Whelen Euro ELITE 1 – Kumpen Si Riprende La Leadership

Anthony Kumpen (#24 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS) delivered a spectacular performance in the ELITE 1 Semi Final 1 at Adria International Raceway to bring home his fourth win of the season and retake the points lead from Frederic Gabillon (#3 Tepac RDV Compétition Ford Mustang). It was his sixth career win and the second in the playoffs after his 2014 title-winning campaign.

Kumpen started from the third place on the grid and immediately passed Gabillon for second. Pole sitter Alon Day (#54 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) looked strong in the first laps but Kumpen rapidly gained ground on him and took the lead on lap 9 of 24.

A caution flag waved on lap 13 to allow the marshals to recover Riccardo Geltrude’s (#7 Double-T by Nocentini Ford Mustang) car from the gravel trap and on the subsequent restart, with seven laps to go, Kumpen kept the lead, closely followed by Day, while Gabillon lost two positions to Nicolò Rocca (#56 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) and Bert Longin (#11 PK Carsport Chevrolet SS).

Kumpen took the checkered flag with a 1.786 seconds advantage on Day, who won the Junior “Jerome Sarran” Trophy classification and thanks to last-lap dive, Longin brought the PK Carsport team a podium finish with the third place, beating Rocca, Gabillon and Freddy Nordstrom (#44 CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS) to the line in a tight battle.

After an early contact that sent him to the back of the field, Alex Caffi (#23 Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang) came back to seventh in what was his NASCAR debut.

Ulysse Delsaux (#31 McDonald’s RDV Compétition Ford Mustang) edged Simone Monforte (#88 Eurokart Racing Team Chevrolet SS) for eight. The Italian came from the back of the field to score his third career top-10 in ELITE 1 Division. A solid Martin Doubek (#5 Dexwet Renauer Team Ford Mustang) came in tenth in what was his second career ELITE 1 race, edging Carlo Forte (#69 SPV Racing Ford Mustang), who won the Challenger Trophy classification.

The second ELITE 1 race of the American Speed Weekend Semi Finals will go green at 14:30 CET and will be streamed live on Fanschoice.tv