize from this to score another Top-10 finish, a result that gave him the win in the Challenger Trophy sub-classifications.
“In Race 2 I took the advantage of my fastest lap on Saturday’s race to definitely start further on and after the exciting Challenger Trophy second position on Saturday, on Sunday I took the win and another overall Top-10!” comments Lanza on his Race 2 performance.”
The strong results from Valencia meant that Lanza currently sits fifth on the overall standings with 60 points, 14 points behind teammate Nicolò Rocca. His results, coupled with the equally strong results from new teammate Alberto “Naska” Fontana, also meant the No. 88 CAAL team currently sits second in the Teams Championship.
“Thanks to the best comeback of the weekend and the consistency of results we had in Spain, we leave Valencia 5th in the overall EuroNASCAR PRO standings and leader of the Challenger Trophy. Moreover, thanks to the great debut of my teammate Alberto Naska, our #88 is second in the Team classification!”
Disclaimer: Unless noted on the photo, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Bart Dehaese / Stephane Azemard.