Paul Jouffreau survived an early scare with Vittorio Ghirelli to claim his second victory of the 2025 EuroNASCAR PRO season at Vallelunga.
Paul Jouffreau has a good history at the Autodromo Vallelunga. The Frenchman scored his first career podium and victories at Vallelunga in the past. Now, Jouffreau returns to the Victory Lane at Italy to secure his second win of the 2025 season.
Jouffreau’s victory meant that the Frenchman became the first non-Italian driver to win an EuroNASCAR PRO race at this venue since 2022.
Jouffreau led all 18 laps, but it was not without any drama. Championship rival Vittorio Ghirelli got a great start and put the Frenchman under pressure in the opening few laps.
Their skirmish became heated in lap 2 when Ghirelli tried to make a pass around the outside of the Cimini corner complex. Jouffreau locked up his brakes at this very moment, forcing both himself and Ghirelli wide.
This moment allowed Thomas Krasonis to get past Ghirelli, with Gianmarco Ercoli in hot pursuit. Crucially, Krasonis and Gianmarco both failed to find a way pass Jouffreau.
Gianmarco, Krasonis and Ghirelli, along with everyone else up to 18th place, then battled hard as the lap continued. There were doors and bumpers banging, and even a near-spin for Krasonis after Gianmarco tagged him at the Tornantino hairpin.
Jouffreau saw this as an opportunity to quickly make a two-second gap to his opponents. This make-or-break moment was crucial, as it gave Jouffreau enough buffer to maintain his pace at the front. The RDV Competition driver took the checkered flag to claim his first Vallelunga win as an EuroNASCAR PRO driver.
“It was the plan to exit the second turn in the lead,” said Jouffreau, also the Junior Trophy winner. “I was defending like a lion in the first turns and then they nudged each other.”
“We are happy with the outcome of the race but tomorrow we will start from sixth so we have a lot of work to do.”
While unable to keep up with Jouffreau, Gianmarco managed his own gap very well and claimed a hard-fought second place finish in front of his great rival Ghirelli, who will start Sunday’s race from pole position.
Martin Doubek fought well to stay with the two prime Italians, but the Czech’s effort came up short. The same goes for Thomas Krasonis, who had to contend with a fifth place finish.
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen was kept busy by challenges from both Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Fabrizio Armetta. Bleekemolen’s pressure eased off late in the race after Cappelli retired due to suspension issues.
In the end, Bleekemolen had enough performance to defend sixth place from Armetta. Garrett Lowe, Vladimiros Tziortzis and Julien Rehberg completed the top-10 positions. Rehberg took home the bonus four points for being the driver with the most positions gained.
The Challenger Trophy win went to Max Lanza, who finished in 13th after a relatively drama-free race. Michael Bleekemolen in 15th was the sole remaining finisher of the Trophy, although Cappelli still received the third place accolade post-race.
Cappelli was not the only driver to be forced to retire with suspension problems. Liam Hezemans had already suffered the same fate a few laps prior to Cappelli’s retirement.
A bad run-in with the sausage kerbs caused the front-right suspension in Liam’s No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford Mustang to completely collapse, forcing the Dutchman’s retirement from the race.
Mechanical gremlins also inflicted Jack Davidson, Yvan Muller, Davit Kajaia and Giorgio Maggi. Kajaia’s problems started before the race: The Georgian only took the start on lap 6 and the No. 9 GASF Camaro gave up the ghost after lapping the track a mere five times.
Out of these quartet, only Maggi was able to rejoin the race to the end. The Swiss ended up two laps down as the last finishing driver in 16th place.
EuroNASCAR PRO Race 1 Results
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