It took just a couple of races to Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) to return to the Victory Lane for the sixth time this year and it was a special one. The Belgian dominated the ELITE 2 Tours Evenements 75 and grabbed the checkered flag in a Green-White Checkered finish, further reinforcing his points lead before the playoffs.
Overcoming the difficulty of driving a spare car made the win even sweeter for Longin. His PK Carsport team had to resort to a spare car after a technical problem sent Bert Longin in the wall few minutes into the first free practice session on Friday and received help from fellow competitors at Brass Racing. PK Carsport quickly regrouped and provided the ELITE 2 points leader a strong car.
“It is unbelivable! We had to skip free practice on Friday and yesterday’s race was very difficult, but today it was almost perfect and I really thank everybody at Brass Racing for giving us their #90 car. Winning 6 races in the regular season is amazing!” said Longin, who is just one win shy of a NWES record for the most wins in a single season. “ Now we have to think about the playoffs because with double points anything can happen. You must finish all the races and I hope to finish on the podium both in Adria and Zolder.”
After finishing third on Saturday, Stienes Longin started from the pole and led every lap, imposing a commanding pace and swiftly navigating through five restarts, including a Green-White-Checkered dash to the finish.
Thomas Ferrando (#37 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang) and Riccardo Geltrude (#7 Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang) battled all race long for second and it was the Frenchman to finish behind Longin by just over .3 seconds, while the Italian lost a bunch of positions in the last restart and ended up seventh overall and first in the Rookie Cup.
A solid Guillaume Deflandre (#56 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) and Gabriele Gardel (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) rounded out the top-5. Salvador Tineo Arroyo (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) was sixth under the checkered flag ahead of Geltrude, Paul Guiod (#73 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang) and Legend Trophy leader Renzo Calcinati (#12 Virgin Radio Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang). Willy Gruber (#26 Dexwet Renauer Team Ford Mustang) closed the top-10.
Stienes Longin will enter the playoffs, beginning in Adria, Italy on September 17-18, as the ELITE 2 points leader with an almost perfect score and a solid margin on Salvador Tineo Arroyo (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS).
ELITE 2 TOURS EVENEMENTS 75 RESULTS | RACE CENTRAL LIVE
Credits: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard
