An early collision for Martin Doubek at Brands Hatch gave Jack Davidson the chance to become the first EuroNASCAR race winner from the United Kingdom.
Jack Davidson’s dream to become a EuroNASCAR race winner has been realized. An early collision involving EuroNASCAR 2 championship leader Martin Doubek put the Scotsman on the path to his maiden victory in front of thousands of fans at the American SpeedFest 11, Powered by Lucas Oil.
The victory at Brands Hatch is the realization of a dream for Davidson and his team Lux Motorsport, who created history as the first winners from the United Kingdom in EuroNASCAR’s two main divisions.
Doubek still managed to take the checkered flag in Race 1, but the Czech’s retirement in Race 2 has put his rivals back on the map.
Race 1 Recap
Doubek led a field of 25 cars to the green flag of the Saturday race at approximately 4:50 PM local time. Sadly for the British fans, Gordon Barnes was unable to take the start.
The engine issues that took the No. 55 Club Motorsport Camaro out of the preceding EuroNASCAR PRO race was unable to be repaired in time for Barnes’ first race.
The Brit made the best out of his issues by bringing the steering wheel of his car to the grid, leading to the comical sight of Barnes sitting on the asphalt whilst maintaining a driving pose.
Back at the front, Doubek was having a tough time at the front. He had to focus on not only defending his lead from the likes of Gil Linster and Claudio Remigio Cappelli, but also on nursing his No. 7 Orion Ford home after he heard weird noises from his car just five laps in.
Fortunately for Doubek, teammate Linster also had issues with his No. 50 HOOSH Toyota. This allowed the current championship leader to slowly break away from the chasing pack, whilst Linster dropped four places after he missed a gear shift on lap 24.
The timing of that incident couldn’t have been any worse for Linster because it happened moments after Simone Giussani crashed his No. 27 Double V Racing Ford Mustang at Paddock Hill Bend.
Full Course Yellow was called soon after to neutralize the field, but difficulties to recover Giussani’s Mustang resulted in the calling of the Safety Car. Three laps were added to the race distance, turning the race into a four-lap sprint to the checkered flag.
Things got dicey for Doubek when Cappelli got alongside him on the run to the Druids hairpin at the lap 31 restart, but the Czech used everything that he got to fend off the Italian and take home the victory in Race 1.
“I’m fucking happy that this car finished because after five laps, there’s strange noises and vibrations from the exhaust”, said Doubek, relieved that the issue wasn’t terminal.
“I think that my mechanics will have some work tonight, they need to check on what happened. But, we did it. It’s my tenth season [in EuroNASCAR], so it’s time to win the title again.”
Cappelli’s second place finish was still an important achievement for the Academy Motorsport driver as not only did he clinched the win in the Legend Trophy, it also represented a new career-best result for the 49-year old driver from Robecco D’Oglio.
Another driver with a career-best result at Brands Hatch is Thomas Krasonis, who took the first podium finish of his career. Krasonis was able to turn his fortunes around after he enlisted the help of EuroNASCAR legend and former four-time ENPRO champion Alon Day on the telemetry.
The Israeli worked together with Krasonis to fine tune the Greek’s driving style and it paid dividends immediately. To make things sweeter for Krasonis, he also set the fastest lap of the race. It meant that he will start on pole position for the first time on Sunday’s Race 2.
Fourth place finisher Patrick Schober was left slightly miffed at Krasonis after he got pushed wide by the Greek on lap 7, but Krasonis immediately approached the Austrian after the race to apologize and explain what happened from his perspective.
Davidson’s strong weekend at the SpeedFest continued with a top-5 finish, the first for Lux Motorsport in EuroNASCAR. Linster was sixth ahead of Race Planet Team Bleekemolen’s duo of Melvin de Groot and Thomas Dombrowski.
Julien Rehberg was a great beneficiary of the late restart. Long-time Rookie Trophy leader Mario Ercoli spun Thomas Toffel around at Clearways corner, resulting in both drivers’ retirement from the race.
With Mario out of the running, Rehberg was able to take home the top silverware in the Trophy in ninth place. The German finished just ahead of Victor Neumann and was four positions ahead of debutant Giovanni Faraonio.
Faraonio climbed thirteen places to secure the extra points for most positions gained. The Italian started 26th and last as he was unable to take part in Qualifying due to mechanical gremlins that teammate Riccardo Romagnoli experienced in ENPRO’s session.
Alain Grand, the recipient of the free pass during the Safety Car period, brought home the No. 16 McDonald’s Ford to sixteenth place on his first EuroNASCAR race since Le Mans in 2012.
EuroNASCAR 2 Recap
For the first time in their careers, Thomas Krasonis and Marko Stipp Motorsport earned the right to start from pole position for the second EuroNASCAR 2 race on Sunday.
Krasonis retained his lead on the opening lap, but his happiness was short-lived. He was defending hard from Doubek when the Czech made an overly ambitious overtaking attempt at Druids on lap 2, sending the Greek into a spin.
Karma soon hit Doubek however. He rejoined right alongside Cappelli and both drivers collided in such way that their wheels are locked together, leaving them unable to steer their car away from the grass.
Cappelli managed to get back to the track, but Doubek – who was on the outside – can’t avoid the tire barriers and crashed out of the race. This not only necessitated the deployment of the Safety Car, but it also changed the complexity of the race because Davidson was now in the lead.
With this golden opportunity, Davidson went full throttle and used his expertise of the Indy Circuit to break away from his opponents. The battle-scarred pink No. 21 GT Omega Chevrolet marched forwards and took the checkered flag after 36 laps with a winning margin of 2.916 seconds.
Davidson and Lux Motorsport became the first driver and team from the United Kingdom to win in EuroNASCAR’s two main divisions, a remarkable achievement from the squad that operates from a shed in Davidson family’s farm in Scotland.
“I’m still catching my breath, but it was absolutely hard from start to finish!” said Davidson in the Victory Lane. “Obviously there’s a contact at the start that gifted me the lead, but I had to hang on through two Safety Cars.”
“I’m thankful that she’s back in one piece and with the win. It’s an amazing feeling, thanks to all of you guys. That’s what made it special this weekend, without the fans the atmosphere would only be half as good!”
Mixed feelings were experienced by Linster, who finished second behind Davidson. The Luxembourger was disappointed that he wasn’t able to extract the maximum of his ride, but he remained positive because he scored plenty of crucial championship points.
The battle for the final spot on the podium went to the wire and like in Race 1, there was some controversy as it was determined by a collision between Schober and de Groot on the back straight.
The contact resulted in a blown right-rear tire for the Dutchman, but both drivers managed to finish the race inside the top-10. Schober survived unscathed in third, while de Groot came home sixth overall – behind Toffel and Dombrowski – as the top driver in the Legend Trophy.
However, de Groot and teammate Michael Bleekemolen – who finished seventh – missed the podium ceremony to catch a flight to the Netherlands. This led to the funny sight of a Team Bleekemolen mechanic receiving their trophies when the Legend Trophy podium was presented.
A dramatic race was also seen in the Rookie Trophy. All five major contenders fought against each other at one point and a last lap collision involving Rehberg and Neumann gave SpeedHouse’s Florian Richard a surprise victory in the duel of the rookies.
Rehberg and Neumann’s collision also handed the Trophy’s podium finishers a chance to finish in the top-10 positions for the first time. Granducato Speed’s Veeti Rajala bounced back from a Race 1 retirement to finish ninth with Team Bleekemolen’s Reza Sardeha not far away in tenth.
Two drivers received a 10-second time penalty for misconducts: Mario was punished for spinning Miura at Clearways while Grand was penalized for jumping the start. They all coincidentally got classified nearby each other with Miura in 14th, Mario 15th and Grand 16th.
Krasonis was forced to park his car at around half distance, just a few laps after the second Safety Car period was called due to contact involving Benedetti, Strickler and Cappelli.
Benedetti rear-ended Strickler on lap 18, with Cappelli turning his car around to avoid the No. 88 CAAL Racing Camaro. The crash was severe enough for Benedetti to possibly injure his wrist, with marshalls having to help the 49-year old Italian to get out of the car.
Another Italian was unharmed, but was equally unfortunate. Giussani had to sit out of the race because his Double V car was too damaged to be repaired after it got involved in a big crash during the preceding EuroNASCAR PRO race.
Championship Standings
With Doubek retiring in Race 2, the gap between the Hendriks drivers has been cut considerably. The Czech now leads Linster by only 15 points, down from the gap of 24 that he had prior to the round.
Toffel and Schober got themselves back to the title race as they were just 29 and 39 points behind the leader. Krasonis’ maiden podium in the division kept the Greek inside the top-5 positions, currently fifth with 167 points to his name.
Dombrowski is five points behind in sixth ahead of new winner Davidson, who now bags a total of 160 points. Legend Trophy is now led by Michael in eighth with 154 points. Rehberg and Richard remains tied for the top place in Rookie Trophy, both closing the top-10 positions with 150 points.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.