Our third and final Race Preview for the 2024 American Festival of Rome takes a look at what we can expect from EuroNASCAR 2 drivers and Trophy battles at Vallelunga.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is heading to Italy for the second round of the 2024 season, the American Festival of Rome at Autodromo Vallelunga. Located just north of Rome, Vallelunga is the longest serving Italian track in the EuroNASCAR calendar.
With plenty of memorable moments such as the title deciding dramas in 2021 and the victories of home crowd heroes in 2023, the Vallelunga round has resonated with the hearts of the tifosi and this year is expected to be no different.
A total of 53 drivers from 29 teams are set to enter across all three divisions, ready to give their best shot and make the 2024 American Festival of Rome the most spectacular one in its history.
The season opening round at Valencia saw a huge controversy in EuroNASCAR 2 due to contact between Hendriks Motorsport drivers Martin Doubek and Gil Linster in the first race, resulting in a puncture that took the Luxembourg driver out of the contention.
Even though both Hendriks drivers split the wins at Valencia, Leadlap revealed on 8 May that Linster had yet to speak again with Doubek.
A civil war between their drivers would be the last thing that Hendriks would want given that they are on a trajectory to dominate EuroNASCAR’s junior division once again.
Even with the backdrop of their drivers’ rivalry, Hendriks is still the favorite to win at Vallelunga. It’s easy to see why given the Dutch team’s past success here: They had swept the 2020 and 2021 rounds and took another victory with Liam Hezemans in 2022.
If Hendriks were to crumble, be it due to the rivalry or other factors, then the driver that will be poised to reap the advantage is RDV Competition’s Patrick Schober.
The Austrian was the only driver capable of keeping up with the Hendriks drivers at Valencia. With this performance and the support of reigning Teams champion RDV, all Schober needed to win was to have the lady of luck bless him during the races.
Two other drivers are also capable of putting themselves in contention if the decks were stacked in their favor: Academy Motorsport’s Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Race Art Technology’s Thomas Toffel.
Cappelli and Toffel’s pace were just a few notches away from the ones shown by Hendriks and Schober. Given the changes in the division’s landscape for 2024, it is not unfeasible to see them fight for victories as early as this weekend.
Cappelli is also in the lead of Legend Trophy, maintaining a ten point lead from compatriot Roberto Benedetti. The gap might seem comfortable, but the Italian knows first hand that any lead is not safe until the last checkered flag of the season is waved.
Melvin de Groot is exactly why Cappelli is wary of this happening again to him. The Dutchman had a lot of work to do to catch up to Cappelli, but as 2023 demonstrates, he had the ability to overcome any deficit into certain triumphs.
The Race Planet Team Bleekemolen driver will be supported by Thomas Dombrowski and Michael Bleekemolen, both seeking glory in the overall championship and the Legend Trophy respectively.
Rookie Trophy’s battle is expected to once again feature its traditional twists and surprises. Julien Rehberg of Bremotion will enter as the favorite, having greatly exceeded his own expectation by establishing himself as a major force in top-10 contentions.
Rehberg will face stiff opposition from Victor Neumann, Veeti Rajala and two drivers that the tifosi will root for: Mario Ercoli and Simone Giussani.
Mario, of course, is the younger brother of reigning series champion Gianmarco and will be looking to emulate his brother’s success at the track where Gianmarco had won three times.
Giussani is also familiar with Vallelunga, having raced here to great success in legends car racing. The Double V Racing driver showed great speed in Valencia, but incidents relegated him to 19th in the standings.
Thus, the 25-year old driver’s goal is simple: Gain as many points as possible to keep him in contention for the Trophy.
Another driver that the tifosi will cheer all the way through is Arianna Casoli, who will start her 94th and 95th races in the division.
Casoli is continuing her journey to become the first EuroNASCAR 2 to start 100 races, which she will do this year if there’s no setbacks to face either here or in the future.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.