Vittorio Ghirelli and Martin Doubek was untouchable in the opening sessions of American SpeedFest 11 after they clocked the fastest time in both Practice and Qualifying.
Championship leaders in EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2, Vittorio Ghirelli and Martin Doubek, were the masters of one-lap pace at the 2024 American SpeedFest 11 after they topped the times in both Free Practice and Qualifying.
Coming off from a sweep in Vallelunga, both drivers are eager to bring home more silverware for themselves and their team at Brands Hatch despite close opposition throughout the weekend.
Friday Recap
With the regularity-based EuroNASCAR Club Challenge division not taking part in the NASCAR GP UK, the action began on Friday afternoon with the Free Practice sessions for EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2.
In EuroNASCAR PRO, championship leader Vittorio Ghirelli continued his run at the top. The Italian was the only one to set a sub-49 second lap time, with his best lap of 48.960 being 0.134 second faster from Gianmarco Ercoli.
They were followed by Hendriks Motorsport drivers Liam Hezemans and Martin Doubek. Liam was the faster of the two, setting a time of 49.150 compared to Doubek’s 49.273.
The Dutchman was also the fastest amongst the Junior Trophy contenders, with the next best driver being Paul Jouffreau in sixth place. Jouffreau got sandwiched by SpeedHouse’s team owner Lucas Lasserre and his protège Ulysse Delsaux, who were fifth and seventh respectively.
Vladimiros Tziortzis, Fabrizio Armetta and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen completed the top-10 ahead of home crowd’s favorite Jack Davidson. Davidson used his extensive knowledge of Brands Hatch to put Lux Motorsport’s No. 21 GT Omega Camaro in third position amongst the Juniors.
Thomas Toffel was the top driver in Challenger Trophy, 13th fastest behind the struggling Tobias Dauenhauer. The Swiss was joined by Max Lanza in 16th and Riccardo Romagnoli in 20th for the top-3 positions in the Trophy.
The field in EuroNASCAR PRO proved to be competitive at Brands Hatch with the top-16 drivers separated by just one second and 1.5 seconds separating all but two drivers that took to the track on Friday.
One notable omission from the Practice session – and the weekend as a whole – is Marc Goossens, who was at Zandvoort to teach rally superstar Kalle Rovanperä the know-hows of sportscar racing.
Rovanperä made his Porsche Carrera Cup debut with RedAnt Racing, an outfit that was managed by “The Goose”. Unfortunately for Goossens, the race took place on the same weekend as the SpeedFest and thus he was forced to forfeit his title chances with his non-participation.
EuroNASCAR PRO FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR PRO FP2 Results
Doubek’s promising pace was shown in both classes as he was the top driver amongst the 26-car grid in EuroNASCAR 2. The Czech’s time of 49.236 in FP2 beat the previous top time of teammate Gil Linster, who set his best time of 49.400 in FP1.
Davidson took a surprise third place finish with a best time of 49.550. The Scotsman had an early hiccup due to an early collision with Club Motorsport’s Giovanni Faraonio in FP1, but he rebounded in FP2 to secure his best Practice result of 2024.
Legend Trophy leader Melvin de Groot and Patrick Schober rounds out the top-5, 0.397 and 0.521 seconds behind Doubek respectively. Victor Neumann was comfortably at the top of the Rookie Trophy in sixth, more than eight tenths faster than Granducato Speed’s Veeti Rajala in 13th place.
Thomas Krasonis, Roberto Benedetti, Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Thomas Toffel locked the top-10 positions at the end of the day. The two Thomases had some struggles: Krasonis sat out FP1 while Toffel did not take part in FP2.
Simone Giussani also had a troubled opening day at Brands Hatch after he crashed his No. 27 Double V Racing Ford at Druids, severely limiting the amount of laps that the Italian can do.
In 25th position is the returning Alain Grand, who made his first official laps in the series since the 2012 season’s final round at Le Mans.
Grand took to the track in the RDV Competition-prepared No. 16 McDonald’s Ford Mustang that he shared with Frederic Perriat. This car was the exact model that was used as a show car by EuroNASCAR to reveal the Evo package earlier this year.
EuroNASCAR 2 FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR 2 FP2 Results
Qualifying Recap
As is customary, Saturday morning began with the Qualifying sessions for both divisions. What is not customary for Brands Hatch is the system that’s in place for Qualifying, as the field was split into two groups to minimize congestion at the 1.944-kilometer long Indy Circuit.
Those who got placed in Group B got a hefty advantage from their adversaries in Group A, as demonstrated in EuroNASCAR PRO’s Qualifying where only one car from Group A advanced to the Superpole: Vladimiros Tziortzis, who qualified eighth.
The pole position itself was taken by Ghirelli, who took his fifth consecutive pole award in the 2024 season. The 29-year old was on a mission to recover the advantage that he lost due to the discovery of an illegal set of shock absorbers in his car during the previous round at Vallelunga.
“They put the championship contenders in the same group and I think it was a good decision so we had the same tire temperature heading into Superpole”, said Ghirelli, who was pleased with how the groupings were determined.
“It was good for me to have the first group on track to have a reference and see how the track is. We went out and did the job. This track is quite short and all the lap times are very close. It was a good lap I have to say as I was pushing hard. We worked well yesterday but there’s still potential to improve a bit.”
Accompanying him on the front row is Doubek, who converted his momentum from Italy with his first career front row start. Paul Jouffreau was left disappointed that he’s only third in Superpole as he was the fastest driver in Qualifying.
Prime title contender Ercoli is ahead of the SpeedHouse duo of Lasserre and Delsaux. Valencia winner Liam was sixth initially, but got demoted to seventh after his fastest lap was deleted for track limit violations. Top Challenger driver Toffel and Dauenhauer filled the last positions in the top-10 behind Tziortzis.
Davidson put his pink Camaro in a strong position in Group A, but in the end the track evolution was too much and the Scotsman had to start his first EuroNASCAR PRO race at home from 12th place. Fellow countryman Marzorati qualified in 15th.
One driver with a surprisingly poor qualifying is Fabrizio Armetta, who was only 20th fastest after three lap deletions for track limit violations and some engine issues onboard the No. 55 Dinoil Camaro.
EuroNASCAR PRO Qualifying Results | EuroNASCAR PRO Superpole Results
The story for the Qualifying groups in EuroNASCAR 2 follows a similar story, with seven of the top-10 qualifiers coming from Group B. Hendriks Motorsport once again topped the times at the end the 20-minute long session, but this time it was Doubek who earned pole position with a time of 49.011.
Doubek took his first Qualifying pole award since his home race at Most in 2022. The session was closely contested with drivers such as Cappelli, Davidson and Toffel briefly finding themselves on top before the Czech came through.
“It’s really nice to be here again and get the Pole Position”, said Doubek, who now has eighth career pole positions in EN2. “It’s a really nice feeling but now we will see what happens. I hope that there will be no rain later today but the forecast looks good.”
“I was also second in EuroNASCAR PRO’s Qualifying, so I have two strong starting positions for today. Cross your fingers while I’m looking forward to racing today. Let’s see what we can get out of it.”
Linster came within 0.067 seconds of his teammate to ensure that Hendriks locked out the front row. Schober was back on form in third ahead of Toffel, who briefly kissed the gravel at Paddock Hill immediately after setting his best lap time.
Davidson qualified an impressive fifth, but the Lux driver was severely hampered by a front-left puncture that coincidentally also happened after he set his best time. Cappelli was the best of the Group A and Legend Trophy drivers in sixth, beating Melvin de Groot for both honors.
Krasonis was eighth ahead of Florian Richard, the best time setter of the rookies. Thomas Dombrowski rounded out the top-10 ahead of Benedetti, Mario Ercoli and Neumann. All three filled the remaining top-3 spots in their respective Trophies.
Alain Grand showed that he still got some speed by clocking a lap time that’s just 2.5 seconds away from Doubek’s best. The 71-year old driver beat Gordon Barnes and Arianna Casoli, who both will start Race 1 from the last row of the grid.
EuroNASCAR 2 Qualifying Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.