Valencia, Spain – The 2023 season of the Chevrolet Camaro #88 run by Max Lanza and Roberto Benedetti started with two class podiums in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series trophies. From the very first practice session, the two Italian drivers were protagonist of the EuroNASCAR Pro Challenger Trophy and EuroNASCAR 2 Legend Trophy, grabbing one class podium each in the races held by Valencia circuit.

Max Lanza started the weekend with some setup problem, but the Rome-native driver found the way to improve himself and the behavior of his CAAL Racing #88 session by session, conquering the 8th row – 3rd in the class standing – in the qualifying session. In Race 1 Lanza fought a lot for the win of the EuroNASCAR PRO Division, ending the race only .010 second from the class gold medall: “For an half I’m satisfied by our weekend, for the other half not so much. We had some issue at the beginning, but thanks to the CAAL Racing technicians we found the way to improve our performance and we saw the result in Race 1. We could win, but a contact slowed us. That was a pity, but the solid pace remains.” commented Max Lanza, who would have liked to try again the assault on victory in Race 2, but in the frantic start, where he had already gained some positions, he was forced to retire after just one corner due a contact. “We must work on our performance on the flying lap. The goal for Brands Hatch is to enter the Top 10 in qualifying. We could do it also here, but I found a bit of traffic on my lap.”

Also Roberto Benedetti experienced a difficult first part of the weekend. The Italian driver set a good lap time in qualy, starting in Race 1 from the 6th row. Benedetti set an exciting comeback in the first race, conquering the second place in the EuroNASCAR 2 Legend Trophy, thanks to a solid P8 overall. “We started the season from the Top10! A very good start for us! I’m very happy about what we did this weekend and how we react to have a good performance in Race 1. On Saturday I preferred a secure P2 without taking any risk, a good decision seeing how was Race 2…” said the Italian driver, forced to a extra stop on Sunday Race that put him on the back of the field.

All the show of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series moves now to UK, on the epic Brands Hatch circuit, ready to host the second round of the season on 17th and 18th of June.