The 2024 NASCAR GP Germany started with consecutive pole positions for Vittorio Ghirelli and Patrick Schober, who mastered the Qualifying session at Oschersleben on Saturday.
The NASCAR GP Germany sees the start of the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Playoffs, the important stretch of the season where double points will be awarded to everyone in the field.
Primary title contenders Vittorio Ghirelli and Patrick Schober established themselves as ones to watch in Oschersleben after they took a dominant Pole Position in Qualifying. With double points on the line, they’ll be working to make sure that they remain in contention for the Finals at Zolder.
Friday Recap
EuroNASCAR Club Challenge began the action on Friday with two sessions for the drivers in EuroNASCAR’s regularity-based division to set the most consistent lap times possible.
Fresh off from a maiden win at Czechia, Reza Sardeha puts himself one step closer to the title after he took a comeback victory from Dani Briz at Oschersleben. The recap for Club Challenge can be read in the link here.
The Friday activities were continued with Free Practice in EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2. Nailing the setup becomes more important than ever as there’s double points at stake for the Playoffs.
One lap pace has been Vittorio Ghirelli’s mastery in 2024, something that the Italian proved once again by topping the combined Free Practice times with a best lap time of 1:31.999, set in FP2.
His main rivals Paul Jouffreau and Liam Hezemans are not that far off as the two youngsters are only four tenths behind in second and third. A surprise came in Ryan Vargas, who put his 2023 experience to good use by finishing fourth.
Team Bleekemolen’s duo of Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Marc Goossens followed suit with Gianmarco Ercoli, Fabrizio Armetta, Tobias Dauenhauer and Martin Doubek completing the top-10. Max Lanza led the Challenger Trophy drivers in 14th position.
EuroNASCAR PRO FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR PRO FP2 Results
In EuroNASCAR 2, Melvin de Groot showcases his intent to go for glory at Oschersleben after the tall Dutchman came out as the surprise leader in the combined Free Practice timesheets.
With a time of 1:32.744, de Groot has an advantage of 0.155 seconds from Patrick Schober in second. Thomas Krasonis was within two tenths of de Groot in third with the Dutchman’s Legend Trophy rival Claudio Remigio Cappelli ending the day in fourth.
Thomas Toffel completed the top-5 ahead of Martin Doubek, who had an unusually off day in the No. 7 Orion Ford. The Czech driver was only sixth ahead of Hendriks Motorsport teammate Gil Linster, also struggling in his No. 50 Hoosh Toyota.
Jack Davidson was eighth and in front of the leading Rookie Trophy contenders Simone Giussani and Victor Neumann. Luli del Castello was first in the Lady Trophy in 18th, five places up from Arianna Casoli.
EuroNASCAR 2 FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR 2 FP2 Results
Qualifying Recap
Fans are arriving in droves on Saturday morning to witness an epic Qualifying session for the two main divisions of EuroNASCAR.
Things started off bad for Marko Stipp Motorsport as their lead ENPRO driver Thomas Krasonis grounded to a halt before fast laps were even set, but once the track’s cleared Vittorio Ghirelli showed why he’s been the king of time trials in 2024.
Ghirelli set a blisteringly quick lap time of 1:31.416 in Superpole to easily take Pole Position, his sixth Qualifying Pole Position award of the year. It’s also Ghirelli’s eighth pole of 2024, tying the record for the most pole positions in a season set by Ander Vilarino in 2013.
“It was a really nice lap,” said Ghirelli after the session. “The car was not the easiest to drive, but it was also very fast.”
“PK Carsport did a really fantastic job, we fine tuned everything in Practice and this morning the car is flying. It’s not easy, but we made it. Six out of six is very good and I’m confident to bring it home.”
Liam Hezemans lined up second, but was a staggering 0.650 seconds behind Ghirelli. Paul Jouffreau and Gianmarco Ercoli filled the second row ahead of Marc Goossens, who narrowly made it to the Superpole.
Ulysse Delsaux, Vladimiros Tziortzis, Ryan Vargas, Lucas Lasserre and Fabrizio Armetta completed the top-10; the latter having all of his Superpole times deleted for clipping the bollards at the McDonald’s chicane.
EuroNASCAR PRO Qualifying Results | EuroNASCAR PRO Superpole Results
In EuroNASCAR 2, Melvin de Groot was unable to keep his pace hot on Saturday. The driver who maintained their speed was Patrick Schober, who made a late charge to pole position.
Thomas Toffel had looked set to get Pole Position after he clocked a time of 1:32.378, but in the last few minutes Schober found a room in traffic that was just enough to beat Toffel with a lap time of 1:32.128.
“I finally managed to find a lap where I had no traffic because in the first 10 minutes I struggled to find the pace and where to get a traffic-less lap,” explained Schober.
“I then stayed behind a fast car and told myself that it had to be the lap. No mistakes, fully concentrate, and we managed to do it again.”
Hendriks gained some ground with Gil Linster and Martin Doubek qualifying third and fifth respectively. They were sandwiched by Claudio Remigio Cappelli, who led the Legend Trophy drivers.
Krasonis managed to get his car fixed just in time for EN2’s Qualifying. Despite an unhealthy car, he brought the No. 46 Costamare Inc. Camaro to sixth ahead of teammate Victor Neumann, who is first in Rookie Trophy.
Thomas Dombrowski, de Groot and Jack Davidson completed the top-10. Luli del Castello continued to lead the Lady Trophy in 19th, while Arianna Casoli qualified in 22nd on the build up to her historic 100th start in the division.
EuroNASCAR 2 Qualifying Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 20 December 2024