The old saying “It’s never over until it’s all over” proved to be true one more time and that’s exactly what Claudio Remigio Cappelli experienced in EuroNASCAR 2 Playoffs 03 at Circuit Zolder. Gil Linster had been leading a close battle for the lead of the first EuroNASCAR Finals race when his #50 Hendriks Motorsport Toyota left him stranded with just three laps to go. Cappelli took advantage of the situation and held onto his newly found lead to claim his second win of 2024, as well as the Italian’s first proper taste at taking the checkered flag. The Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport ace driver finished ahead of Martin Doubek, who extended his points lead and placed one hand on the 2024 EuroNASCAR 2 championship trophy.
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Linster retained first place from Pole Position on the opening lap and was on course for a victory at the 4.010 kilometer circuit when misfortune once again struck the Luxembourger driver. Cappelli also had to face some adversity of his own as he lost the gear knob on his #5 Ford Mustang, leaving the Italian to use the palm of his hand to shift gears. The Robecco d’Oglio native admitted that it was a painful experience, but visiting Victory Lane and taking first place in Legend Trophy was a worthy reward for him and the Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport team.
“I feel good!” said Cappelli, who scored his second career win. “I thought I had no chance because I lost the gear knob on the first lap, so that was painful. I also lost some braking power, but the car was very good so I was able to compensate for that. I’m unhappy for Gil because he was leading, but I don’t know what happened. I only saw him losing power and I steered left. I thought there was a yellow flag at the beginning, but then I saw Doubek right behind me and so it was just go, go, go! Martin was thinking about the championship, so I was able to relax.”
Doubek managed his race well and settled for second place finish. With his rivals hitting trouble, the Czech driver gained plenty of advantage on the eve of Sunday’s decider. Thomas Krasonis held off a late challenge from Melvin de Groot to take the final podium position. The Greek driver dedicated his podium to fellow Greek sportsman George Baldock, who sadly passed away prior to the weekend. De Groot’s fourth place finish was enough for second in Legend Trophy, keeping him in the lead of the special classification. Jack Davidson delivered a strong performance and took his fourth consecutive top-5 finish in Belgium.
Julien Rehberg was back on top of the Rookie Trophy in sixth position. Thomas Toffel charged his way from 24th to seventh and took the bonus points for the most positions gained. The Swiss driver also took the fastest lap, which gave him the pole for the last race of the season. Patrick Schober had an off-track excursion on lap 12 that cost him dear. The Austrian lost a lot of points and will need to have an extraordinary event happening on Sunday to have a shot at the championship.
Thomas Dombrowski and Victor Neumann completed the top-10. Neumann and Rajala, who finished 11th, filled the top-3 positions in the Rookie Trophy. The Frenchman also took the overall Rookie Trophy lead away from Florian Richard, but only just: Two points separated them heading to Sunday. Arianna Casoli is the Lady Trophy winner in 22nd position and has officially clinched her record fifth overall win in the special classification. Her main rival Luli del Castello had an opening lap contact with Kenko Miura that took both drivers out of the race.
Doubek’s runner-up finish allows the Czech driver to extend his championship lead to 45 points, a margin that looks insurmountable with just one race remaining. Even with double points on the line, a major game changing moment is needed for Schober to become the 2024 EuroNASCAR 2 champion. Krasonis is only 19 points away from Schober and can potentially steal second position away from the Austrian.
With only one race left for both EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2, history will be etched in the record books when Playoffs 04 goes to green. EuroNASCAR 2 will go first at 11:05 CEST before EuroNASCAR PRO brings the fireworks to close the 2024 season at 13:30 CEST. Make sure you tune in to EuroNASCAR’s official YouTube channel and TV channels all around the world, because it will be a must watch for fans of powerful V8 engined machines.EuroNASCAR PRO Results | EuroNASCAR 2 Results
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