"I was able to run both races with my best ever race pace and score good points to end the regular season P18 overall" - Arianna Casoli achieved her best NASCAR Whelen Euro Series result in two years with a strong 14th place finish at Autodrom Most, including the Ladies Trophy in race 1.
Arianna Casoli achieved her best result in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in almost two years as she enjoyed a positive weekend at Autodrom Most. Casoli’s race pace was impressive throughout the event and this culminated in a strong 14th place result in race one of the weekend.
Despite contact on the opening lap of race two, Casoli was able to rejoin and bank vital championship points as the regular season reached its conclusion.
Arriving at Autodrom Most 19th in the Euro NASCAR 2 standings, Casoli had enjoyed a consistent season to date. Maintaining a 100% finishing record in 2024, Casoli has been a classified finisher in the previous 28 races which is among the longest streak of any active driver. After narrowly missing out on a top-15 at Autodrom Most last season, Arianna aimed to use her experience to fight her way through the field.
Getting up to speed quickly was set to be important as Casoli tackled one of the longest laps of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season. The drivers were given two free practice sessions on Friday to familiarise themselves with the circuit, while track conditions were extremely hot.
In the first session, Arianna set the 21st fastest time before improving to 20th in session two. Also making a slight time improvement, the SpeedHouse Racing driver was looking ahead to qualifying on Saturday morning.
Conditions were slightly cooler for qualifying compared to Friday’s practice sessions and Casoli was looking to bring herself closer to the midfield runners. It was a positive session for the Italian racer who improved on her best time from practice by over one and a half seconds. This resulted in the 20th fastest time for Arianna who showed good speed through sector one especially.
Casoli lined up 20th on the grid for race one of the weekend and was targeting progress at Autodrom Most. It was a superb start for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series veteran who negotiated an opening corner incident to emerge undamaged while gaining eight overall positions. The debris from this incident, combined with returning driver Luli Del Castello beached in the gravel, necessitated the safety car to be deployed.
Now running in 12th, Arianna was running in her best position of the entire season and was searching for her first top-15 finish of the campaign. As the racing got back underway on lap five, Casoli was shuffled back to 16th but was running immediately behind Nick Strickler.
Running a personal best time on lap six, Casoli was closing in on her qualifying benchmark and was soon back inside the top-15. Following a drive-through penalty for Thomas Dombrowski and the retirement of Jack Davidson, Arianna was now up to 15th as the race closed in on halfway.
Gaining further confidence with every lap, Casoli ran her quickest lap of the entire weekend on lap 10 as she aimed to fight off a recovering Dombrowski. The Team Bleekemolen driver made his way through on lap 11, however Casoli responded with another personal best lap. Two laps later, a technical issue for Dominique Schaak promoted Casoli to 14th while improving her quickest lap again.
Now lapping a full two seconds faster than in qualifying, the SpeedHouse Racing driver was enjoying her best showing of the season and matching the pace of drivers challenging for top-10 positions. Setting a further personal best time on the final lap of the race, Casoli took the checkered flag in 14th position to score her best result of the campaign to date and her highest finish since Zolder in 2022.
Following her excellent opening race of the weekend, Casoli was looking to keep the momentum going during race two at Autodrom Most. Starting from 17th position, Arianna was fighting hard for positions within the midfield on the opening lap of the race. Contact from the Ford Mustang of Reza Sardeha then sent both Sardeha and Casoli spinning with the battling duo beached in the gravel. Good work from the marshals allowed Casoli to continue, albeit two laps down after a trip to the pits to assess potential damage.
Nonetheless, the SpeedHouse Racing driver was able to catch the train of cars under the safety car and bank further experience in the remainder of the race. Despite the damage to her car, Casoli built up her speed well and was running in 20th position as the racing resumed.
Arianna enjoyed a relatively lonely race, however her fastest time set on lap 10 was less than half a second away from her personal best lap from race one underlining her sustained progress. Casoli was able to successfully preserve her run of classified finishes and took the checkered flag in 19th position overall.
"What an eventful weekend in Most!", Arianna wrote. "It’s a very challenging racetrack: fast, fun to drive and needs lots of skills and concentration to achieve the limit and finish each race. SpeedHouse gave me the best car, I worked session by session with Lucas Lasserre to improve driving and set new goals", she explained, "I worked with myself to find the good balance and strength to beat my previous performances and finally my best performance ever in terms of lap times on this racetrack."
"In race 2 unfortunately a too 'optimistic' move of another driver ended both of us in the gravel on the first lap", she summarized. "I was smart enough - or just lucky - to avoid big damages and get back on track. The SpeedHouse guys fixed front bumber and some body parts in some way to allowed me to rejoin the race"
It was a successful weekend of racing for Casoli at Autodrom Most as she secured her best result in two years. Her race pace was strong and this allowed her to match the midfield runners in race one and was set to challenge for another top-15 result in race two before the early-race contact.
"Never give up is the key - NASCAR races are different and from the positive side of the events I was able to run both races with my best ever race pace and score good points to end the regular season P18 overall."
Casoli will be searching to continue this form when the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Playoffs get underway at Oschersleben on the weekend of 21st/22nd September.
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