Martin Doubek made history in front of tens of thousands of Czech fans that visited the Autodrom Most for EuroNASCAR 2 Round 9 on Sunday. The home crowd’s favorite valiantly defended his lead from Melvin de Groot from the start to finish to score career win number 13. The Czech is now the winningest driver in the division’s history ahead of Thomas Ferrando thanks to the long-awaited first home victory.
“It was under control,” jokes Doubek after his milestone race win at one of the finest events on the EuroNASCAR schedule. “It was a really good race and Melvin was really fast. I really heard the fans cheering for me on the grandstands that was really motivating. I have no words. I’m f****** happy.” Team owner Roy Hendriks concluded: “It was a busy weekend for us with the extra pressure from Martin’s home race. I feel some weight now off my shoulders but we did it for him and his fans. We are really proud and happy about this amazing result.”
De Groot validated his performance from Round 8 on Saturday with an even stronger outing behind the wheel of the #69 Team Bleekemolen Toyota. The tall Dutchman never let Doubek away from his sights but he couldn’t take over the lead of the race. Still, the Team Bleekemolen driver completed the sweep in the Legend Trophy and tied Eric de Doncker on top of the all-time winners list in the special classification for drivers aged 40 and above.
A clever decision at the restart on lap 5, after the Safety Car was called due to an incident between Arianna Casoli and Reza Sardeha on the opening lap, left Patrick Schober unable to complete a weekend sweep in the Czech Republic. The Austrian took the emergency exit in turn 1 as the road was blocked with cars braking in front of him. He wanted to keep his car clean so his teammate Paul Jouffreau could have a perfectly fine car in the upcoming EuroNASCAR PRO race.
Thomas Toffel kept his consistency with another fourth place finish, coming close to his second podium finish of 2024. After a retirement on Saturday, Jack Davidson was back on the top-5 with a strong showing in his Lux Motorsport Chevrolet. Thomas Krasonis was sixth ahead of Mario Ercoli, who completed the sweep in the Rookie Trophy with another mature ride in his Vict Motorsport Chevrolet.
Thomas Dombrowski, Veeti Rajala, second in the Rookie Trophy, and Michael Bleekemolen, second in the Legend Trophy, completed the top-10 positions. Dominique Schaak was third in the Rookie Trophy in 12th. It was the German’s first visit to the class podium with Bremotion. Luli del Castello topped the Lady Trophy in 16th while Casoli’s decision to rejoin the race paid off with a third place finish in the Legend Trophy and a second place in the Lady Trophy in 18th.
With the worst points score being dropped for each driver, Doubek’s sixth win of the year solidified his lead in the championship even further. The Czech driver now has a 49 point lead on Schober in second. Toffel moved up to third, 56 points behind Doubek, after Gil Linster once again was unlucky and had mechanical trouble after a contact with Toffel with just two laps to go. Krasonis completes the top-5. Melvin de Groot’s double podium gives him the Legend Trophy lead from teammate Bleekemolen and Claudio Cappelli while Richard maintains his lead in the Rookie Trophy despite getting spun on Sunday ahead of Victor Neumann and Ercoli.
One race remains in the 2024 NASCAR GP Czech Republic and that’s EuroNASCAR PRO Round 9, which will go live on 14:15 CEST on broadcasts through EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel and several TV networks from all around the world.
EuroNASCAR PRO Results | EuroNASCAR 2 Results
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