It will be a hot summer break for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as teams and drivers work hard to prepare the September 17-18 Adria Raceway Semi Finals. With double points awarded and a new track to discover, everything will be on the line again after an exciting regular season that saw an unmatched level of parity in the field, great battles on track, record breaking performances, young talents surging to a prominent role and NWES confirming itself as one of the most popular championships in Europe.
Credits: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard
A tight battle for the lead in ELITE 1
Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Ford Mustang) will enter the Adria Raceway American Speed Weekend Semi Finals with a mere 1-point advantage on 2014 Champion Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS). The two NWES veterans won 3 races each in the regular season, with Gabillon building his championship lead by winning three of the season’s four oval races, while the Belgian won three of the first five races of the year. Gabillon finished second a whopping four times on road courses and it will be fundamental for him to find his way to Victory Lane in the playoffs to have the chance to finally win the NWES title in his fourth Euro NASCAR season.
With the astounding parity level highlighting the ELITE 1 Division field in 2016, there are 13 more drivers within 100 points from the lead, the first two being Borja Garcia (#1 SPV Racing Ford Mustang) and Alon Day (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS). While the Spaniard has been blistering fast but still has to reach Victory Lane this year, the Israeli won two times and became the first NWES driver to be selected for the NASCAR Next program. Wilfried Boucenna (#73 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang) sits fifth in points thanks to a very consistent regular season.
Credits: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard
A record season for Stienes Longin in ELITE 2
With six wins in eight races and an astonishing average finish position of 1.25, Stienes Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) is one win shy of tying the NWES record for the most victories in a single season across the two divisions. The 25-year-old Leuven-native led a dominant 292 laps and 343.92 Kms in the first four events of 2016 and even overcame a difficult situation in Tours when he went to victory lane despite being forced to a spare car.
The season is not over though, because eight drivers have less than 100 points to recover and the Belgian will enter the American Speed Weekend Semi Finals, awarding double points, with a 37-point advantage on Salvador Tineo Arroyo (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS), who won his second career race at Brands Hatch and finished out of the top-5 just once. The Spaniard seemed the only driver on track able to match Longin’s for the most part of the regular season, but two more strong contenders strongly emerged in Tours: Riccardo Geltrude (#7 Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang) and Thomas Ferrando (#37 Knauf Racing Team Ford Mustang). Fifth in points, Hugo Bec (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Ford Mustang) showed good potential and will look to further improve his position in the deciding part of the season.
Credits: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard
A breed of new talents
A new breed of young talents is strongly emerging in both the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series divisions. 21-year-old reigning ELITE 2 champion Gianmarco Ercoli (#9 Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang) went really close to his first ELITE 1 win two times and holds the eighth place in the standings and both Ferrando and Geltrude scored their first ELITE 1 podium at Tours. Both the Frenchman and the Italian are ELITE 2 title contenders, both are less than 20 year old and Geltrude also won his first career NASCAR race at Tours Speedway.
A strong increase in coverage
The first half of 2016 saw the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series further increase its fanbase thanks to its increased and improved coverage. All the races have been streamed live on Fanschoice.tv, with four hours of live coverage per event, the Inside NWES highlights magazine is being broadcasted in 190 countries and social media saw a 40% increase in number of followers between Twitter and Facebook, where NWES reached an average of 200.000 users per racing event with a strong 50% interaction rate and more than 350.000 video views.
A hot summer preparing for Adria
Teams and drivers are already at work to prepare the September 17-18 Semi Finals at Adria Raceway with test sessions that will make the summer even hotter as anticipation builds for the decisive part of the 2016 season. The Adria Raceway American Speed Weekend will be streamed live on Fanschoice.tv (http://bit.ly/nweslive).
Credits: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard
