24H Zolder: Giorgio Maggi wins with the Belgians 🎥
OVERALL WIN IN A NORMA CAR By invitation, Giorgio Maggi contested the Zolder 24-hour race in a Norma Honda. And the man from Nidwald, who leads the NASCAR Euro Series, returned as the overall winner. The 24 Hours of Zolder is part of the Belgian Endurance Championship (Belcar) and, as the biggest event, also attracts foreign teams and drivers every year. As Giorgio Maggi with his [...]
The 24 Hours of Zolder is part of the Belgian Endurance Championship (Belcar) and, as its biggest event, also attracts foreign teams and drivers every year. With Giorgio Maggi's success in the 2019 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series also attracting attention in the Benelux region (he drives and wins for Dutch team Hendriks Motorsports), the 21-year-old received an invitation from well-known Belgian racer Bert Longin to compete in a Norma M20 FC fielded by semi-factory team Krafft Racing. Longin and Maggi already raced together in the European Le Mans Series three years ago.
Catching up after relapse
Bert Longin, his son Stienes, and Christoff Corten as another Belgian driver formed a powerful quartet together with the Swiss, which in the end prevailed against half a dozen competitors with equal two-liter sports cars and a host of touring cars and GT vehicles. Over the course of the 24 hours, the lead changed several times. When the team had to make an unscheduled repair stop after around seven hours, the prospect of success seemed to be gone with a gap of 15 laps.
The four drivers from Krafft Racing then staged a fierce chase to catch up, which brought them back to the lead after 19 hours. They did not relinquish the lead again until the finish at 4 p.m. Of the 791 laps completed (3172 kilometers), the team led 401.
Another business card
After successes in the ELMS and the Asian Le Mans Series more than two years ago, this means the first overall victory in a 24-hour race for the Swiss.
Giorgio Maggi: "I felt very comfortable in the team and in the Norma. I always kept to the lap times set by the team and didn't have a single slip, although you had to be careful as hell when lapping. It was a great race, but also exhausting, especially at night."
Focus on the last NASCAR Euro races
The driver from central Switzerland is now concentrating on the first semifinal of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series on September 21/22 in Hockenheim. Theoretically, Maggi can already decide the championship in the Elite 2 Rookies and Legends category for himself. The Swiss will then return to Zolder in October for the actual finale. After all, he now knows the track and its pitfalls very well.
