Brands Hatch, UK – Four victories in six races, three superpoles out of three. With this incredible track record, Vittorio Ghirelli reaches the halfway point of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Even in England, in front of over 50,000 enthusiasts, the driver from Fasano confirmed that he is the man to beat, setting the fastest time in all practice sessions and also taking the pole position. In the race, the supremacy of the #24 Camaro was never in question, with a commanding victory on Saturday.
“Racing in front of this crowd is fantastic, you never get used to it. Overall, it was a positive weekend for us. We got the pole, we won race 1, and the only disappointment was race 2. But, looking at it calmly, we only lost 2 points compared to our rivals. Saturday’s race was really tough, with two restarts and rain appearing here and there in true English tradition. We found ourselves with slicks in the wet, it was definitely challenging but we managed and brought home another victory,” commented Ghirelli, firmly leading the championship. “The second race was complicated from the start, we started from the dirty side, lost some positions but could still come back. At least until the driver of the #55, already penalized for contacts, hit me with a senseless maneuver, causing me to lose 3 positions and damaging my car. We gritted our teeth and finished in eighth place. It cost us some points, but that’s okay, now our focus is already on Venray and I can’t wait, finally the oval is back on the calendar!”
Ghirelli has held the top spot in the championship since the opening weekend in Valencia and now, after three rounds, has an 11-point lead over Ercoli, a margin that could have been greater without the 20-point penalty for a technical – but not performance-related – discrepancy in the previous round at Vallelunga. “Rules are rules and that’s how it should be. Obviously, it’s not pleasant, especially because the technical and performance advantage is zero, as commented by Joe Balash, the technical head of NASCAR. It’s just a screw identical to the original but with a different serial number on the shock absorbers. Unfortunately, the checks were made by the organization without any witnesses from our team. Maybe they wanted to slow me down because I was winning too much. In any case, with four new shock absorbers bought at Brands Hatch, we took pole position and won race 1, silencing any gossip, we were the fastest on track,” said Ghirelli.
The thrilling event at the Venray oval track, where Ghirelli won on his debut in 2019, is scheduled for June 30, with Sunday hosting free practice, qualifying, and the EuroNASCAR PRO race.
