A recovery drive on Saturday and a victory on Sunday allowed Vittorio Ghirelli to maximize his results in the first round of the 2024 EuroNASCAR Playoffs at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
The 2024 NASCAR GP Germany at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben started with a little bit of everything. The combination of drama, action, heartbreak and triumphs ensured that the EuroNASCAR Playoffs started on the perfect note.
No driver exemplified those points better than Vittorio Ghirelli, who was forced to make a recovery drive in Race 1 before he celebrated his sixth win of the 2024 season in what the Italian described as “the hardest race” of his career.
With an advantage of 23 points from reigning champion and Race 1 winner Gianmarco Ercoli, Ghirelli will have a large target on his back when the field returns for the season finale at Circuit Zolder on 12-13 October.
Race 1 Recap
The grid was packed when the teams formed up for the first Playoffs race that got underway at approximately 13:48 CEST. Pole sitter Ghirelli led to the first corner, but the tricky Hotel corner wound up to bite up.
Front row starter Liam Hezemans misjudged his braking point and went wide. Paul Jouffreau also collided with Ghirelli several times, resulting in the Italian having a rallycross moment through the gravel trap.
All of this was good news to Ercoli, who snuck by the three of them to take the lead. Jouffreau kept his No. 3 Cartolux Ford on the track in second, but Ghirelli and Liam were relegated to dead last.
With Oschersleben being dirtier than expected, it meant that track space is at an optimum and Gianmarco took full advantage of this.
CAAL Racing’s star driver kept Jouffreau at bay and survived a Full Course Yellow restart on lap 14 to make his way back to the Victory Lane, more than a year since his last win at Vallelunga in 2023.
“The feeling’s good and I’m happy to be back in first position at the end of the race!” said the driver of the No. 54 Steelduxx / HPM Camaro. “After a really hard month, the team worked hard to give me the best car in the Semi Finals.”
“I’m very happy, this year has been terrible because it’s been hard to show all the potential of the team but day by day, with the correct mentality I could focus on the goal and get the result!”
That first lap incident had large ramifications on Jouffreau as he was judged to be at fault for aiding Ghirelli to the gravel trap. Race control handed the Frenchman a 30-second penalty that relegated him to tenth.
For Ghirelli, he put up the drive of his life to make up every bit of ground that he had lost. The PK Carsport driver put one superb lap after another and made it back to ninth when the checkered flag dropped on lap 20.
Jouffreau’s penalty meant that Ghirelli was promoted up to eighth in the final results. Liam’s recovery was hampered by a self-induced spin on lap 4 and the Dutchman was only eleventh in the end.
Second place was ultimately taken by Lucas Lasserre, once again showing remarkable consistency in the face of adversity.
Marc Goossens, who crossed the line in third, was penalized for going out of the start formation line and that promoted Martin Doubek up to the podium. Ulysse Delsaux also took advantage of this to claim his career-best ENPRO finish in fourth.
Ryan Vargas claimed his best EuroNASCAR road course finish in sixth ahead of Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, seventh after a much needed quiet race. The American also took his first Junior Trophy win as well, being handed the winner’s trophy post-race.
Thomas Krasonis took the bonus points for most positions gained in ninth after the Greek climbed up 14 positions. Krasonis was forced to start from 23rd and last when his No. 46 Costamare Inc. Camaro died after just one minute in Qualifying.
Another driver with a strong comeback is Riccardo Romagnoli. Romagnoli also had issues in Qualifying that left him starting from 22nd, but the Italian’s speedy drive was awarded with first position in the Challenger Trophy.
It should be noted that Romagnoli was running Club Motorsport’s spare chassis. With Fabrizio Armetta’s primary chassis too damaged to be fixed in time for Germany, the Italian team decided to let Armetta take over Romagnoli’s main chassis while they sourced the spare that had been used as a show car just days before the event.
The FCY period was caused by Vladimiros Tziortzis, who had a gut wrenching spin at Hotel after his driveshaft broke apart. The Cypriot was on course for a top-5 finish when the incident took place.
EuroNASCAR PRO Race 1 Results
Race 2 Recap
Ghirelli might’ve felt stressed with what happened on Saturday, but the Italian had a chance for redemption in Race 2 on Sunday as his fastest lap from yesterday earned him another pole position.
This pole position was of special importance for Ghirelli as it’s the PK Carsport driver’s ninth pole of 2024, breaking the previous all-time record of eight poles set by series legend Ander Vilarino in 2013.
The green flag was waved at 15:03 CEST with 21 drivers taking the start. Victor Neumann had terminal mechanical problems from the preceding EuroNASCAR 2 race that can’t be repaired while Thomas Dombrowski sat out both races.
Ghirelli was able to clear Hotel fine, but had to aggressively fend off Jouffreau on the straight between Hasseroder and the Triple corners. This drew the ire of the RDV Competition driver, who let out his frustrations clearly in the post-race interview.
Ghirelli escaped a penalty, but he was not free of issues. The power steering on his No. 24 infitto.eu Camaro broke on lap 5 and for the next 17 laps, he had to both wrestle his car and defend from his nearest chasers.
Mercifully, Ghirelli had just enough pace underneath him to maintain the lead from flag-to-flag. A gap of 0.390 seconds was all he needed to secure a hard fought sixth victory of the season.
“I got a power steering failure on lap 5 and did nearly all of the race without it,” said Ghirelli, who thanked his personal trainer for giving him the strength to win. “It was the hardest race of my life! I had to wrestle the car to make it turn and the #3 was very fast.”
“Many drivers would stop after two laps, it’s almost impossible to drive without the power steering. This was for my personal trainer, we train a lot and I wouldn’t be able to do it without him!”
Jouffreau was visibly unhappy with his second place, but one driver who is ecstatic is Thomas Toffel. The Swiss driver started the race from third thanks to a very good personal best lap in Race 1 and put up a race to remember on Sunday.
Toffel did not lose sight of either Ghirelli or Jouffreau and even forced Liam into a mistake with six laps to go. The Race Art Technology driver’s masterful driving was praised by not only Liam, but also Ghirelli who made his congratulations known in the podium ceremony.
Lasserre completed the top-5 after completing two late passes on Krasonis and Ercoli. Krasonis took home his own personal best finish in sixth ahead of Ercoli with Bleekemolen, Doubek and Goossens completing the top-10.
Constantin Scholl took the bonus positions for most positions gained in 13th place. The Bremotion part-time racer finished three positions ahead of Vargas, who was penalized for a first lap incident between him and Max Lanza.
Vargas and Lanza made contact at the exit of Hotel corner that took Lanza out of the race. Stewards judged the 3F Racing driver to not leave Lanza enough space and handed him a 30-second time penalty that relegated him to 16th place.
The 2024 Oschersleben round proved to be a terrible one for Tobias Dauenhauer, who suffered a double DNF. Dauenhauer had gearbox issues all week long and only managed to complete four and nine laps in the two races, a stark contrast to his glory from 2023.
EuroNASCAR PRO Race 2 Results
Championship Standings
Ghirelli’s beautiful handling of the scare in Race 1 and determination to win Race 2 allows the 30-year old from Fasano to maintain his lead in the championship. The red Whelen banner will be an asset that the Italian wants to keep at the Finals.
Ercoli’s win on Saturday was enough to propel him up to second, 23 points behind his countryman. With Jouffreau and Liam only one and four points behind the reigning champion, the chasers will be hot on Ghirelli’s heels in their pursuit for their own championship glory.
Lasserre is further behind with a deficit of 42 points in fifth, but the title odds remains open for the mega consistent SpeedHouse owner/driver.
For the likes of Doubek, Goossens, Delsaux, Krasonis and Vargas who were at least 69 points behind, they needed the top-5 to collectively retire in one of the races at Zolder to keep their title chances alive.
Toffel’s overall podium finish hands the Swiss driver enough points to overhaul Lanza in the Challenger Trophy rankings. With only 18 separating all four primary Trophy contenders, the fight for the special classification will keep the fans at the edge of their seats.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 18 December 2024