Autspeedway American Style - ELITE 2 RACE 1
LIETZ DRIVES HIS WAY TO VICTORY LANE
Leads From Flag To Flag, Scores Second Career Win
Raceway Venray, Netherlands - May 23rd, 2015 - Today’s ELITE 2 Race 1 at Raceway Venray saw Philipp Lietz (#67 GDL Racing Ford Mustang) lead the entire race and brought the #67 GDL Racing Ford Mustang to Victory Lane for the first time this season, making it three different winner from three different teams in the first three races of the season. This is Lietz’s second NASCAR Whelen Euro Series win, the first on an oval track and the first for his GDL Racing team.
PHOTO - CREDITS: NASCAR WHELEN EURO SERIES / STEPHANE AZEMARD
After posting his second consecutive pole position of 2015, the Italian surrendered the lead to Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) at the start. The pair got away from the pack, but the Belgian got collected by the spinning car of Hugo Bec (#8 RDV Compétition Ford Mustang) on lap, leading to the only yellow flag of the race on lap 24. Simone Monforte (#88 Euro Kart Racing Team Chevrolet Camaro) was also involved in the contact.
"From outside it may have seemed an easy race but races like this are never easy!” said Lietz. “We had two cautions that cancelled my advantage. The car was perfect and I'm happy also for GDL Racing, because this is their first victory in NASCAR. Tomorrow I want to drive as fast as possible, staying away from trouble and doing my best”.
After driving away from the green flag, Lietz put to good use the outside line in two restarts on lap 24 and 43, preserving the lead each time. Behind him, the battle for second place saw Thomas Ferrando (#37 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang) take advantage of the last restart to overtake Salvador Tineo Arroyo (#51 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) after starting from the seventh place on the grid.
Florian Renauer (#5 Dexwet Renauer Team Ford Mustang) won the tight battle for fourth, preceding points leader Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Double T by DAV Racing Chevrolet Camaro) and Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS), while 16-year-old Guillaume Deflandre (#77 DF1 Racing Chevrolet SS) brought home a solid seventh place finish ahead of fellow NWES Drivers Development Program member Ulysse Delsaux (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Ford Mustang).
Defending ELITE 2 Champion Maxime Dumarey (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) finished ninth, edging Carole Perrin (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS), who rounded out the top-10 and won the Lady Cup in front of Francesca Linossi (#99 GDL Racing Ford Mustang).
Between the two ladies, Eric De Doncker (#98 Insulco Motorsport 98 Ford Mustang) ended up 11th and brought home the Legend Trophy classification ahead of Leonard Vernet (#2 TFT-Banco Santander Chevrolet SS). The Gentleman Trophy went to Simone Laureti (#12 Double T by DAV Racing Chevrolet SS) ahead of Gabriela Arantes Prado (#21 Record News Racing Chevrolet Camaro).
Arroyo, who finished on the podium in his first race with his new team, led the Rookie Cup classification, just in front of Renauer and Longin, while Ercoli preserved his points lead by 2 points on Ferrando. The Italian will start second, behind Lietz for the second race of the weekend.
Green flag will wave at 5 PM CET on Sunday for the second ELITE 2 race of the weekend, streamed live on Fanschoice.tv. Live text updates will be available on hometracks.nascar.com.
ABOUT NASCAR WHELEN EURO SERIES
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series was founded in 2008 and established the NASCAR official European Series in January 2012 thanks to a long-term partnership signed with NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), Team FJ, a Motorsports company located in Blois, France, and Whelen Engineering as title sponsor of the Series.The season is made up of 24 races, equally split among ELITE 1 and ELITE 2 divisions, on the best European tracks. Euro NASCAR introduced a stunning innovation on July 7-8, 2012 by organizing the first ever NASCAR race on an oval track in Europe on a half-mile speedway built in the downtown of Tours (France). With four races in two days, these 400 HP V8 monsters provide pure racing action and thrilling bumper-to-bumper battles as well as a lot of family fun around the track! In the pure NASCAR tradition, race fans can get closer to the action than ever and feel the unique in Europe paddock atmosphere thanks to drivers, teams and cars always available for the spectators.The series attracts drivers from all over the world, all willing to fight on track for the win and take the first step towards becoming a NASCAR star in the U.S.
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NASCAR WHELEN EURO SERIES • RD 2152, Les Grands Champs - 4100 Saint Denis sur Loire, France • Phone: +33 2.54.45.54.45 • email: info@euronascar.com • website:
http://www.euronascar.com • Twitter: @EuroNASCAR • Facebook: EuroNASCAR
PR MANAGER: GIAN LUCA GUIGLIA • Phone: +39 393 817 9546 • email: gguiglia@euronascar.com • Twitter: @gian_138
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=21023.msg113459#msg113459
