NASCAR: Maggi wins European opener 🎥
NUTZNIESSER At the Euro NASCAR season opener in Spain, Swiss driver Giorgio Maggi won his very first race. After two races, he even leads the standings. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (NWES), the European offshoot of the famous NASCAR Series from the USA, is contested with uniform touring cars with tube-frame chassis and 5.7-liter V8 engines. They differ only [...]
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (NWES), the European offshoot of the famous NASCAR Series from the USA, is contested with uniform touring cars with tube-frame chassis and 5.7-liter V8 engines. The only difference is the silhouette, which corresponds to either the Chevrolet Camaro or the Ford Mustang. So in terms of material, there is absolute equality of opportunity.
The season kicked off last weekend with the NASCAR GP Spain at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
One car for two categories
Giorgio Maggi drives one of the two Ford Mustangs in the Dutch team Hendriks Motorsport. He shares it with Loris Hezemans. While the Dutchman competes in the Elite 1 field among the Pro drivers, the 21-year-old driver from central Switzerland starts in the Elite 2 field among the Am drivers.
No matter in which field - it is fought to the heart's content. Neither the professionals nor the amateurs give presents.
Optimal starting position well utilized
The Nidwalden native from Hergiswil initially qualified among the 30 Am drivers for entry into Superpole qualifying and captured second place on the grid there. Right from the start, the former sports car and GT driver stayed in the leading group over 15 laps (60 kilometers) in the first race and was thus well on his way to the podium.
This turned into the surprising victory on the last lap. The two leading Americans Andre Castro (Camaro) and Myatt Snider (Mustang) collided in the last corner, whereupon Giorgio Maggi passed on the inside and crossed the finish line first.
The Swiss, who also won the Rookie Trophy in the process, could hardly believe his luck at first.
Giorgio Maggi: "I gave everything to keep up with the two at the front. In the end, though, my goal was to save the tires a bit. I was able to avoid the crash at the last second and took the win. I thank Hendricks Motorsport for the great car they provided me with."
Two home wins for Vilariño
In the Elite 1 race, Ander Vilariño celebrated an undisputed victory in front of his home crowd, which he repeated the next day. Jacques Villeneuve, a former Formula 1 world champion, is also racing here.
Vilariño is known in Switzerland for his earlier starts with a Formula 3000 in the European Mountain Championship round in Les Rangiers (duel with the unforgotten Lionel Regal). And his Racing Engineering team from Spain won the GP2 Series title in 2013 with Fabio Leimer.
The highlights from Saturday, including the aforementioned collision from which Maggi benefited, are shown in the short video:
Leadership in the championship
On Sunday, Giorgio Maggi finished seventh in the second race. After a seventh-place finish in the first race, Hezemans also made a podium with the same car in third place in Elite 1. In Elite 2, Maggi now leads the standings by one point.
Incidentally, Giorgio Maggi is not the first Swiss race winner in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, which has been running since 2008. Five or six years ago, Yann Zimmer from Geneva (Rookie of the Year 2013) and Gabriele Gardel from Ticino (2014 at Le Mans) already managed to do so.
