HEUSDEN-ZOLDER, Belgium – The 2019 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series ELITE 2 Division season went in the books Sunday with an outstanding performance by Lasse Soerensen.
The Dane not only won the seventh race of the season, but also completed a huge comeback, grabbing the points lead from Giorgio Maggi’s hands in the last race of the championship.
The 22-year-old Aalborg native is the eighth ELITE 2 Division champion in NWES history.
ELITE 2 Final 2 started behind the safety car due to the rainy conditions at the iconic Circuit Zolder. With 11 laps to go, Soerensen led the field to a single file restart ahead of Maggi.
The Dane and the Swiss were separated by only one point entering Sunday’s race, crowning the one the champion who crossed the finish line first.
Soerensen defended the lead against a charging Maggi on another restart – the safety car was back on track for a contact involving Naveh Talor and Michael Bleekemolen – but wasn’t able to build a gap on the Swiss.
The Hendriks Motorsport driver tried his best to pass Soerensen in the last corners, but the Dane fended off every attack to clinch the ELITE 2 Division title and the Rookie Trophy.
“It’s awesome to be here, we fought for this the whole season long,” said Soerensen, who debuted in Euro NASCAR in the second event of the year at Franciacorta. “We took over the lead of the championship in the last race. I thank my team Dexwet-Df1 Racing and all my sponsors for the hard work they put in this year. I’m super happy right now.”
“It’s a real shame because it was a really short race, since we did several laps behind the safety car,” added Maggi. “I just went out of laps in the end. I was preparing for the last lap and I braked very late but it didn’t work. My plan for next year is for sure to step up in the ELITE 1 Division and fight for the title over there.”
Alessandro Brigatti was a solid third at the wheel of the No. 9 Racers Motorsport Ford Mustang and grabbed his second career podium to close his first NWES season on a high note.
Vittorio Ghirelli ended up fourth ahead of Racing Engineering’s Myatt Snider. Advait Deodhar was sixth followed by Nicholas Risitano, Pol van Pollaert, Pierluigi Veronesi and Jesse Vartiainen.
Soerensen won the championship by nine points on Maggi, scoring seven wins and finishing all 11 races he started inside the top 10.
Vittorio Ghirelli finished third in the overall standings and in the Rookie Trophy. Deodhar took fourth ahead of Risitano and Myatt Snider, who closed his first season racing outside North America in sixth place.
Pierluigi Veronesi, Martin Doubek, Justin Kunz and Jesse Vartiainen completed the 2019 ELITE 2 Division top-10.
By winning the last Legend Trophy round, Ian Eric Waden also grabbed the overall classification dedicated to drivers aged 40 or more from Michael Bleekemolen, who had a troubled ELITE 2 Final 2.
Arianna Casoli, who also secured her second career Lady Trophy, completed the Legend Trophy season podium.