Martin Doubek dominated the NASCAR Oval GP to score his record-tying twelfth victory, but Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Ryan Vargas stole the show with their race-long battle for second place.
Martin Doubek was untouchable in the first EuroNASCAR 2 oval race in five years. The Czech driver led all 70 laps in a caution-free event at Raceway Venray to secure not only his fifth win of 2024, but also his twelfth career victory in EuroNASCAR’s junior division.
This victory was a groundbreaking one for Doubek as it allowed the 29-year old driver to tie the record for the most EuroNASCAR 2 victories set by Thomas Ferrando.
Even though Doubek dominated the race, fans around the world were treated with a fantastic battle between Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Ryan Vargas that demonstrated the real magic of short track racing.
Cappelli had to fend off his position from the American multiple times, masterfully using the outside lane to retain second place at the checkered flag. Vargas was still rewarded with a podium finish to cap off a successful debut EN2 race for the 3F Racing driver.
Practice & Qualifying Recap
With NASCAR Oval GP retaining the single-day format that was used in the 2019 race, all sessions were done in a span of a few hours. Practice showed hints of what’s to come as the two Hendriks Motorsport drivers topped the combined times.
Gil Linster set the early benchmark with a time of 19.922. Doubek was only 0.059 seconds off in second and ahead of Legend Trophy leader Miguel Gomes, who made his return as a substitute for the injured Roberto Benedetti.
Vargas, doing double duty for Venray, started his day strongly with a fourth place result. The same goes for fellow double dipper Victor Neumann, who handily beat his rivals in the Rookie Trophy in fifth overall.
Patrick Schober, Cappelli, Thomas Krasonis, Thomas Toffel and Nick Strickler completed the top-10. As expected from an oval, the field was tightly packed with the top-17 drivers finishing within one second of Linster.
EuroNASCAR 2 FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR 2 FP2 Results
Qualifying continued the trend of Hendriks in first place, but Doubek now got the upper hand. A stunning lap time of 19.689 gave him pole position ahead of Cappelli in his recently rebuilt No. 5 Cremona Gronde Ford Mustang.
Linster and Vargas put their car on the second row, both setting a sub-20 second lap time. Behind them was Neumann, who again schooled the Rookie Trophy field. The driver of the No. 47 AIX Camaro qualified half a second ahead of nearest rival Florian Richard.
Schober was sixth ahead of Brands Hatch winner Jack Davidson, who improved his pace after some struggles in Practice. Filling out the top-10 places were Krasonis and the Team Bleekemolen duo of Michael Bleekemolen and Thomas Dombrowski.
Gomes wasn’t able to repeat his Practice heroics and only put his car in eleventh place despite having the advantage of being the third-last car to qualify.
EuroNASCAR 2 Qualifying Results
Race Recap
Following an exciting pre-race programme where Andre Wiegold interviewed various drivers and notable trackside members in the Trackside Show, the green flag for the EuroNASCAR 2 race at Venray was waved at approximately 15:30 local time.
Doubek, who started on the outside, took advantage of the single groove nature at Venray to quickly open a gap of one second to Cappelli.
Cappelli tried his best to keep up with the No. 7 Orion Ford, but the pace was too hot for the Italian. Once he dispatched Cappelli, Doubek sliced through lapped opponents and took the checkered flag for his record-tying victory with ease.
Even though the race only took 24 minutes to complete, the race took its toll on Doubek. With the heat inside and no caution period to allow for a breather, Doubek focused more on how his body is going to handle Sunday’s EuroNASCAR PRO race during his Victory Lane interview.
“It’s amazing! It’s fucking hot inside and the race sure felt long, but I’m surprised there were no safety cars nor cautions,” said Doubek, happy and exhausted at the same time.
“I’m feeling good, but I’m fucking tired and I need to get some rest for tomorrow because I will have another race and it’s a 100-lap one! I don’t know how I will do that, but I will do my best!”
While Doubek’s domination may not be a representative of how exciting oval racing can be, the battle that raged behind him certainly was. Cappelli, Vargas and Neumann put on a show that will be remembered for years to come.
Their duel began on lap 32 after Cappelli got held up by Strickler, who had a near-spin at Turn 1. This allowed Neumann and Vargas to get back to the tail of the Italian.
Neumann tried to make a pass stick on lap 37 and 40, but he was stuck on the inside lane and couldn’t find the momentum to get by the Academy Motorsport driver.
The latter attempt opened a gap for Vargas to make a challenge on the outside. With the aid of the lapped car of Simone Giussani, the American completed his overtake on the Frenchman on lap 43 and quickly set his sights on Cappelli.
Vargas tried numerous times to get by Cappelli, but he soon discovered just how disadvantageous being on the inside really is. However, he was not discouraged because Cappelli’s car was getting more loose towards the end.
A slide by Cappelli on lap 66 allowed Vargas to make a challenge on the inside yet again. They went side-by-side for more than a lap and while it looked like Vargas had finally made the move stick, Cappelli again used the grip from the outside to secure second at the line.
In the post-race interview, Cappelli said that this battle made him understand what Vargas told him pre-race on how fun and wonderful oval racing can be.
On Vargas’ side, he said that the podium was a huge testament on how hard he and 3F Racing had been working to make the EuroNASCAR dream come true.
Neumann might have missed out on a maiden podium in fourth, but he too was happy with his performance at Venray. The Frenchman admitted that he was in disbelief when he managed to lap Rookie Trophy rivals Julien Rehberg and Richard.
Krasonis completed the top-5 ahead of Schober and Davidson, both barely hanging on to the lead lap. Melvin de Groot found it difficult to get past teammate Bleekemolen, but eighth place was enough to secure bonus points for most positions gained.
Dombrowski completed the top-10 ahead of Rehberg and Richard. Six places behind him was Linster, who lost a lot of time after his No. 50 HOOSH Toyota suffered a puncture.
Strickler and Gomes were the only retirements of the race. Strickler lost the clutch after completing 42 laps, while Gomes’ race ended in a whimper after just 7 laps due to gearbox problems.
Championship Standings
Doubek’s record-tying victory once again brought the momentum back to the Czech driver in the standings. With 247 points, he now leads with a gap of 34 points to Linster thanks to the Luxembourger’s unfortunate puncture.
Toffel retained third in the standings despite a tough race at Venray. The Swiss driver is 45 points behind Doubek and 3 points ahead of Schober and Krasonis, who were tied for points. The Austrian had the upper hand as his best finish was second compared to the Greek’s third.
Davidson and Dombrowski were sixth and seventh ahead of Bleekemolen, still the Legend Trophy overall leader with 182 points. Behind him is Rehberg, who now has an undisputed lead in the Rookie Trophy with a gap of just one point to Richard.
De Groot, Cappelli and Neumann now sit in 11th, 12th and 13th places respectively. Vargas’ podium placed him in 30th in the standings with 34 points to his name.
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