Loris Hezemans was the driver to take the victory in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series’ last visit to Raceway Venray in 2019. Five years later EuroNASCAR returned to the half-mile oval in the Netherlands where Loris’ younger brother, Liam Hezemans, who racet his earlier carreer in karting (IAME X30) was crowned as the NASCAR Oval GP Champion. After a thrilling race in EuroNASCAR PRO, the 21-year old Dutchman led all laps and kept his head cool during a late restart to clinch his third win of the 2024 season. Much to the joys of the home Dutch fans that witnessed the long awaited return of EuroNASCAR oval racing action.
Hezemans to the Victory Lane, drama for closest rivals
Liam Hezemans had a great start when the green flag dropped and by Turn 3, the Dutchman had completed his overtake on pole sitter Vittorio Ghirelli. The talented youngster made the theoretically slower inside lane work to his favor and opened the advantage as his rivals battled each other for position. He efficiently worked his way through traffic for the majority of the race, but a spin involving Thomas Toffel on lap 92 shuffled things up.
The Hendriks Motorsport driver chose to stay on the outside lane for the restart. The decision paid off when Gianmarco Ercoli, who started on the inside, got loose entering the first corner. With the race extended to 104 laps, Hezemans kept his composure and led the remaining laps to continue his winning streak in the 2024 EuroNASCAR season. To cap off the excitement of a home victory, he also brought home the top prize in the Junior Trophy for drivers aged 25 and under.
“It was a real survival job at the restart, but that’s NASCAR at its best!” said Hezemans in the Victory Lane. “I need to catch my breath because it was so intense, but it has been an awesome job! Thank you to all the Hendriks Motorsport team as they gave me a perfect car for our home race. Thank you to Gianmarco as well because the battle was really nice. He tried to pass me, but I stuck to my position and gave my maximum. I’m incredibly happy that we got it in the end!”
While it was all smiles for Hezemans, in true short track racing style, there were tensions brewing between his closest competitors. CAAL Racing’s Ercoli returned to the podium with a second place finish, but he had a heated discussion with Ghirelli following an incident in the opening lap that involved the two title contenders. Third place went to Paul Jouffreau in the #3 RDV Competition Ford Mustang, however, Ryan Vargas had a strong choice of words for the Frenchman after they made contact during the race.
Ghirelli and Vargas still came home with an impressive top-5 finish in the books. The American also contributed to his team, 3F Racing, winning the Endurance Teams classification battle when the results from both EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 were combined together. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen put in a strong race at home and delivered a sixth place finish as the last car finishing on the lead lap.
Tobias Dauenhauer, Marc Goossens, Thomas Krasonis and Victor Neumann completed the top-10 positions. Dauenhauer, Krasonis, Neumann enjoyed a fantastic battle with Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport driver Vladimiros Tziortzis that saw all four drivers trading positions throughout the race. Despite his spin, Toffel still won the Challenger Trophy special classification for elite amateur drivers in the top division of the official European NASCAR championship.
The 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will now go to a Summer break with the NASCAR GP Czech Republic regular-season finale at Autodrom Most on August 31th to September 1st. However, it is confirmed that the return of oval racing in Europe after five years was worth the wait for everyone involved. All qualifying and races will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel and several TV networks from all around the world.
Qualifying: Ghirelli continues Pole Award sweeps
Ghirelli continued to sweep the Pole Position Award when he put the #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro on top in Qualifying. With a time of 19.507, the Italian bested Hezemans by 0.056 seconds to put the winners of the Oval 2024 season in the first row of the grid. Ercoli and Jouffreau put their 400 hp machines in the second row ahead of Vargas, who clocked in an exceptionally quick time to secure the American’s first top-5 starting position in EuroNASCAR PRO. Toffel continued to lead the Challenger Trophy in 12th position. Debutants: Liam Lambert, Gordon Barnes and Constantin Scholl qualified 15th, 17th, and 19th respectively.
Practice: 0.001 seconds separated the leaders
Two sessions of free practice officially kickstarted the activities for EuroNASCAR PRO Round 7. The best drivers of Europe’s official NASCAR championships showed their elite status with their quick adaptation to the half-mile oval at Raceway Venray. At the end of the sessions, only 0.001 seconds separated the overall and Junior Trophy leader Jouffreau from reigning champion Ercoli. Ghirelli, Hezemans and Goossens completed the top-5 positions, all within two-tenths of the Frenchman. The Challenger Trophy was led by Toffel in 12th place, beating the new rivals, Lambert and Barnes.
EuroNASCAR PRO Results | EuroNASCAR 2 Results