Heading into the summer break, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series points standings show close battles throughout the field. One of the most exciting duels is taking place in EuroNASCAR 2 for the Rookie Trophy. After six championship races and the special event at the Venray oval, Julien Rehberg leads Florian Richard by just one point. The German and the Frenchman are ninth and tenth in the overall standings, making the second half of the season a must-see.
Julien Rehberg joined EuroNASCAR with Bremotion after competing in karting and touring car racing. Thanks to his previous experience, the German from Haltern am See quickly climbed the learning curve in adapting to the 400 horsepower V8 monster with H-pattern shifts and no electronic aids. The driver of the #77 Chevrolet has scored a total of four Rookie Trophy victories so far and fought door-to-door battles with Florian Richard at Vallelunga, Brands Hatch and Venray. He leads the class by just one point and will be looking to extend his lead in the regular season finale at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic on August 30 – September 1.
Richard experienced the world of EuroNASCAR in the 2023 Club Challenge regularity season with Speedhouse. As part of Lucas Lasserre’s development program, he took the step forward to competitive racing in EuroNASCAR 2 in 2024 and immediately had the pace to battle for class wins. The Frenchman has won one Rookie Trophy race so far and has impressed with his consistency. This puts him in tenth place, just one point behind Rehberg. But there’s another driver who’s closing the gap on the top-2 in third place.
Victor Neumann had a great weekend at Raceway Venray; where he scored his first EuroNASCAR 2 top-5 finish behind Martin Doubek, Claudio Cappelli and Ryan Vargas. It was also his first visit to the top of the Rookie Trophy podium. Heading into the Summer break, the Frenchman is third in the class standings, just 11 points behind Rehberg. The Marko Stipp Motorsport driver has shown strong progress from race to race and is eager to attack and become a Rookie Trophy contender in the second half of the season.
Mario Ercoli, the younger step-brother of reigning EuroNASCAR PRO Champion Gianmarco Ercoli, is 15th in the standings, just 14 points behind Neumann. The Italian is still looking for his first class win, but the Vict Motorsport driver showed a glimpse of his true potential when he competed for first place in the Rookie Trophy at his home race in Vallelunga. Dominique Schaak rounds out the Rookie Trophy top-5 in 17th at the wheel of the #99 Bremotion Chevrolet.
The German is followed by Veeti Rajala, Simone Giussani, who has shown a promising pace but has been unlucky so far in 2024, Reza Sardeha, Valerio Marzi, Frederic Perriat and Giovanni Faraonio. The regular season finale at Autodrom Most will be an important milestone in the 2024 season, as each pilot will drop their worst result of the first half of the season before heading into the double-point playoffs in Germany and Zolder. Every single point could make the difference in EuroNASCAR’s special championship for rookies, where drivers have only one chance to win the title.
NWES PR
