Claudio Remigio Cappelli received a hero’s welcome after he took his first EuroNASCAR 2 win at Oschersleben while Patrick Schober closed his gap to Martin Doubek in the title race.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series’ return to Motorsport Arena Oschersleben proved to be a large success. Action from both classes proved to be thrilling and in EuroNASCAR 2, the two race winners have important stories to tell.
Claudio Remigio Cappelli finally unlocked his true potential in Race 1. The Italian did not let a battered No. 5 Cremona Gronde Ford Mustang stop him down and received plenty of cheers when he made it to the Victory Lane for the first time.
Race 2 was won by Patrick Schober, who was proud that he was able to score back-to-back wins at the track where he took his inaugural victory. The Austrian also closed his deficit to Martin Doubek and will be the Czech’s primary chaser in the title decider at Zolder.
Race 1 Recap
All 23 entrants lined up to the grid on Saturday for Race 1. Schober was confident of his chances after he took pole position in Qualifying, but fate had other ideas.
Thomas Toffel started from a career-best second position, but he ran into the side of Schober as they entered the tricky Hotel complex. Schober was pushed to the grass, while Toffel made contact with Cappelli when he rejoined the circuit.
The contact shed a good chunk of bodywork on Cappelli’s machine, but the 49-year old was fortunate to not damage his splitter. This allowed Cappelli to keep chasing Toffel down and at the same time defend from Doubek who had moved up to second.
Then on lap 5, race control handed Toffel a 30-second time penalty for his role in the start incident. Cappelli was immediately informed by his team Academy Motorsport about this and shifted his focus to full defensive driving mode.
A Safety Car restart brought by Mario Ercoli’s crash at Hotel briefly made Cappelli go on the offensive, but the Italian wisely held back and went on to take the checkered flag in net first position after 18 laps of racing.
“It feels incredible!” said Cappelli, who took top position in Legend Trophy and was greatly cheered by everyone in Victory Lane. “When they said to me that there’s a penalty for Toffel, I managed the risk and controlled the race.”
“With Doubek behind, I have to go very fast. The team then said that they [Race Art Technology] will file a protest against the penalty, so they told me to go overtake now with five laps to go. I tried again, but I’m happy to be here!”
Doubek’s second place finish handed the Czech driver a considerable advantage from Schober, who recovered to sixth. Gil Linster enjoyed a quiet race en route to third place with Thomas Krasonis trailing not that far off in fourth position.
Jack Davidson ultimately took fifth ahead of Schober and Victor Neumann, winner of the Rookie Trophy classification. Schober was also fortunate to avoid another opening lap kerfuffle.
Davidson unintentionally squeezed Florian Richard and sent the Frenchman into a spin. Julien Rehberg had nowhere to go and turned left, mistakenly tagging the No. 27 Double V Racing Ford of Simone Giussani in the process.
Rehberg was initially penalized 30 seconds for this incident, but upon further review race control found out that the German was blameless and removed his penalty in the final results.
Lady Trophy was won by Luli del Castello in 15th, but the true story of the classification was Arianna Casoli’s 100th start – a historic new milestone for the most experienced driver in EuroNASCAR 2 history.
The Italian kept the No. 14 SpeedHouse Racing Ford clean and while she only finished 22nd, she completed the race at a much faster speed than her 2023 outing.
EuroNASCAR 2 Race 1 Results
Race 2 Recap
Just like Vittorio Ghirelli in EuroNASCAR PRO, Schober’s chances of winning Race 1 were screwed by an opening lap incident. Similar to Ghirelli, Schober also received a chance of redemption thanks to the fastest lap that he acquired in that race.
The Austrian lined up first and took the green flag along with the other 22 drivers on Sunday morning. Schober cleared the opening lap safely with Linster behind him, but chaos erupted at Hasseroder.
Cappelli was trying to defend his third position from Toffel when he chucked the Academy Motorsport Ford in front of the Swiss. Contact was inevitable and it sent the Italian spinning to the grass, but it also crucially held up Doubek and de Groot.
Doubek and de Groot had nowhere to go, but de Groot hit Doubek with enough force to send the Czech driver into a spin. Doubek and Cappelli were now forced to make a recovery drive, both rejoined in last place.
Their recovery went slowly after the race was neutralized with Full Course Yellow following Giovanni Faraonio’s crash at the exit of Hasserroder on lap 3, but Cappelli’s charge ended when he crashed during the restart on lap 4.
Full Course Yellow was brought again on the next lap before the Safety Car was called because Cappelli’s car was wedged into the tire barriers.
The marshalls had to tow both Cappelli’s car and the tire stack that it got stuck on before the race could get underway again.
Eventually, the race was restarted on lap 9 and there was nothing that the field could do in the next ten laps to stop Schober from getting his second victory of 2024.
“I don’t know where Doubek finished, so I’m pretty curious about the points standings right now after the victory,” expressed Schober in Victory Lane.
“I want to say thanks to my team RDV Competition, my sponsors and my parents that have been really supporting me throughout this weekend. It feels good to be back in the Victory Lane, especially here where I got my first victory last year.”
Linster cruised to second and was relieved to have a trouble free weekend. Toffel survived his first lap incident to complete the podium, finishing 1.8 seconds ahead of Melvin de Groot who took the Legend Trophy win in fourth overall.
Davidson exited Oschersleben with double top-5 finishes after an amazing battle with Krasonis, who was sixth. Both drivers passed and repassed one another before the Scotsman got the decisive move at Amman Kurve on the final lap.
Mario bounced back from his Race 1 calamity to finish first in the Rookie Trophy. With a seventh place finish from 18th on the grid, Mario also secured the bonus points for most positions gained.
Richard crossed the line in eighth ahead of Doubek, who was unable to make much ground after he got stuck in a multi-car battle with Thomas Dombrowski, Giussani, Strickler and Neumann on the second restart.
Dombrowski eventually took tenth ahead of Giussani and Strickler. As for Neumann, an off-track excursion on lap 12 damaged the No. 47 AIX Camaro and he tumbled down to 17th at the checkered flag.
Rehberg’s race took a turn for the worse when he got a rear-right puncture on the opening lap. After a lengthy pit stop to assess the damage, the young German rejoined five laps down and finished in 21st place.
EuroNASCAR 2 Race 2 Results
Championship Standings
Both championship leader Doubek and runner-up Schober had first lap dramas that compromised their weekend in Germany, but it was the chaser that won out thanks to the Austrian’s victory on Sunday.
Doubek maintained the lead with 436 points, but Schober has cut the deficit down to 33 points. Linster’s double podium also allowed the Luxembourger to close his own gap down to 51 points, setting up a three-way battle in the season finale at Zolder.
The two Thomases Krasonis and Toffel will have a lot of work to do from fourth and fifth in the standings as they are 62 and 76 points behind respectively.
An intervention from the Gods would be needed for Davidson, Legend Trophy overall leader de Groot, Dombrowski, Cappelli and Rookie Trophy overall leader Richard to even have the chance of competing for the title. Casoli capped off her historic milestone by maintaining her Lady Trophy overall lead.
EuroNASCAR 2 Championship Standings
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 20 December 2024