Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Toyota Camry) broke his own track record at Brands Hatch to grab his first pole position of the season in the ELITE 1 Division for the NASCAR GP UK at Brands Hatch. Guillaume Deflandre (#77 Memphis Racing) took his second career pole in the closest ever superpole session in NWES history in the ELITE 2 Division.
FIRST PRACTICE ELITE 1 | FINAL PRACTICE ELITE 1 | QUALIFYING ELITE 1 | FIRST PRACTICE ELITE 2 | FINAL PRACTICE ELITE 2 | QUALIFYING ELITE 2
Gabillon set a new Euro NASCAR qualifying record at the Indy Circuit with a lap of 48.232 seconds, edging Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Racers Motorsport Ford Mustang) by a mere 0.005 seconds.
Reigning champion Alon Day (#54 CAAL Racing Toyota Camry) was third with a gap of only 0.016 seconds, while Loris Hezemans (#50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang) led the Junior Trophy and Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro) rounded out the top-5. The 12 drivers in superpole were separated by just 0.672 seconds.
“I am really happy because I already had the track record and I am glad I can keep it,” said Gabillon, who scored. “Yesterday we were fast but not fast enough, so we are very excited to be at the front of the pack. We worked hard yesterday to close the gap and be first here. I hope to have a good race, the goal is to win. I need to win if I want to fight for the championship.”
Marc Goossens (#90 Braxx Racing Chevrolet Camaro) finished sixth right in front of Nicolò Rocca (#56 CAAL Chevrolet SS). Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS), local hero Alex Sedgwick (#90 Braxx Racing Ford Mustang) and Francesco Sini (#12 Solaris Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro), who completed the top-10.
Fastest Challenger Trophy driver was Kenku Miura (#1 Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang). The Japanese will lineup 19th on the grid.
No gap between Deflandre and Rabello in ELITE 2
Felipe Rabello (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro), who will start second, set exactly the same lap time as the pole sitter.
At the end of a spectacular ELITE 2 Superpole session, Guillaume Deflandre took the pole position in ELITE 2 at the legendary Circuit Brands Hatch. It was the first ever pole position for Swedish team Memphis Racing and the second for the Belgian driver after the one he got at Tours Speedway in 2015.
Deflandre and second-placed Felipe Rabello set exactly the same 48.786 seconds lap time around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit and the Belgian got the pole because he set his fastest lap earlier than the Brazilian.
“Qualifying is not easy for us a new team because we are still learning,” said Deflandre. “Memphis Racing is a really good team. We are working step by step to make progress. I had a good setup and I thank all the mechanics for it. Thank you Memphis Racing for this pole position. I want to win the race today but it will be quite difficult with Felipe next to me. There is a zero gap so I expect a tight battle with him.”
Ulysse Delsaux (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Toyota Camry) finished third with a gap of only 0.109 seconds. Freddy Nordstrom (#33 Mavi Mishumotors Chevrolet SS) will start fourth in his Euro NASCAR comeback in Brands Hatch. Florian Venturi (#32 Go Fas Racing Ford Mustang), who was the fastest rookie, rounded out the top-5.
Franciacorta race winner Guillaume Dumarey (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro) ended up sixth in front of championship leader Wilfried Boucenna (#37 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang), rookie Nicholas Risitano (#8 Racers Motorsport Ford Mustang), Julien Schell (#29 Pegasus Racing Chevrolet SS) and Maciej Dreszer (#56 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) who rounded out the top-10.
Jerry de Weerdt (#78 Braxx Racing Ford Mustang) was the fastest Legend Trophy driver in 15th place and Carmen Boix Gil (#1 Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang) the fastest lady in the field. The Spaniard will start 26th.
The ELITE 1 Round 5 from Brands Hatch will get underway at 2:40pm CET. Later this afternoon there will be the first ELITE 2 division race of the NASCAR GP UK at 6:05pm CET. The races will be streamed live at Fanschoice.tv, the NWES Facebook page, the NWES YouTube channel, motorsport.tv and several websites and Facebook pages from around the world.
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