Reigning NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Champion Alon Day (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) was dominant in qualifying at the Autodromo di Franciacorta for the NASCAR GP Of Italy and took his second consecutive pole position while Felipe Rabello (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) grabbed the pole position in ELITE 2 in a nail-biting battle against his teammate Guillaume Dumarey (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS).
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After being quickest in practice and in the first qualifying round, Day scored a record-tying 8th career pole – he’s tied with Ander Vilarino at the top of the all-time list – thanks to a blistering fast 1’11.452 lap around the 2,504 Km of the Autodromo di Franciacorta, inflicting 0.651 seconds to second-placed Loris Hezemans (#50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang), who led the Junior Trophy.
“I am not done yet until I break the record,” the CAAL Racing driver said. “I am very happy. We know that we are very quick here and it’s our homerace. This is an technical track and I know that my team is pretty good on such kind of tracks. Race will be a different story. I had a pretty big gap in qualifying but the race is always different and I hope that I have good start to get away immediately and build some lead. Everybody did a great job, thank you CAAL Racing!”
After an unlucky weekend at Valencia, Marc Goossens will start from the second row in the ELITE 1 Round 3, alongside Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Toyota Camry). Two-time champion Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) rounded out the top-5.
Lucas Lasserre (#33 Mavi Mishumotors Chevrolet SS), Wilfried Boucenna (#73 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang), who led the Challenger Trophy, Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Racers Motorsport Ford Mustang), Romain Iannetta (#32 Go Fas Racing Ford Mustang) and Francesco Sini (#12 Solaris Motorsport Ford Mustang) completed the top-10.
Rabello leads PK Carsport front row
In the ELITE 2 qualifying session Felipe Rabello (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) edged his teammate Guillaume Dumarey (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) by a mere 0.021 seconds at the end of an exciting Superpole round, making it an all PK Carsport front row. The Brazilian driver scored his first ever NASCAR career pole position.
CAAL Racing youngster Gil Linster (#44 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) ended up third with a strong performance on the 2.5 kilometer Italian track. Paul Guiod (#73 Knauf Racing Ford Mustang) and Florian Venturi (#32 Go Fas Racing Ford Mustang), who was the fastest Rookie Cup driver, rounded out the top-5.
“I am so happy because it is my first pole position in NASCAR and I’m a bit surprised,” the Brazilian said. “We took it despite some setup problems, I gave my absolute best. The race is going to be very hard as we have a lot of oversteering and it’s really difficult to control it. This track is really demanding. I hope that I can win the race and I will surely give my best lap after lap!”
Points leader and Valencia double winner Wilfried Boucenna (#37 Knauf Racing Ford Mustang) ended up sixth, right in front of last year’s race winner Denny Zardo (#2 Alex Caffi Motorsport Toyota Camry), who also showed a strong pace at the Autodromo di Franciacorta. Guillaume Deflandre (#77 Memphis Racing Chevrolet SS), Julien Schell (#29 Pegasus Racing Chevrolet SS) and Justin Kunz (#46 Racing Total Ford Mustang) rounded out the top-10.
Nicholas Risitano (#8 Racers Motorsport Ford Mustang) will start from the eleventh position after being involved in a crash in Superpole. The first eleven drivers were separated by less than one second, further testifying the great parity ruling the field in ELITE 2.
Eric Quintal (#33 Mavi Mishumotors Chevrolet SS) led the Legend Trophy in 21st place, while Carmen Boix Gil (#1 Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang) was fastest in the Lady Cup in 23rd place.
The action at the NASCAR GP of Italy will resume on with the ELITE 1 Round 3, which is scheduled for 13:20 CET at Saturday. The ELITE 2 drivers will fight for championship points in their first race at 16:50 CET at the Autodromo di Franciacorta.
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