VALLELUNGA, Italy – Jacques Villeneuve, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1997 Formula 1 champion, is officially a NASCAR race winner.
The Canadian overcame a five-second penalty to grab his maiden NASCAR Whelen Euro Series victory Saturday Autodromo di Vallelunga in Italy. Villeneuve crossed the finish line 6.3 seconds ahead of Vittorio Ghirelli and parked his No. 5 Academy Motorsport / Alex Caffi Motorsport EuroNASCAR FJ in victory lane. It was also the first EuroNASCAR PRO win for the Italian/Monegasque joint venture.
Villeneuve took the lead in turn one but was handed a five-second penalty for jumping the start. The Canadian was put under constant pressure by Alon Day in second, but fended off all attacks brought by the reigning EuroNASCAR PRO champion. Villeneuve took advantage of the hard battles behind him to open a six-second gap on the rest of the field and score his maiden NASCAR Whelen Euro Series win.
“Finally, it’s been a long time coming,” said Villeneuve. “We have been fighting at the front a lot and the car was good in qualifying. We had a hard time in Free Practice but in Qualifying the car was really amazing. I didn’t have to lift on the outside of turn 1. I just went for it and Alon lifted it.”
Ghirelli, who joined Not Only Motorsport for the EuroNASCAR Finals at Autodromo di Vallelunga, ended up second after a tremendous battle with CAAL Racing’s Gianmarco Ercoli. The Italian finished second, which puts him in a good position in the championship battle on Sunday. Ghirelli is now five points shy of championship leader Loris Hezemans. Ercoli tried a move on the last lap of the race on Ghirelli, but had to settle for third and completed the podium, topping the Junior Trophy classification and moving within nine points from Hezemans.
For Hezemans and Day, the EuroNASCAR PRO Final 1 was a true disaster. On lap seven, Ercoli took second from Day, who struggled at the wheel of his No. 88 CAAL Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Just a few turns later, the Israeli was tapped by Hezemans and forced off track, leading to his retirement from the race. Hezemans was handed a drive through penalty and dropped down to 10th. This may have been a championship deciding situation for the Dutchman, who had a 21-point lead ahead of Saturday’s EuroNASCAR PRO race.
DF1 Racing’s Nicolo Rocca finished fourth after a strong run in his No. 22 Chevrolet Camaro, while Lucas Lasserre stormed from 11th on the grid to fifth. Giorgio Maggi followed in sixth, resulting in a second place for the Swiss in the Junior Trophy ranks for drivers 25 and under. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen ended up seventh ahead of Patrick Lemarie and Romain Iannetta.
Davide Dallara topped the Challenger Trophy classification for bronze and silver drivers in EuroNASCAR PRO by finishing 11th. He beat DF1 Racing’s Henri Tuomaala in 13th and Yevgen Sokolovskiy in 14th.