Autspeedway American Style - ELITE 2 RACE 2
LIETZ SWEEPS THE WEEKEND
The Austrian Is The First Multiple Winner Of The Season
Raceway Venray, Netherlands - May 24th, 2015 - Philipp Lietz (#67 GDL Racing Ford Mustang) concluded the Raceway Venray weekend in the best way possible by winning the second ELITE 2 race and completing a clean sweep of the Autospeedway American Style. By winning his third career NASCAR race, the Austrian also became the first multiple winner of the 2015 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season.
PHOTO - CREDITS: NASCAR WHELEN EURO SERIES / STEPHANE AZEMARD
“It's great! It was a tough race with an hard fight at the beginning. The restart was tricky because I had to be immediately fast, but I didn't know how much grip we had,” said Lietz. But it was big weekend for us, this is our second win of the season, I'm very happy about it. Now I can say I love driving on ovals! I don't think to the championship yet, but it's clear I'd like to fight for it!”
Lietz started from the pole position and in the first half of the race he gained some ground on a combative group of drivers, led by Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Double T by DAV Racing Chevrolet Camaro), that battled corner after corner for the second position. Ercoli defended the position from the attacks of Florian Renauer (#5 Dexwet Renauer Team Ford Mustang) at first – the Austrian then ended up brushing the wall on lap 21 after losing many spots in traffic – and Thomas Ferrando (#37 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang), but Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) and Salvador Tineo Arroyo (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) were both on their tail and ready to take advantage of any occasion
The yellow flag waved on lap 34 for an accident involving Carole Perrin (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS), Nicki Petersen (#44 GDL Racing Ford Mustang) and Francesca Linossi (#99 GDL Racing Ford Mustang). The race director opted for red flag to allow the cleanup of the track and after the race resumed under caution, Ferrando took advantage of the restart with seven laps to overtake Ercoli and take second place behind Lietz under the checkered flag. The Italian ended up third, edging Longin, Tineo Arroyo and Guillaume Deflandre (#77 DF1 Racing Chevrolet SS). The 16-year-old Belgian had the better hand in the battle for seventh over Ulysse Delsaux (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Ford Mustang). Maxime Dumarey (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS), Florian Renauer and Eric De Doncker (#98 Insulco Motorsport 98 Ford Mustang) rounded out the top-10, with the latter also leading the Legend Trophy classification.
Stienes Longin won the Rookie Cup classification, while Francesca Linossi (#99 GDL Racing Ford Mustang) brought home the Lady Cup thanks to her 11th place.Thirteenth under the checkered flag, Simone Laureti led in the Gentleman Trophy.
Gianmarcoli Ercoli saved the championship lead thanks to his podium by a single point on Ferrando and Lietz is only four points behind in third position.
As the checkered flag just marked the end of the week-end at Raceway Venray, drivers are already looking forward to one of the most legendary tracks in Europe : Brands Hatch, which will host the third edition of the American Speedfest on June 6-7.
Races will be live streamed on Fanschoice.tv and race fans can follow all updates on hometracks.nascar.com. See you in two weeks race fans!
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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