Gianmarco Ercoli became the new “King of Brands Hatch” after he dominated both EuroNASCAR PRO races at American SpeedFest 10 to secure his status as the new championship leader.
The title of “King of Brands Hatch” has been bestowed to Gianmarco Ercoli after the Italian’s epic performance on the American SpeedFest 10, Powered by Lucas Oil. The CAAL Racing driver swept both EuroNASCAR PRO races at Brands Hatch to secure the championship lead ahead of his home race at Valellunga in July.
While Ercoli dominated at the front of the field, there was plenty of action to enjoy as American SpeedFest 10 once again delivered on its promise of bringing the best NASCAR racing action to the fans, both on-site and off-site through EuroNASCAR’s official live streams. The recap of Saturday and Sunday’s action can be checked in the sections below.
Race 1 Recap
At 1:41 PM local time, Gianmarco Ercoli led the EuroNASCAR PRO field for their first race of the weekend. Just as the top class drivers entered Paddock Hill for the first time, Vladimiros Tziortzis lost power on his No. 5 ENEOS FJ and was forced to retire after just one corner.
Localized yellows were used by the marshalls for the next few laps to allow the Cypriot driver to safely exit his car. Another localized yellow was later called on lap 17 after Advait Deodhar crashed out of the race, but this didn’t deter Ercoli as he led from start to finish to secure his seventh career victory and second visit to the Victory Lane at Brands Hatch.
“The flag-to-flag win was the result of an incredible progression of the car, so it’s an amazing race!” said Ercoli, referencing what he said after Qualifying. “I used all of my potential during the race and I improved my driving lap-by-lap. I’m happy for the team, for myself, for my sponsors as a win here is always incredible.”
“I tried to save the tires a little bit, but the drivers behind me were very fast so I just managed to do that after posting some quick laps, just towards the finish.”
Vittorio Ghirelli and Liam Hezemans completed the top-3 positions after an exciting 38-lap race, making it an all-EN2 champion podium on Saturday. Liam retained second place in the initial few laps, but a mistake by the 20-year old driver at Clearways on lap 5 allowed Ghirelli to find a way past him.
With Ghirelli not having the pace to keep up with Ercoli, the Italian had to fight hard to keep his position from Liam for the next 33 laps. Despite numerous challenges made by Liam in the latter stages of the race, Ghirelli was able to keep him at bay to clinch second place. Liam’s third place finish is still enough to give him the win in the Junior Trophy.
Anthony Kumpen was able to keep up with Ghirelli and Liam in the first half of the race, but he had to settle for fourth as their pace was too much in the end. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Giorgio Maggi came home fifth and sixth ahead of Tobias Dauenhauer, who gained four positions during the race.
Lucas Lasserre barely retained his championship lead after he finished eighth. Lasserre passed Fabrizio Armetta on the last lap to give him an extra championship point to his tally. Armetta was running in seventh for most of the race, but ultimately the pressure from Dauenhauer and Lasserre was too much to handle for the Challenger Trophy winner.
Frédéric Gabillon completes the top-10 ahead of Marc Goossens and Ulysse Delsaux. Thomas Dombrowski gained the bonus points for most positions gained with his 16th place finish while Matthew Ellis finished 20th in his debut EuroNASCAR PRO race after a visit to the pits for mechanical troubles.
He wasn’t the only Racingfuel driver to encounter mechanical troubles as teammate Alina Loibnegger was forced to retire after completing 13 laps due to engine issues on her No. 94 Camaro. Riccardo Romagnoli and Martin Doubek also experienced mechanical troubles, with Doubek’s issues inadvertently causing a chain reaction crash that took Advait Deodhar out of the race.
Deodhar and Max Lanza were racing side-by-side when they encountered Doubek, who was about to enter the pits. Lanza, who was on the inside lane, had to swerve to the left to not clatter into the back of Doubek’s No. 7 Orion Ford.
The swerve caused the Italian to enter the line that Deodhar took. Deodhar had nowhere to go and collision was inevitable. The impact was severe enough to sent Deodhar’s car airborne, although thankfully the London-based Indian driver was cleared to compete in the second race on Sunday.
Race 2 Recap
After a grand pre-race programme that is customary for the American SpeedFest, the second EuroNASCAR PRO race went to green at 1:57 PM with Gianmarco Ercoli leading the field once more. The Italian had secured pole position for the Sunday race after he set the fastest lap on Saturday with a time of 49.248, just 0.016 seconds ahead of Vittorio Ghirelli.
Ercoli retained the lead on the opening lap, but Liam Hezemans put up a challenge after he got past Ghirelli on lap 5. Liam’s pace was quicker, but he went wide at Paddock Hill on lap 11. Not long after, Liam returned to the pits where the reigning EN2 champion retired from the race. The issues were later traced to power steering failure from hitting the curbs.
With no one else having the pace to match Ercoli’s speed, the Italian stalwart cruised his way to the Victory Lane as he once again led all laps from start to finish. Ercoli survived a late restart to take his eighth victory in ENPRO by 1.546 seconds from former two-time champion Anthony Kumpen.
“I worked a lot for this as the red Whelen banner is very important for me!” said Ercoli in the Victory Lane. “It was difficult in the first part because Hezemans had very good speed, but after that I managed my car to the end. The track with rain from overnight caused big problems for me as I always had understeer, but I managed it and I was able to go to Victory Lane!”
The race was marred by a scary incident on lap 26 involving Max Lanza in the No. 88 Wakala Camaro. Lanza lost his brakes heading to Paddock Hill bend and crashed into the tire barriers with enough force to send his car to a roll over.
Thankfully Lanza was able to walk away on his own power, but the damage that the No. 88 car sustained in the roll over was too much for CAAL Racing mechanics to fix for the rest of the weekend. It was EuroNASCAR’s first roll over incident since Mauro Trione at Franciacorta in 2019.
The Safety Car period that ensued eliminated Ercoli’s five second advantage to Kumpen, but in the end the Belgian driver had no answer to Ercoli’s pace and had to settle for second place finish. He and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, who finished third, scored their first podiums of the year as a result.
Lucas Lasserre took advantage of the restart period to move his way up to fourth place, but it wasn’t enough for the SpeedHouse owner-driver to retain his lead in the standings.
Martin Doubek came home fifth ahead of The Club Motorsport’s Fabrizio Armetta and Riccardo Romagnoli, who secured the team’s best ever result in the series. Armetta and Romagnoli also secured 1-2 finish in the Challenger Trophy to cap off an exceptional weekend for the team based in Pomezia.
Vladimiros Tziortzis also had an exceptional race as he charged from 25th – and last – on the grid to eighth place, giving the Cypriot the win in Junior Trophy and the bonus points for most positions gained.
SpeedHouse teammates Néo Lambert and Ulysse Delsaux completed the top-10 and the podium in Junior Trophy while 13th place finisher Advait Deodhar filled the last podium spot in the Challenger Trophy sub-classification.
Apart from Liam and Lanza, a lot of drivers also encountered problems in the Sunday race at Brands Hatch. Marc Goossens and Thomas Toffel received a five second time penalty for ducking out of the formation line too early during the start and restart respectively.
Ghirelli also received a five second penalty for start procedure violations, but it was the least of his worries. Just like Liam, the Italian had power steering issues that caused issues on his Toyota Camry. Unlike Liam, however, the issues weren’t severe enough and Ghirelli survived the race to be classified in 14th place.
Another driver that had more problems than a five second penalty is Tobias Dauenhauer, who received a 30-second time penalty for sending Giorgio Maggi to the grass on the final lap of the race. The penalty relegated Dauenhauer to 18th while Maggi had to contend with a 15th place finish in the final results.
Racingfuel Motorsport once again had a troubled race with Matthew Ellis being forced to retire in unusual circumstances. He revealed that a piece of tire rubber managed to hit his car’s killswitch after it bounced from the car in front of him. The incident turned his car off completely and ended his race with just four laps to the checkered flag.
Alina Loibnegger didn’t fare better either after she spun on her own accord at Graham Hill Bend just a few moments before Lanza had his crash. Frédéric Gabillon and Yevgen Sokolovskiy retired from the race in the pits after completing just 10 and 2 laps respectively.
Ercoli’s sweep at Brands Hatch allowed the 28-year old driver to take the lead in the championship standings with 137 points to his name. He took the top spot from Lasserre, who now has a deficit of four points to catch in the next round at Autodromo Vallelunga.
Anthony Kumpen is currently third with 131 points while Marc Goossens drops down to fourth, 22 points behind Ercoli. Martin Doubek and Vittorio Ghirelli are tied for fifth with 112 points to their name, but Ghirelli had the edge with a better tiebreaker finish to the Czech driver.
Giorgio Maggi, now leading the Junior Trophy, remains in seventh place with 110 points while Sebastiaan Bleekemolen moves up to eighth with 109 points. Delsaux and Armetta complete the top-10 with the latter now acting as the leader in Challenger Trophy.
Liam and Tziortzis’ retirements would relegate them to joint eleventh place in the standings with 102 points. Both drivers would have a chance to drop these results at Zolder if they are able to limit further retirements in the next rounds of the 2023 EuroNASCAR season.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.