The season finale at Circuit Zolder delivered a great race weekend mixed with rain, sun, speed, contact, and pure racing. Two new champions have been crowned: Gianmarco Ercoli and Paul Joffreau.
The NWES has closed its 2023 chapter with four exciting races in Belgium. On Saturday, the action begun with the first final for the EuroNASCAR PRO. The Green flag had been delayed because of rain, and after some minutes drivers started behind the pace car. Paul Joffreau led the majority of the race but lost it in the final laps, when title contender Lucas Lasserre made a dramatic and NASCAR style last lap pass to grab his second win of the season that put him in a very confortable position to face Sunday’s final. Joffreau finished second and Giorgio Maggi completed the podium in third position.
In EuroNASCAR 2, the first big moment of the race came on lap 9, when title contenders Alberto Naska and Paul Joffreau made contact while they were fighting for the first position. This incident resulted in a post-race investigation, and stewards decided to give a 30-second time penalty for the #3 car of the Frenchman driver. Gil Linster, who finished second on track, ended up being the new winner of the race, achieving his first maiden win with Hendriks Motorsports. Patrick Schober and Melvin de Groot completed the podium.
On the last day of action, Joffreau started from pole position and managed to survive pressure from his rivals and the rain that hit the track with a few laps to go. He scored a total of three wins, eleven top-5s, and twelve top-10s in the season, showing he is ready to race in the top division. Martin Doubek and Patrick Schober completed the podium.
EuroNASCAR PRO season finale delivered one of the most closest and unpredictable races: the italian driver Gianmarco Ercoli did a notable job starting from 17th and ending in fourth position. This comeback gave him the bonus points needed to clinch the title. He is also the first driver to win both divisions (EuroNASCAR 2 in 2015 and EuroNASCAR PRO this year). The leader championship into this race, Lucas Lasserre, was running in second position during the race but a contact with Mario Ercoli and a 10 seconds time post race penalty, dropped him outside the top 5 and ruined his championships hopes.
Gianmarco Ercoli scored three wins, nine top 5 and ten top 10 in the season. In his post race interview, the italian said: “I just focused on myself and pushed very hard. Before the race, my team bosses Luca and Corrado Canneori as well as the whole team came to me and said: ‘Gimmy, fight! Don’t think and just drive to have fun!’ We were unlucky yesterday but today I’m the lucky guy. It’s really important for me personally to have won this EuroNASCAR PRO title and I have no words right now to express my emotions. I thank the whole team for the amazing work during this season”. The race winner was Tobias Dauenhauer (#99 Camaro). He finished ahead of Liam Hezemans and Fabrizio Armetta.
The 2023 Teams Championship has been conquered by RDV Competition (#3 Ford Mustang), ahead of #54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro and #50 Hendriks Motorsports Toyota Camry.
Special mention to the American driver Ryan Vargas, who once again competed in the European series. It wasn’t the perfect weekend for him, as he had to deal with quickly learning on a new track under rain. However, he showed a good performance on dry track, running constantly fast. He finished 15th in the first race and 11th in the second race.
