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Alon Day wins finale en route to second NASCAR championship

Israeli driver scores back-to-back wins at Circuit Zolder to secure 2018 NASCAR Whelen Series title.

Alon Day, 2018 champion

Alon Day, 2018 champion

Stéphane Azemard

Alon Day, 2018 champion
Alon Day, CAAL Racing Chebrolet leads Loris Hezemans Hendriks, Motorsport Ford
Alon Day, CAAL Racing Chevrolet
Alon Day, Caal Racing, Chevrolet
 Gianmarco Ercoli and Alon Day
Alon Day, Caal Racing, Chevrolet SS

Alon led flag-to-flag in the season finale on Sunday to become the second driver in the history of the series to win back-to-back championships and the third driver overall to celebrate multiple titles.

The CAAL Racing driver drove a perfect race under constant pressure by Stienes Longin in the first half of the race, but he was able to fend off every attack brought by the Belgian driver. Day would go on to win  by 5.9 seconds.

“It feels so amazing,” said the 26-year old Israeli driver. “This car never fails and never disappoints me. The car, the team, they are all unbelievable. I’m speechless. I came back from such a difficult time in the season, but I still managed to win so many races and kept bouncing back. Back-to-back: It’s just amazing.”

It was the 17th time Day has won in the series and his final win of the season also tied him with Ander Vilarino for the most wins in a single season.

Loris Hezemans passed Longins on the final lap to come home second while Frederic Gabillon and Lucas Lasserre followed Longin to complete the top five.

“It feels so amazing,” said the 26-year old Israeli driver. “This car never fails and never disappoints me. The car, the team, they are all unbelievable. I’m speechless. I came back from such a difficult time in the season, but I still managed to win so many races and kept bouncing back. Back-to-back: It’s just amazing.”

Gabillon ended up second in the championship. The Frenchman got his third runner-up in the NWES ELITE 1 standings in six NWES seasons.

RDV Competition won the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Teams Championship thanks to him and Ulysse Delsaux, who won the ELITE 2 title. Gabillon ended up 28 points behind  Day in the final standings.

“We had a lot of problems during this weekend,” said Gabillon after the podium ceremony. “We were simply not fast enough. We had a good race yesterday and the race today was quite good. Today I had a bad start and I was not able to make a move. Fighting for the second place was okay, Alon was too fast and too far away. Today was not the day I lost the championship for sure.”

Hezemans won the Junior Trophy and will get the opportunity to take part in a NASCAR race in the US next season.

Delsaux wins ELITE 2 season title

Ulysse Delsaux finished third in the second Circuit Zolder Final, which was good enough to help him capture the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series ELITE 2 division crown.

Belgian driver Guillaume Dumarey won the season finale in front of his home fans while Florian Venturi finished second and brought home the Rookie Cup.  

The ELITE 2 championship represents a unique achievement for Delsaux, who was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome early in his life and found in racing a way to express himself. The 21-year-old grew incredibly both as a driver and as a young man in his five years in Euro NASCAR and bringing RDV Competition their very first NASCAR drivers title.

“It’s unbelievable”, said Delsaux. “Before the race I was really stressed. I tried to control my emotions and focus just on the race like always in this amazing season. Many, many thanks to my team: they were incredible, they all did a great job. Also thanks to my family and fans who are always supporting me. I really don’t have the words right now!”

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