Two title contenders emerged from a dramatic Semi Final weekend at the Hockenheimring and will battle for the the Euro NASCAR Championship next week at Circuit Zolder: Loris Hezemans and Nicolo Rocca. Driving for Hendriks Motorsport, Hezemans leads the championship by 21 points on PK Carsport’s Rocca. With a maximum of 160 points on the line, the NWES Finals at Circuit Zolder on October 5-6 promises to be more exciting than ever.
Both Hezemans and Rocca are vying for their first Euro NASCAR title and at 22 years of age, the Dutchman could become the youngest ELITE 1 champion in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
Loris Hezemans: 425 points (leader)
Hezemans will try to build on the momentum of four back-to-back wins, a feat achieved last time by Ander Vilarino in 2013 on the way to his second NWES title. In a steady crescendo of form and results, Hezemans grabbed seven top-5 and nine top-10 finishes in eleven races, amassing 425 points.
The Dutchman is a regular NWES driver since 2018, when he was the first rookie to win an ELITE 1 race since 2015 and brought home the Junior Trophy after staying in contention for the title until the Zolder Finals. In 2019 Hezemans has been very consistent and peaked right around the end of the regular season, propelling himself to the top of the standings. With four wins, he’s the most successful driver in the 2019 ELITE 1 Division.
In the short span of one year, Hezemans, who made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Road America, improved every aspect of his performance. His average finishing position went from 10.7 to 5.75 while his average starting position went from 4.9 to a stellar 3.45.
Nicolo Rocca: 404 points (-21)
Despite his young age Nicolo Rocca is a veteran of the European NASCAR championship, having debuted in 2013 in the season opener at Nogaro, France. After a bitter disappointment in 2015, when he fell out of title contention in the Zolder Finals, and a fourth place overall in 2016, the Italian switched to a part-time schedule. The now 25-year-old driver returned full-time with PK Carsport this year and immediately found his way to the front of the field.
In 2019 rocca notched one win at the Autodrom Most and despite lacking three wins in the comparison with Hezemans, the Italian makes up part of the gap with his consistency and a 5.0 average finishing position.
While Hezemans has only two starts at Zolder under his belt, Rocca already raced five times at the iconic Belgian track. The Italian finished on the podium once, while Hezemans grabbed second place in the 2018 ELITE 1 final race. Both know what it takes to be fast in the woods of the Limburg region and there is no real favorite in the 2019 championship battle, the races will emit their verdict.
Since 2012 only three drivers won the ultra-competitive ELITE 1 Division championship: Ander Vilarino (three titles), Anthony Kumpen (two titles) and Alon Day (two titles).
The best of the rest: Stienes Longin, Ander Vilarino, Alon Day
Stienes Longin has been the championship leader ahead of the playoffs start at the Hockenheimring, but suffered a terrible weekend in Germany and slid down to third in points. Being 71 points behind Hezemans, Longin is not out of contention yet, but will have to hope for major mistakes by the top duo to get back into the championship battle.
Three-time NWES champion Ander Vilarino has a 78-point gap from the championship leader. The Spaniard, who won both season opening races at Valencia, still has chances to win the championship, but needs to have a perfect weekend at Zolder and a good dose of luck, as does Alon Day.
The Israeli’s dream to be the first NWES driver to win three consecutive titles seems to have been shattered by the Semi Finals weekend.Technical problems cost him a large amount of points and the CAAL Racing driver sits 84 points behind Hezemans and hopes to have a reverse of fortune at Zolder, a track where he won five races in eight starts.
Qualifying and all races of the ELITE 1 Division Finals at Circuit Zolder will be streamed live on Fanschoice.tv, the NWES Facebook and YouTube pages, Motorsport.tv and a vast network of websites and social media pages from around the world.
