The 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series regular season came to a close at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic with four races on the challenging track located an hour outside of Prague. Over 40,000 fans packed the grandstands and the green hills surrounding the track to make the fifth edition of the NASCAR GP Czech Republic an unforgettable festival of speed, V8 orchestras and thrilling on-track battles. A variety of off-track attractions, including a ferris wheel, live music and food trucks, entertained families from all over Europe.
On the sporting side, Vittorio Ghirelli and Martin Doubek secured the regular season championship and will lead the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 standings into the playoffs.
Ghirelli scored a win on Saturday and a runner-up finish on Sunday to continue his strong momentum. He set a new record with five consecutive pole awards and broke Alon Day’s track record in qualifying. Doubek finally got his first win on home soil, sending the crowd on the grandstands and in Victory Lane into a frenzy. Next up are the double points paying playoff events at Oschersleben, Germany and Zolder, Belgium. Buckle up for more American-themed family festivals across Europe and thrilling door-to-door battles in Europe’s premier touring car championship – the official NASCAR series on the Old Continent. 40,517 fans attended the event – another record since EuroNASCAR has been visiting Autodrom Most.
EuroNASCAR PRO
Ghirelli put the red Whelen banner on his windshield in Victory Lane in Valencia and never relinquished the championship lead. The Italian walked in at Autodrom Most as the favorite title contender and kept the momentum going aboard his #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet. After his record-breaking qualifying performance, the Italian won the race on Saturday and took home a strong second place on Sunday to win the regular season and head into the playoffs as the leader. He’s eight points ahead of Liam Hezemans, who had a solid race weekend in Most.
The Dutchman was involved in a multi car incident on lap 1 in Sunday’s race but was able to continue and limit the damage by finishing sixth. On Saturday, the 2022 EuroNASCAR 2 Champion ended up fifth to retain his role as Ghirelli’s closest rival in the battle. After dropping his worst points score from the regular season, the Hendriks Motorsport driver is just eight points behind Ghirelli entering the 2024 playoffs. But there’s another young gun aiming to win the EuroNASCAR PRO title: Paul Jouffreau.
The Frenchman took the win in Sunday’s race one year after he already finished first at Autodrom Most in EuroNASCAR PRO. Jouffreau ended up second on Saturday and made a big jump towards the front of the overall standings. The RDV Competition driver is third overall, just ten points behind the leader. The reigning champion Gianmarco Ercoli experienced a tough weekend in the Czech Republic after a collision with Lucas Lasserre on Saturday and a sixth place finish on Sunday. The Italian is still in the hunt for his title defense but CAAL Racing needs four perfect races to have a shot at the title at Circuit Zolder.
Jouffreau and Hezemans are also the main protagonists in the battle for the Junior Trophy for drivers aged 25 and under. The two are separated by just two points in the special classification. Third is Ryan Vargas in tenth overall. The NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series driver knows both playoff tracks from his debut in 2023 and wants to establish himself and 3F Racing in the top-10. Max Lanza leads the Challenger Trophy ahead of Thomas Toffel and Dario Caso heading into the two decisive rounds of the season.
The battle is on and with 14 drivers within 100 points, the playoff races in Oschersleben and Zolder will provide for a nail-biting thriller. Expect the unexpected when Ghirelli, Hezemans, Jouffreau and the dark horses in the EuroNASCAR PRO championship – Ercoli, Lasserre, Tobias Dauenhauer, Martin Doubek and Marc Goossens – will battle it out with more door-to-door battles with the mean V8 machine producing 400hp.
EuroNASCAR 2
After years of trying and waiting, Doubek finally won his home race at the Most circuit in the Czech Republic. The Hendriks Motorsport driver took first place in a fierce battle with Melvin de Groot on Sunday to extend his lead in the EuroNASCAR 2 championship. De Groot swept the Legend Trophy with two class wins under the blazing sun of Most. Patrick Schober is now Doubek’s closest rival: the Austrian won EuroNASCAR 2 Round 8 on Saturday to move into second place in the standings at the end of the regular season.
Doubek is 49 points ahead of Schober and needs consistent results in the playoffs to become the first two-time EuroNASCAR 2 champion in the series’ history. Toffel is third after another strong showing in the fifth of seven events of the 2024 season. The Race Art Technology driver took a big step towards the top in his second year and could have a shot at the championship at Circuit Zolder in October.
Gil Linster continued to fight with luck at the Autodrom Most. The Luxembourg rider finished sixth in Saturday’s race and was fighting for a podium place on Sunday. In the penultimate lap of the race he made contact with Toffel in Turn 1 and had to pit with mechanical problems on his Toyota Camry. Linster is now fourth in the championship, 63 points behind Doubek. Two solid top-10 results let Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Thomas Krasonis round out the championship’s top-5 heading into the double points paying playoffs.
Thomas Dombrowski is sixth overall, followed by Jack Davidson and de Groot in seventh and eighth. De Groot leads the Legend Trophy for drivers 40 and over. It’s a close battle in this class as Michael Bleekmolen and Claudio Cappelli are only 14 and 17 points behind the leader respectively.
Florian Richard enters the playoffs as the Rookie Trophy leader with a four-point lead over Victor Neumann, who made up a lot of ground with two strong races at Autodrom Most. Double Rookie Trophy winner Mario Ercoli is third, while Julien Rehberg lost his lead due to a 20-point penalty for a pile-up in turn 1 in Saturday’s race. The top-4 are separated by only 29 points. The top-10 in the overall championship are separated by 99 points and with double points on offer in Germany and Belgium, the battle for the championship has yet to be decided. Two family-friendly events with plenty of attractions and thrilling on-track battles are sure to make the 2024 EuroNASCAR 2 season one for the history books.
Club Challenge
The Club Challenge is the best way for drivers to test the powerful V8 cars in a friendly environment during a NASCAR GP. The regularity-based competition will be decided at Oschersleben and Zolder with a total of four 30-minute timed sessions remaining in the season. After Reza Sardeha’s first win at the Autodrom Most, the Dutchman is now level on points with reigning overall champion Gordon Barnes. Federico Monti follows in third, just two points behind the leaders, while Bruno Costa is just three points behind both Barnes and Sardeha.
With double points on the line in the Finals, Andreas Kuchelbacher also has a chance to bounce back after a tough outing in the Czech Republic. The former Club Challenge champion is 12 points behind Barnes and Sardeha in fifth place, just one point ahead of Edouard Fatio. New names are being made in the Club Challenge and young drivers as well as Gentlemen Drivers have the best opportunity to enter the World of EuroNASCAR through the Club Challenge.
NWES PR
