Gianmarco Ercoli survived both the heat and an early pile-up to extend his domination in the 2026 NASCAR GP Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
NASCAR Euro Series welcomed their brand new V8GP era with a manic Race 1 at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Gianmarco Ercoli led his rivals Paul Jouffreau and Vittorio Ghirelli from flag-to-flag to further extend his domination in the 2026 season opener.
Searing heat conditions made for a tricky first race, which saw numerous drivers getting caught out by the increased tire wear caused by the hotter track temperatures.
Ercoli was not exempt as he admitted post-race that he had difficulty to find the rhythm in the heat. However, the Alumitec Racing driver remained confident of his prospects after he secured pole position for Sunday’s Race 2.
“It’s not easy because I fought a lot with myself to get the best time for tomorrow!” said Ercoli in Victory Lane.
“I pushed hard because I didn’t see the lap times until the final six laps, but I think I can push a lot for tomorrow. The car is good and for tomorrow it’ll be fast and light like today.”
Jouffreau benefitted from Ghirelli’s late race struggles to grab second, putting the Frenchman as the early chaser for the title battle. Ghirelli had just enough in the tank to fend off V8GP debutant Jordan O’Brien, who ran fourth all race long.
Jack Davidson benefited from an early multi-car pile up to grab fifth, his second best finish in the top class. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Garrett Lowe charged their way up to sixth and seventh respectively, the latter securing bonus points for most positions gained.
Ulysse Delsaux, Logan Bearden and Marc Goossens completed the top-10 positions. Martin Doubek crossed the line in ninth, but was demoted to 11th after the Czech was penalized for contact with “The Goose”.
Kenko Miura took home the Challenger Trophy honor ahead of Giovanni Cartechini and Alex Caffi. Caffi revealed post-race that he competed in Valencia as part of his 62nd birthday present, an idea brought forward by Federico Monti – the co-owner of his team Academy Motorsport.
The aforementioned early multi-car pile up happened on the first lap. Fabrizio Armetta and Vladimiros Tziortzis tangled as they jostled for position on the run to Doohan corner.
This incident sent both cars to the grass, right into the path of the pack ahead. Thomas Toffel, Vinnie Meskelis, Julien Rehberg, Thomas Krasonis and Nelson Piquet Jr. were all collected on the spot, having had nowhere to go in the incident.
“Just on the corner a car came from out of nowhere and took us out,” said Vinnie Meskelis post-race, as documented by EuroNASCAR’s Instagram Story.
“It’s unfortunate, but Team Bleekemolen did a great job to fix the car. We’ll be good coming from the back for tomorrow. Hopefully last to first, you never know!”
Meskelis retired on the spot, while the rest drove back to the pits. Most of them retired immediately after, but Krasonis and Piquet Jr. went back out to try to salvage grid position for Sunday’s Race 2.
Krasonis’ attempts went futile as the No. 13 Costamare Inc. Camaro suffered too much damage, but Piquet Jr.’s No. 48 Alumitec Ford was at a healthy enough state to grab the sixth best lap of the race.
Brad Ranson and Davit Kajaia were added to the list of retirements later in the race for an oil leak and engine trouble respectively. Their retirements brought the number of non-finishers up to nine.
EuroNASCAR V8GP Race 1 Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.