No one can stop Vittorio Ghirelli at Vallelunga after he won both EuroNASCAR PRO races, a result that confirmed the Italian’s status as the “invincible” at his home race.
Vittorio Ghirelli affirmed his domination in the 2024 American Festival of Rome with a complete sweep of the races. Having previously led the Practice and Qualifying sessions, the Italian cemented his position as the ‘invincible’ driver at Autodromo Vallelunga.
With three wins in a span of just four races, Ghirelli is certainly going to be the favorite for the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series title as he and PK Carsport prepared for the prospect of more glory in the next round at Brands Hatch.
Race 1 Recap
Sunny skies greeted the 26 EuroNASCAR PRO drivers that competed in the first race on Saturday. Threats of rain were looming after a brief rainfall during Superpole, but the event went on without major weather changes.
Ulysse Delsaux was late to the build-up because SpeedHouse mechanics were still working on his car after it broke down when teammate Arianna Casoli drove the car in Qualifying. Fortunately, the repairs were completed in time and he was able to take his place on the starting grid.
Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Nick Strickler wasn’t so lucky however. The American was forced to start his race from the pits due to a technical issue with his No. 48 Sequent Chevrolet.
Pole sitter Ghirelli led comfortably on the opening lap, but there were some dramas once the field reached Turn 6. Dario Caso and Thomas Dombrowski made contact there after the Frenchman ran deep into the corner, sending both cars into the asphalt run-off.
Moments later, multiple incidents occurred at the tricky Soratte corner. Martin Doubek got his car unsettled by the sausage kerbs and clipped into Delsaux at the exit.
At nearly the same time, Thomas Toffel had to swerve and take avoiding action when the field bunched up. He nearly got away scot free, but contact with Davide Dallara resulted in a rear-left puncture for the Swiss driver.
With the damage making him to go to the gravel at Semaforo, Toffel was forced to come to the pits. Delsaux, Dallara, Caso, Dombrowski and Max Marzorati also had to make an unscheduled stop shortly after.
Back at the front, Ghirelli maintained his lead for the next few laps. The Full Course Yellow was then brought out on lap 3 due to Dombrowski and Caso’s retirement, creating a chain of events that changed the complexity of the race.
When the restart took place, some of the teams didn’t receive the countdown notification in time. This included Paul Jouffreau and Tobias Dauenhauer, who only realized that the race got back underway when they saw their rivals approaching quickly in their side mirrors.
This resulted in the chasing pack going three-wide into Soratte, which was advantage for Gianmarco Ercoli who slid by to second place. Ercoli soon caught up to Ghirelli, who slowed down at the restart because he gained time during FCY by accident.
Ercoli tried his best to keep his car in close proximity to Ghirelli, but the PK Carsport driver’s domination was too much for the reigning champion. Ghirelli cruised away to take the checkered flag by 5.011 seconds, giving him a back-to-back win on home soil.
“It’s fantastic to win here in front of my fans, my family and so many friends,” said Ghirell, who celebrated with his family in Victory Lane. “It was a strong race but we have to get the job done tomorrow as well.”
“It was a bit tricky because I felt some vibrations in the car but the balance was just amazing. But it was tough to keep holding the wheel in my hands because the car bounced a lot. We will fix this tonight for tomorrow’s race.”
Ercoli actually lost second to Lucas Lasserre in the closing stages, but he did this for a reason. Lasserre had been penalized for excessive track limit violations and Ercoli’s spotter informed him of the situation, allowing the Italian to conserve some life on his car for Race 2.
Lasserre then received an additional penalty for contact with Dauenhauer during the FCY restart. The Frenchman was adamant that he had not made one and pointed out that the No. 33 Sud-Ouest Remorques Ford had no damage, but race control disagreed and gave him the penalty after a further review.
His penalty was Doubek’s blessing, who got promoted to third in the final results to secure his first ENPRO podium of 2024. Dauenhauer also moved up to fourth with Lasserre classified behind him in the final results.
Fabrizio Armetta kept up with the front runners in the No. 55 Dinoil Camaro to finish sixth. Marc Goossens enjoyed a terrific battle with Doubek for what should be the final podium position, but a track limits penalty relegated the Belgian driver to seventh.
Goossens was lucky, however, as the drivers that filled the top-10 also got a track limit penalty of their own. Jouffreau and Liam Hezemans in eighth and ninth clinched a 1-2 in the Junior Trophy while Tziortzis was tenth with the No. 1 HTFX Ford Mustang.
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen recovered to eleventh, having started from 19th due to a 10-place grid penalty. Bleekemolen’s pseudo teammate Ryan Vargas was pleased with his result despite only being twelfth in the final results.
Riccardo Romagnoli, who finished thirteenth, was the class driver in Challenger Trophy. Despite two track limit penalties, Romagnoli still finished 16 seconds ahead of Lanza to easily win the classification for Grade C drivers.
Julien Rehberg crossed the line in 17th place on his debut ENPRO race. The German youngster was just ahead of fellow debutant Paolo Valeri, both kept their car out of trouble in the early race incidents.
Race 2 Recap
All 26 drivers reassembled on Sunday afternoon for Round 4 of the 2024 season. Once again held in sunny conditions, Ghirelli managed to convert his fastest lap pole position into a clear run into the fast Curva Grande corner.
From then on, Ghirelli simply had to build his gap. No one had an answer to the Italian’s speed and he took the victory with a winning margin of 5.844 second, securing his ‘invincible’ status for the 2024 American Festival of Rome.
“It’s very nice to have so many friends that came to support me,” said Ghirelli after his sixth career ENPRO victory. “The double win was what they all wanted!”
“PK Carsport did a fantastic job, we had a strong car this weekend. We were first in all sessions, so I owe them a big thank you. Let’s keep it up, the battle is very long and we must never back off.”
Ercoli put up a strong challenge in the initial stages of the race, but he was left in the dust once Ghirelli put the hammer down. The CAAL Racing driver nearly lost second to Doubek in the final few laps, but he had just enough of a gap to maintain his position at the checkered flag.
Doubek’s stellar speed was proof that he really does have a podium capable car in his hands. Having lost third to Armetta at the start, the Czech driver regained his place on lap 2 and never looked back to secure his first double podium weekend in EuroNASCAR’s top division.
His pace in ENPRO was also vital for the No. 7 Hendriks Motorsport team to win the Endurance Teams Championship. Their aggregate time was the fastest, beating their sister No. 50 team and Marko Stipp Motorsport’s No. 46 team for the top prize.
Lasserre was set to take fourth when his car had a terminal mechanical failure with just five laps to go. This allowed Liam to take fourth position ahead of Dauenhauer and win the Junior Trophy classifications.
Both Liam and Dauenhauer managed to spook Armetta into a mistake at Sorrate on lap 12, which dropped him to sixth. The Italian had his car slowly disintegrate on him, but the “superleggera” The Club Motorsport machine still carried good pace to maintain the place in the final results.
Jouffreau was only seventh, the Frenchman admitting that RDV Competition struggled to find the right set-up at Vallelunga this time around. Despite this, he had to fight hard to maintain his place from Delsaux in a tussle that lasted for the majority of the race.
Goossens won a battle between the Race Planet Team Bleekemolen drivers to finish ninth ahead of Bleekemolen. Five seconds behind them in eleventh place is Toffel, winner of the Challenger Trophy for the third time in 2024.
Fifteenth place finisher Dallara managed to take home a piece of the silverware with third place in the Challenger Trophy. Marzorati kept the more experienced Dombrowski at bay to finish sixteenth, an important experience for the British debutant.
Important lessons were also learned by Rehberg, who was demoted from 16th to 18th due to a penalty for excessive track limit violations. Romagnoli, Caso, Nick Strickler and Victor Neumann also fell foul to this, each receiving a 5-second penalty for their misdeeds.
Vargas had to make an unscheduled stop for a broken spark plug wiring, dropping him a lap down. The American at least finished the race because Tziortzis and Valeri weren’t so fortunate, retiring after completing seven and one lap respectively.
Championship Standings
Unsurprisingly, Ghirelli’s Vallelunga sweep leads to a bigger advantage in the championship standings. The Italian now has a near-perfect 155 points in his tally, 28 points ahead of Ercoli who moved up to second place.
Goossens retains third position in the standings, three points behind EuroNASCAR’s reigning champion. Liam and Jouffreau followed and they are tied for points in both the overall and Junior Trophy. However, the Dutchman laid claim to fourth place because of his better finishing position.
Dauenhauer just missed out on a top-5 position, although the German is only a point behind Liam and Jouffreau. Lasserre’s late retirement in Race 2 put a major dent in his championship position because the Frenchman dropped all the way to seventh.
With 111 points, SpeedHouse Racing’s owner-driver is only four ahead of his protege Delsaux. Krasonis and Toffel completed the top-10 with 104 and 100 points respectively, the latter retaining his place as the best of the Challenger Trophy drivers.
EuroNASCAR PRO Points Standings
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.