Gianmarco Ercoli is back in the race for the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series title. The Italian swept the races at the NASCAR GP Belgium and therefore reduced the gap on EuroNASCAR PRO championship leader Alon Day to six points. Despite the issues the Italian suffered from at Valencia, Brands Hatch and Vallelunga, the CAAL Racing driver is the Day’s closest rival in the hunt for the beautiful Tijey Championship Trophy that will be awarded at Automotodrom Grobnik in Croatia on October 29-30.
After the regular season finale at Circuit Zolder, Ercoli dropped two 26th-place finishes at Valencia and Brands Hatch as his worst results, bringing his points total to 271. With three race wins in 2022, the 2015 EuroNASCAR 2 Champion is now just six lengths behind Day. At Zolder, Before Zolder, Ercoli stated that he has to win all remaining races of the season to have a realistic shot at the championship and with two victories in the books, the Rome native already completed 50 percent of his plan.
“I’m so happy with the results,” said Ercoli. “Winning both races was all I was thinking about when we headed to Zolder. With the perfect sweep I started the championship battle with Alon. We are only six points behind him and with two more wins, we will grab the title and this is clearly our goal when we travel to the Automotodrom Grobnik in three weeks.” With one win and two top-5 results in Croatia, Ercoli knows all the secrets of the track hosting the 2022 EuroNASCAR Finals.
The momentum Ercoli gained with a perfect weekend in Belgium could play a crucial role in the title battle. While CAAL Racing scored its eighth and ninth win at the four kilometer long track, Day finished eleventh in Round 9 and had to retire early due to issues in his #40 Speedhouse Ford Mustang in Round 10. Still, the eleventh place on Saturday was in the Israeli’s favor as he was able to drop the 16th-place finish he scored in the second Brands Hatch race, adding five points to his total score.
With double points on the line, the championship battle will for sure bring a lot of excitement and emotions when the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series heads to the Automotodrom Grobnik in Croatia. Day and Ercoli are the main contenders in the title battle, but with Alexander Graff, there’s another 2022 race winner still in the reach of becoming a first time EuroNASCAR champion. The Speedhouse driver from Sweden sits only eight points shy of Day in third. With Nicolo Rocca and Giorgio Maggi rounding out the top-5, a turning event in the championship fight is not ruled out at the end of October.
