World of EuroNASCAR takes a look at how Garrett Lowe got the early Junior Trophy lead in the 2026 Valencia NASCAR Fest at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
NASCAR Euro Series’ return to Circuit Ricardo Tormo last month saw great battles not just for the overall results, but also for the Trophies in both classes.
The Junior Trophy, one of the staple Trophies in V8GP – the class formerly known as EuroNASCAR PRO, is no exception.
Open to anyone aged 25 or below at the start of a calendar year, the Junior Trophy has seen many fierce battles in recent years. The increased competitiveness of young talent meant that they are competing not just for the Trophy, but also for outright wins.
The Junior Trophy duel at 2026 Valencia NASCAR Fest showed this very well with drivers like Paul Jouffreau and Garrett Lowe proving themselves as the early contenders for both Trophy and overall championship.
Jouffreau got the first strike after he took the Trophy win in Race 1. The Frenchman scored a runner-up finish after he completed a daring move on Vittorio Ghirelli with four laps to go.
“Having a fight like that is really fun,” said Jouffreau on his duel with Ghirelli. “I was really over the limit. We have some struggles during the Practice’s and we are looking forward to new adjustments that helped a lot. Amazing race and a lot of good work on the car [by the RDV Competition crew].”
Jouffreau was poised to make it double on Race 2, but a puncture on lap 8 eliminated the RDV Competition driver out of the race.
This gave the advantage to Garrett Lowe, who put persistent pressure on Ghirelli towards the end. The driver of Bremotion’s No. 99 BS+ Competition Camaro came within 0.661 seconds from his first overall win.
Lowe’s runner-up finish marked the American’s first Junior Trophy win. The result was coupled with Lowe’s impressive recovery drive on Race 1, where he went from 24th – and last – on the grid to seventh.
“I think we had the best car,” said Lowe after the race, as previously quoted in our Bremotion post-Valencia article. “It’s not often you race against the best car in the field for the win.”
“I’m more mad about myself since I thought I could sit there and pace off [Ghirelli] for the last six laps. As soon as I went, I burned the rear tires off. Congrats to these guys [Ghirelli and PK Carsport], they did a good job but we had a great car this weekend.”
“I’m disappointed we didn’t finish higher in Race 1, now looking back because I realized how good of a car we had, but props to the Bremotion team.”
Lowe exited Valencia as the Junior Trophy leader with 69 points, nine points clear of Lux Motorsport’s Jack Davidson.
Davidson, now driving the No. 21 LUX Country Sports Bar & Grill FJ, had his first double top-10 weekend as a V8GP driver in Valencia. The Scotsman finished fifth in Race 1 – securing second in Junior Trophy – and ninth in Race 2, enough to put him fourth in the overall standings.
Thomas Krasonis sits third with 53 points. The Greek was eighth in the standings, having lost a lot of points due to his involvement in the first lap multi-car collision on Race 1.
Jouffreau’s Race 2 retirement left him in fourth on the Trophy standings with 52 points. Julien Rehberg and Vinnie Meskelis filled out the remaining drivers in fifth and sixth – 12th and 17th in the overall championship respectively.
Rehberg and Meskelis were also involved in Race 1’s multi-car collision. Meskelis in particular was affected greatly as he retired on the spot, leaving him as one of the four drivers to get stuck with only scoring 6 points for failing to finish lap 1 as per EuroNASCAR’s new points standing rules.
Meskelis made up for it with his own recovery drive on Race 2, going up from 23rd to seventh. The Team Bleekemolen driver missed out on the Trophy podium however, as Rehberg crossed the line in fifth to complete the Junior Trophy rostrum alongside Lowe and Krasonis.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.