Alon Day (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) kept playing his violin in the NASCAR GP of Italy at the Autodromo di Franciacorta and won the ELITE 1 Round 3 leading all laps after starting from the pole position. Today’s win was the third consecutive one of the season and the 13th of his NASCAR career.
ELITE 1 ROUND 3 RESULTS | RACE CENTER
The reigning champion pulled away as the green flag dropped and was able to open a comfortable lead on the rest of the back and perfectly handled two restarts to grab the checkered flag ahead of Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Toyota Camry) and Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Racers Motorsport Ford Mustang), who got the win in the Junior Trophy.
“We had a blast! We managed to have a clean, good race,” said Day, who will start from the pole on Sunday looking for the perfect sweep. “I had the pace to grab the pole position for tomorrow. My team is absolutely amazing. I thank all of them. I have no words for it. I expect that we can do the same tomorrow again. I don’t know who will start second and third but I want to have a good start, run away and win another one.”
Plenty of action highlighted the first race of the NASCAR GP of Italy. After the #12 Ford Mustang of Francesco Sini ended up stopped just outside the track and triggered a caution on lap 18, a frantic restart followed on lap 22: Marc Goossens (#90 Braxx Racing Ford Mustang) and Loris Hezemans (#50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang), who battled for second place all race long, got together in turn 2. The ensuing multi-car wreck forced Race Control to end the race under caution four laps beyond the scheduled distance due to the impossibility to perform a quick cleanup.
Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Toyota Camry) came home second for the second time this seasons, followed by Gianmarco Ercoli, who won the Junior Trophy by climbing on the ELITE 1 podium for the first time in his career.
Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) and Lucas Lasserre (#33 Mavi Mishumotors Chevrolet SS) fought hard all race long and rounded out the top-5. The reigning ELITE 2 champion Thomas Ferrando (#37 Knauf Racing Ford Mustang) finished sixth, right in front of Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS), who fought his way back into the top-10 after a disappointing qualifying in the morning. Martin Doubek (#7 Belgium Driver Academy Ford Mustang), Christophe Bouchut (#66 Dexwet-DF1 Racing Chevrolet SS) and Wilfried Boucenna (#73 Knauf Racing Ford Mustang), who won the Challenger Trophy, completed the top-10.
Bobby Labonte (#18 YACCO RDV Compétition Toyota Camry) ended up 21th in a complicate first race at the Italian Autodromo di Franciacorta.
After complimentary investigation following to the Valencia season opener, Alon Day received a 5 points penalty for overtaking outside of track limits and therefore leads the standings with 115 points, 11 points eahd of Gabillon and 13 ahead of Kumpen.
The ELITE 1 Division will return to action on Sunday at 2:20 pm CET and all the action will be streamed live on Fanschoice TV, the NWES Facebook page, the NWES Youtube channel, Motorsport.tv and multiple platforms across the web.
NASCAR Euro Series PR
