For the swedish duo Alexander Graff and Freddie Hemborg, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series debut in the Czech Republic was quite successful. Both drivers of the car #77 of Memphis Racing managed to finish their races in the Top10. With 4.2km Most is the longest race track in the calendar of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
“The track has some different good parts that you can see from other tracks, which is combined as a big track. So you have long straights, the S-combination, you have fast corners, slow corners, you have chicanes, so I think it has the most of it, which is quite funny when it’s called “Most”. It’s a good track actually, I like it a lot”, said Alexander Graff. His teammate Freddie Hemborg likes the track as well:”It’s very nice actually, I think it has a good flow all the time, pretty fast. I think it’s very funny.” In the qualifying of the Elite 1 just ended up outside the SuperPole. “I was not so comfortable with my qualification. I started on P13 and ended up on P9, which is good as I gained some positions. I put in the 6th fastest lap in the race, so I’ll start further in the front in Race 2”, Graff said in an interview with Threewide. The heat as such was not a big problem for him, would did bother him most was that especially the pedals became very hot. “My feet were burning. I think that is an issue for a couple of guys here. But actually it didn’t take so much time after the racewhen I was back to basic. Maybe it was because of the Safety Car, but I can feel like I’ll also survive the second race.” In Race 2 of the Elite 1 on Sunday, the Swede started from P6. After a good start he lost some spots due to a little mistake in turn 10. He had to work himself through the field and was able to finish on P8, which meant another Top10-finish for the Swede.
For Graffs teammate Freddie Hemborg, the weekend did not start off too well. In the qualifying of the Elite 2 he was only on P15. In Race 1 he could improve and in the end he was able to finish in the Top10 on P9. “The race was a little bit bumpy, but I ended up 9th from P15, I think it was good”, said Hemborg. His fastest lap time put him on P12 for Race 2. “Race 2 was pretty good. I was about 6 seconds behind the car in front of me and maybe 8 seconds in front of the car behind me. So I had a pretty good race. I had a little problem with the heat, as it was very hot down the pedals.” It’s the first season for Freddie Hemborg in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. In last couple of years he was driving in the V8 Thunder, just like his teammate Alexander Graff did. “I’m pretty used to this kind of cars. Together with my teammate Alexander, I drove the same cars in Sweden for maybe 8 to 10 years. Of course it’s a new kind of car anyhow, bigger tires for example, but I think I can get better and better.”
