MOST, Czech Republic – Loris Hezemans rebounded from from a blown engine on Saturday to win Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Euro Series ELITE 1 event at Most Autodrom.

Starting second on the grid, the son of racing icon Toine Hezemans overtook polesitter Nicolp Rocca in the first corner and went on to lead all 17 laps of the race in his No. 50 Ford Mustang. The Dutchman brought home his first win of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season and also topped the Junior Trophy classification.

“It’s the best way to come back from the disaster we suffered yesterday,” said Hezemans. “We had a tough first part of the season but we were also there at the front of the pack. Sometimes I made mistakes on my own and sometimes we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It feels so good to be back in Victory Lane.”

Stienes Longin expanded his championship lead by securing his sixth second place finish the year. The PK Carsport driver once again impressed for his consistency and also took advantage of the setback his teammate Rocca suffered. While running less than one second behind Hezemans, the Italian went in the gravel on lap 14 and reported damages to slow his PK Carsport Chevrolet. Rocca salvaged an 11th-place finish.

“The good thing about all those second places is that we scored a lot of points,” said Longin. “It’s always good to be on the podium. And it’s a nice feeling to be leading the championship after another solid race weekend here at Most.”

His teammate Rocca explained the situation that cost him a podium finish.

“I made a mistake and picked up a lot of gravel,” Rocca said. “From then on, it was a fight to shove it away through every corner. In the end I was able to finish the race. It was a good weekend and I had a good car. Now we have to come back stronger next time out.”

Before Most, Romain Iannetta’s best season results were two sixth places at Brands Hatch but the Frenchman stepped on the last spot on the podium with a strong performance in his 60th ELITE 1 start. The Racing Engineering driver had an intense battle with Martin Doubek and Lucas Lasserre throughout the entire race.

Coming from eleventh on the grid, Thomas Ferrando ended up fourth and capped with another solid race his best weekend so far in 2019. The Frenchman was also second in the Junior Trophy classification, while ELITE 2 champion Ulysse Delsaux rounded out the top-five and the Junior Trophy podium after gaining five spots during the race.

Henri Tuomaala grabbed his second Challenger Trophy win at Most by ending up 12th ahead of Dario Caso and Mauro Trione, who joined the Finnish race driver on the podium for the silver-categorized drivers racing in the ELITE 1 Division.