BRANDS HATCH, England — Alon Day and Florian Venturi ended up first in the free practice sessions for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series at the famous Brands Hatch Indy Circuit to open the NASCAR GP UK.

Day clocked a 49.154-second lap, beating Loris Hezemans by a mere 0.087 seconds while in the ELITE 2 Division Venturi was fastest by a margin of 0.121 seconds.
In the ELITE 1 Division, 18 drivers were separated by less than one second, showing how close the competition is in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season. It was two-time champion and current points leader Day who came out fastest on Friday at the wheel of his CAAL Racing Chevrolet SS. The Israeli was just a few thousands of a second faster than Hezemans and his Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang.

The Dutchman was 0.148 seconds quicker than Frederic Gabillon, who led the first practice session of the NASCAR GP UK earlier in the afternoon driving his No. 3 RDV Competition Chevrolet SS.

Final Practice was briefly red flagged two times because of cars stuck in the gravel traps of the Indy Circuit, but the session resumed both times after the safety crew cleared the track.
Alexander Graff was fourth in his Memphis Racing Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Nicolo Rocca and three-time champion Ander Vilarino.

Venturi set a lap time of 49.763 seconds in final practice in the ELITE 2 Division. The Go Fas Racing driver was just 0.121 seconds quicker than Freddy Nordstrom, who is coming back to NWES at Brands Hatch with PK Carsport.

Championship leader Giorgio Maggi was third quickest behind the wheel of his Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang ahead of Andre Castro and Valencia race winner Nicholas Risitano, who closed the top five.