Tours Speedway - ELITE 2 Sunday Race - TOURS EVENEMENTS 75
Denis Dupont Sweeps Tours Speedway Weekend
Dumarey Consolidates ELITE 2 Champioship Lead Over Ferrando
Tours Speedway, France - The Tours Speedway weekend was definitely a memorable one for Denis Dupont (#32 RCP - Marc VDS Toyota Camry). After winning yesterday his first NASCAR race, the RCP - Marc VDS driver led a Belgian 1-2 in today’s ELITE 2 TOURS EVENEMENTS 75 in a close battle with the debutant Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS), son of ELITE 1 driver Bert Longin.
Photo - Credits: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard
Dupont started from the pole, but slipped to third in first part of the race, when Marsilio Canuti (#77 DF-1 Racing by B66 Chevrolet SS) and Gianmarco Ercoli (#31 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) took advantage of lapped traffic to move to the front. The two Italians then got together in Turn 3 on lap 13 and the young CAAL Racing had to retire, while Canuti was penalized with a drive through. Dupont climbed to a lead he kept for the rest of the race. It wasn’t easy, though, since he had to resist the pressure Longin constantly put on him.
Just when the duo took the white flag for what promised to be a hot last lap, a contact in turn 1 between Didier Bec (#8 RDV Compétition Ford Mustang) and Erika Monforte (#88 Euro Kart Racing Team Chevrolet Camaro) ended the race as per NASCAR rulebook and Dupont could celebrate his back-to-back win in Victory Lane.
"The conditions were tricky, so it was important to keep calm in the last laps as well as in the first part of the race,” said the winner. “I was always the first to approach the banking, the car has been fast throughout the whole weekend. I'm so happy now!"
"For me everything was new: I drove the car for the first time on Friday and it was my debut on an oval and in an international race. The rain made it even more difficult,” added Longin, who was fourth in the Saturday Race. “Yesterday I put too much stress in the race, I was really nervous, not easy in the car at all. Fourth place was not bad, but I didn't have a good feeling. But after a good night sleep everything has been better, so I'm really happy".
A very consistent Marçal Melo (#82 Brazil Team Chevrolet SS) finished on the podium for the first time in his NASCAR career and won the Gentlemen Trophy classification. Philipp Lietz (#86 TB Renauer Motorsport Ford Mustang) came in fourth ahead of Alex Fabiano (#83 Brazil Team Chevrolet SS).
Leonard Vernet (#7 TFT-Red Line Chevrolet SS) won the Legends Trophy classification by finishing seventh, just ahead of Eric Van de Vyver (#17 VdeV Sport Toyota Camry).
Championship leader Maxime Dumarey (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) and runner-up Thomas Ferrando (#22 Overdrive-Buffalo Chevrolet Camaro) were part of the battle for the lead at the beginning, but were both caught up in the lap 51 accident that involved Francesca Linossi (#66 DF-1 Racing by B66 Chevrolet Camaro) and Joseph Cozzella (#44 Still Racing Chevrolet Camaro) and lead to the second and penultimate caution of the race. Dumarey ended up sixth and extended his championship lead over Ferrando, who finished tenth, just behind Linossi, who was fifth under the checkered flag but received a penalty for the contact with Cozzella. The Italian won the Ladies Cup classification.
The ELITE 2 division will be back in action at the Nurburgring on July 19/20.
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