Our third and final Race Preview for the 2024 NASCAR GP Germany takes a look at what we can expect from the title contenders and Trophy battles in EuroNASCAR 2.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will start the 2024 Playoffs this weekend with their second ever visit to the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, the home for the NASCAR GP Germany.
After Vittorio Ghirelli and Martin Doubek top the regular season standings in EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 respectively, the competition kicks into top gear with a stretch of four double points paying races that will amp up the tension and excitement for drivers, teams and fans alike.
Martin Doubek enters the 2024 EuroNASCAR Playoffs with a large cushion of 49 points to his nearest rival Patrick Schober. That gap might seem large, but it’s a deficit that can be quickly overturned thanks to the double points system.
Simply finishing second would mean that Doubek could potentially lose 10 points,. Two more points will be lost from every other position that he’s lost and an additional 8 points can be gained for those that climbed the most positions during a race.
As such, it is critical for Doubek to minimize any mistakes at Oschersleben. The Hendriks Motorsport driver is well on course to become EuroNASCAR 2’s first-ever double champion and it’s an opportunity that he, ideally, would not let slip.
Of course, his closest rivals see the Playoffs as the rounds that could change their season entirely. Momentum from the regular season can carry them far and for Schober, he also can rely on RDV Competition’s support and his past performance at Oschersleben as well.
The 3.668 kilometer circuit is the track where Schober took his maiden EN2 victory. The Austrian had also seen just how fast the No. 3 RDV car performs at Germany in the hands of Paul Jouffreau in 2023.
All of these can be the perfect recipe for Schober to properly establish himself in the title fight, but he’s not alone when it comes to confidence based on past results.
Thomas Toffel earned a surprise first EN2 podium at Oschersleben last year and in 2024, the Swiss driver has matured into one of the fastest drivers in the division.
Consistency has also been Toffel’s strong point, with only one DNF and one finish outside of the top-10 in the regular season. This gave Toffel an edge from Gil Linster, who continued to struggle with his consistency.
One thing to assert is that speed is not Linster’s drawback in 2024. However, what’s troubling the Luxembourger is his bad luck. With the amount of misfortunes that Linster received, it’s almost as if his season was cursed by a voodoo shaman.
The Playoffs does present an opportunity for Linster to turn his season around, but with 63 points of deficit it’ll be a tough ask for him to catch his Hendriks teammate. It’s not impossible, but some good luck will be needed to put him in contention at Zolder.
Championship outsiders Thomas Krasonis, Thomas Dombrowski and Jack Davidson continued to score good points, but they knew that they needed to extract 110% performance from their machines if they wanted to really fight for the title.
One driver who has already pushed to the limit is Legend Trophy leader Melvin de Groot, who came within inches to beat Doubek and Schober at Most.
The tall Dutchman is upbeat about his recent performance and has already spoken his intention to find himself in Victory Lane in one of the Playoffs races. It will be a game changing result for de Groot, who holds a slim margin of 14 points in Legend to teammate Michael Bleekemolen.
The 74-year old Bleekemolen avoided mistakes that has cost de Groot dear at times, but it felt inevitable that he will be usurped by not only his teammate, but also Academy Motorsport’s Claudio Remigio Cappelli.
Rookie Trophy sees a fierce fight as there’s only six points separating the top-3 drivers. With double points on the line, any one of Florian Richard, Victor Neumann and Mario Ercoli can enter Zolder as the leader amongst the class debutants.
Home crowd heroes Julien Rehberg and Dominique Schaak are some distance, but never count them out as they have the support of Bremotion, a team that knows their way around Oschersleben.
Lady Trophy will once again feature some competition with Luli del Castello making her return to the No. 54 CAAL Racing Camaro.
With Sven van Laere announcing his retirement, del Castello is expected to be the Belgian’s replacement for the rest of the season.
As for Arianna Casoli, the Oschersleben round presents the Italian with the chance to celebrate the 100 starts milestone that she had been anticipating since the start of the season.
Starting 100 races in one division is a feat that only two other drivers have done before: Frédéric Gabillon and Gianmarco Ercoli, both in EuroNASCAR PRO.
With Casoli set to be the first to do so in EuroNASCAR 2, let alone being the first ever for a female driver, a big party is expected to be held when the Italian completes the Germany round with the No. 14 Les Demeures Créativ’ Ford.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 26 December 2024