Championship leaders Vittorio Ghirelli and Martin Doubek proved to be the favorites for the wins in the 2024 NASCAR GP UK at Brands Hatch by securing the Pole Position Awards in their respective qualifying sessions. The two NASCAR Whelen Euro Series championship leaders carried on the strong momentum built in Valencia and Vallelunga and positioned themselves ideally to continue their domination in the 2024 regular season.
Considering Brands Hatch’s short layout, the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 fields were split into two groups for each division. By virtue of their championship position, Ghirelli and Doubek both took part in the second group respectively and perfectly took advantage of the conditions to both grab the pole for the first races of the weekend, the exciting Rounds 5 that will delight the British racing fans with plenty of action.
EuroNASCAR PRO: Third consecutive Pole Award for Ghirelli
Vittorio Ghirelli was once again the master of the shootout in his #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro. The Italian earned himself a ticket to Superpole when he put his machine in second place in Qualifying, saving some rubber of his Hoosier tires in the process. The championship leader pushed hard in the Superpole and produced his best performance to put his car in first position with a time of 48.837 seconds ahead of 18 drivers separated by just one second. The Fasano native will be joined by Doubek on the front row as the Czech driver continued his strong momentum from the second round in Italy.
“They put the championship contenders in the same group and I think it was a good decision so we had the same tire temperature heading into Superpole”, said Ghirelli, who scored his ninth career EuroNASCAR PRO Pole Award. “It was good for me to have the first group on track to have a reference and see how the track is. We went out and did the job. This track is quite short and all the lap times are very close. It was a good lap I have to say as I was pushing hard. We worked well yesterday but there’s still potential to improve a bit. I’m happy to grab my third consecutive Pole Award, so it’s going well for now.”
RDV Competition’s Paul Jouffreau was the fastest in Qualifying, but he came up short in Superpole and had to settle for a third place starting position in his #3 Ford Mustang. Despite missing out on pole, the Frenchman secured the top spot in the Junior Trophy for drivers aged 25 and under. Gianmarco Ercoli and Lucas Lasserre completed the top-5 ahead of Liam Hezemans, the second fastest pilot in the Junior Trophy. Ulysse Delsaux and Vladimiros Tziortzis qualified on the fourth row, with the Cypriot being the only driver from the first group to advance to Superpole.
Thomas Toffel in ninth position is the driver to beat in the Challenger Trophy. The Swiss driver was the only pilot in the special classification to take part in the Superpole and beat Tobias Dauenhauer, who rounded out the top-10. Thomas Krasonis just missed out on Superpole in eleventh, but was third in the Junior rankings. The top-3 positions in Challenger Trophy for elite amateur drivers were rounded out by Max Lanza and Riccardo Romagnoli in 16th and 20th respectively, mirroring where they finished on Friday Practice.
EuroNASCAR 2: Doubek again on top
Martin Doubek laid the perfect foundation to extend his championship lead in EuroNASCAR 2 by grabbing his first Qualifying Pole Award of the season. He beat his Hendriks Motorsport teammate Gil Linster, who ended up second just 0.067 seconds off the lap time set by Doubek. The Hendriks Motorsport drivers will share the front row again now for the fourth time in the 2024 season. The Czech and the Luxembourger are the top contenders for the EuroNASCAR 2 crown and will for sure offer plenty of action when they head side-by-side into the infamous Paddock Hill Bend at the Indy Circuit of Brands Hatch.
“It’s really nice to be here again and get the Pole Position”, said Doubek, who scored his eighth career Pole Award in EuroNASCAR 2. “It’s a really nice feeling but now we will see what happens. I hope that there will be no rain later today but the forecast looks good. I was also second in EuroNASCAR PRO Qualifying so I have two strong starting positions for today. Cross your fingers while I’m looking forward to racing today. Let’s see what we can get out of it.”
EuroNASCAR 2 Qualifying was divided into two groups and the provisional Pole Position switched several times over the two 10-minute sessions. RDV Competition’s Patrick Schober was on top of the timing sheets for several minutes into the second session but in the end, the Austrian had to settle for third place. Thomas Toffel also spent some time on provisional pole during the second run, but the Swiss will start from the second row on the grid. Local hero Jack Davidson also briefly had the top spot in his hand, but he was forced to pit road to change a punctured tire right after he set his personal best in Qualifying.
The Scotsman with plenty of experience at the Indy Circuit will start fifth right next to Claudio Cappelli, the fastest driver among the Legend Trophy pilots. Melvin de Groot, the second placed driver in the class for drivers aged 40 and more, finished sixth ahead of Thomas Krasonis. Florian Richard topped the Rookie Trophy standings in ninth overall, while Thomas Dombrowski rounded out the top-10. Completing the Legend Trophy top-3 was Roberto Benedetti in eleventh, ahead of Rookie Trophy’s top-3 qualifiers Mario Ercoli and Victor Neumann. Arianna Casoli was the fastest Lady Trophy contender in 25th. The best 13 drivers were separated by just one second.
The 2024 NASCAR GP UK continues with Rounds 5 of both EuroNASCAR PRO (2:00 pm CEST / 1:00 pm local time) and EuroNASCAR 2 (5:30 pm CEST / 4:30 pm local time) on Saturday. All races of the eleventh edition of the American SpeedFest will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel and several TV networks from all around the world.
EuroNASCAR PRO Results | EuroNASCAR 2 Results
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