Alon Day and Advait Deodhar captured NASCAR Whelen Euro Series poles at Brands Hatch Friday. (Stephane Azemard Photo)
Alon Day and Advait Deodhar captured NASCAR Whelen Euro Series poles at Brands Hatch Friday. (Stephane Azemard Photo)
NASCAR Touring Series

Brands Hatch Poles Go To Day & Deodhar

July 3, 2021

WEST KINGSDOWN, England – It was a morning of first timers in qualifying for the NASCAR GP of UK at the 1.94-kilometer Indy Circuit of Brands Hatch.

CAAL Racing’s Alon Day grabbed his 13th career pole, his first at the British venue, while his teammate Advait Deodhar will start from the pole for the first time in his career in EuroNASCAR 2. Day beat 2019 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion Loris Hezemans by a mere .097 seconds. Deodhar was .192 seconds quicker than Tobias Dauenhauer.

Day has competed in the EuroNASCAR PRO division 10 times at the Brands Hatch Circuit so far in his career and won three times, but never has been on pole – until Saturday. The CAAL Racing driver clocked a 48.903-second lap to grab his first pole at the Indy Circuit ahead of Valencia double winner Loris Hezemans in the No. 7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang. 

DF1 Racing’s Nicolo Rocca followed in third. The Italian was .389 seconds slower than Day at the top of the standings. After scoring his first podium in Valencia, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen ended up fourth ahead of Day’s teammate Gianmarco Ercoli, who not only closed the top-five but also topped the Junior Trophy standings.

Reigning EuroNASCAR 2 champion Vittorio Ghirelli followed in sixth at the wheel of his Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang, while new DF1 Racing driver Alexander Graff finished seventh. Enjoying his home race, Alex Sedgwick was eighth ahead of Federic Gabillon and Giorgio Maggi, who completed the top-10 in the 21-car field at the NASCAR GP UK. 

Deodhar, a native of India who’s living in London, clocked a 49.918-second lap and beat Dauenhauer by .192 seconds. Deodhar had some help from the skies as rain started to fall right around the half-time of the 30-minute session. Rookie Miguel Gomes spun with his slick tires and triggered a short red flag period.

As the session resumed, the wet track prevented teams and drivers from driving faster laps so a lot of V8 engines stayed quiet until the end. Only Michael Bleekemolen and Yevgen Sokolovskiy tried out their cars on wet tires. DF1 Racing’s Justin Kunz was third quickest ahead of the impressive EuroNASCAR 2 rookie Alberto Panebianco at the wheel of the No. 89 Not Only Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro. The Italian also topped the Rookie Trophy standings.

42 Racing’s Fracesco Garisto completed the top-five with a .594-second gap from the polesitter Valencia double winner Martin Doubek followed in sixth ahead of Max Lanza and Simon Pilate. Pierluigi Veronesi and Sokolovskiy, who led the Legend Trophy standings, closed the top-10. Alina Loibnegger beat Arianna Casoli in the battle for the best starting position in the Lady Trophy.