MOST, Czech Republic – Giorgio Maggi grabbed the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series ELITE 2 win Saturday at Autodrom Most after his team had to install a new engine in less than two hours before the start of the race.
The engine of the No. 50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang blew up in the ELITE 1 race earlier in the day, but the Dutch team put a new engine in the car with an impressive effort and sent Maggi to the grid just a few seconds before pit lane closed for the ELITE 2 race.
The Swiss repaid his team’s hard work with an authoritative drive around the 4.222-kilometer Autodrom Most circuit.
After starting from the pole, Maggi had to defend the lead against Lasse Soerensen and mastered a restart with seven laps to go on the way to his second NWES career win.
In the process he also stretched his championship lead in the ELITE 2 Division to 14 points over Vittorio Ghirelli.
“After the disaster with Loris [Hezemans] the guys put the new engine in the car in a very short time,” said Maggi. “It was a miracle, but this is why I love these Hendriks Motorsport guys. Nobody asked the question: ‘Can we make it?’ They just did it and we won. I’m so happy. They are very professional and the whole team did an amazing job.”
Soerensen tried his best in the closing laps to catch the leader, but had to settle for second, continuing his impressive streak of five consecutive podium finishes since joining the Euro Series.
The Dexwet-df1 Racing driver gained some more points on the top three and is now sitting fourth, with a 43-point deficit from Maggi.
“It’s always great to be on the podium but first of all I want to win races,” said Soerensen, who is focusing on the ELITE 2 championship race. “When it’s not possible to win, the second place is the next best thing to achieve. We had some problems in qualifying, but we found the pace in the race. I’m super happy for the whole team.”
Andre Castro, who sat eighth in points before the race, moved up to sixth in the ELITE 2 championship by securing his third NWES podium finish in the 2019 season.
The American, third under the checkered flag, bested Advait Deodhar, who started fifth and gained one position during the 14-lap race. Justin Kunz closed the top five after a strong comeback from 12th on the grid.
The overall podium mirrored the Rookie Trophy classification.
“It was a tough race out there, but we finally got the result on Saturday,” said Castro, who hadn’t earned a top-10 finish in the first day of a race weekend before Saturday. “It’s all we wanted. The car was strong the whole race, but we have to do some little tweaks to catch up with the frontrunners. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Representing the Czech Republic, Martin Doubek was sixth at the finish on his home track after losing two spots in the race. The Hendriks Motorsport driver fended off Ghirelli’s attacks in an intense battle and Nicholas Risitano followed the pair in eighth place.
Freddie Hemborg had a strong run to ninth place in the race. The Memphis Racing driver climbed the ranks from 15th and scored his second top-10 of the season.
Myatt Snider started 14th after missing Superpole for the first time this season and managed to find his way back in the top 10 by the end of the day.
Eric De Doncker was first in the Legend Trophy classification by finishing eleventh. He was joined by Mirco Schultis and Michael Bleekemolen on the podium reserved to drivers aged 40 and over. Arianna Casoli grabbed the Lady Trophy win by finishing 15th.
The safety-car was deployed on the very first lap of the race after a collision between Alessandro Brigatti and Jesse Vartiainen. Both cars suffered damage, but the drivers climbed out of their V8 machines by themselves.